Kerf bending pattern generator

Kerf bending is a technique for bending wood by cutting small strips:

There are various pattern with different properties, for examples and explanations you can take a look at kerf bending

Kerf bending and autodesk inventor

Making kerf bending under Autodesk Inventor is not easy. We setup a process using the hatch drawing function and the metal sheet mode.

First, you have to create a new object in sheet mode.

Draw a rectangle and extrude it using face tool. Then, draw a second rectangle orthogonal to the first one and extrude it the same way using face tool. Last, using the bend function, join the two faces. You can specify a reasonable radius here (20mm for example).

Use "create flat pattern" to unfold your solid.

Now, create a draw file (dwg).

In the file, create a base view (right click in the drawing area).

Check that the scale is "1:1", you use the "flat pattern", and "bend extend" is checked.

Go to the style editor under the "Manage" tab.

Set bend center-line and bend extent to an unused color (yellow here)

Now start a sketch:

Toggle the Sketch Only mode and draw a rectangle over your bend area:

Untoggle Sketch Only mode and use the Fill/Hatch Region on your rectangle. In the popup, toggle the hatch button on top left:

In pattern roll down menu, select "other...". Using the tool in section below (Kerf bending simple pattern generator), create a pattern and save it on your disk. Under inventor, click on load and select the generated file, then the hatch pattern. Then "ok" and "ok" again

Be sure to set the angle according to the desired orientation of the pattern:

Your done! You can export in pdf and cut the black lines using your laser cut machine

Kerf bending simple pattern generator

kerf length :
gap length :
space between line :
value in inch? (default is mm) :

See Also

Autodesk: create a pattern file

Autodesk: aligning pattern inside the area