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      <div class="title_topic3" id="xps10_pagetitle">Solid punch tips and techniques</div>
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      <div class="title_division">Side trimming</div>
      <p class="para_division">In order to create the <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> geometry, the tool body needs to be trimmed with the sides of the target body (using the sheet bodies created from the non&ndash;G1 edges of the target G1 faces). The face normal of the user&ndash;selected target face is used for doing the side trimming. Therefore, select a target face which intersects or in the plane that can be used for the trimming.
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      <div class="title_division">Unformed solid punch</div>
      <p class="para_division">The <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> feature has two states, formed and unformed. The formed state of a solid punch is a 3D representation. The unformed state of a solid punch is the intersection curves of the tool body and the top G1 faces of the target body. The <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> feature can change its states from formed to unformed and vice versa via the <b class="uiTerm">Form/Unform</b> button and the <b class="uiTerm">Part in Process (PIP)</b> dialog boxes. 
      </p>
      <p class="para_division">Also, when the parents of the solid punch change their states, the solid punch is represented by its unformed curves.</p>
      <div class="title_division">Hiding solid punch tool</div>
      <p class="para_division">Hiding the tool body only occurs when the solid punch is first created. Once the tool body is hidden, you cannot show the tool body via the <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> feature dialog box. It needs to be shown via <b class="uiTerm">Edit&rarr;Hide&rarr;Show</b> like any other hidden geometry.
      </p>
      <div class="title_division">Editing solid punch</div>
      <p class="para_division">Editing a <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> uses the same dialog box as for creation. All the geometry selected during creation will be highlighted during edit.
      </p>
      <p class="para_division">Also during edit, the option to hide the tool body and creating blends via the solid punch will not be available.</p>
      <div class="title_division">Creating blends on solid punch</div>
      <p class="para_division">The <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> provides a convenient way to create the blend features via the <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> dialog box. The edges to be blended are identified and blended using two separate <b class="uiTerm">Blend</b> features. These blend features are independent of the <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> feature. 
      </p>
      <div class="title_division">Thickening limitations</div>
      <p class="para_division">When the solid punch thickens faces that meet at non&ndash;smooth edges, the offset faces are extended to form a new edge. Occasionally, this operation will yield undesired results. An example case appears below. Only two faces of the tool body are shown in Figure 4. The faces of the solid punch after thickening (without using the<b class="uiTerm"> Constant Thickness</b> option appear in Figure 5.
      </p>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/solpun_4.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">Figure 4</div>
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         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/solpun_5.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">Figure 5</div>
      <p class="para_division">If the results shown in Figure 7 are required, then blend the edge between the two faces as shown in Figure 6.</p>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/solpun_6.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">Figure 6</div>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/solpun_7.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">Figure 7</div>
      <p class="para_division">The solid punch will not be created if the two tool faces run parallel to each other. The two faces of the tool body appears in Figure 8 as an example. The result is shown in Figure 9, which is a failure.</p>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/solpun_8.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">Figure 8</div>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/solpun_9.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">Figure 9</div>
      <p class="para_division">If it is desired to get the solution shown in Figure 11, then blend the edge between two faces appears in Figure 10.</p>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/solpun_10.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">Figure 10</div>
      <div class="figure">
         <p align="center"><img align="bottom" src="graphics/solpun_11.gif"></p>
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      <div class="title_figure">Figure 11</div>
      <div class="title_division">Features on solid punches</div>
      <p class="para_division">If a feature (such as a simple hole) is created on a solid punch, that feature will fail if the parent of the solid punch changes its state. When the parent of a solid punch changes its state, the solid punch is represented by its unformed curves, thus the solid punch faces no longer exist.</p>
      <div class="title_division">Self&ndash;forming features</div>
      <p class="para_division">There are two unforming methods available for sheet metal features. If you have<b class="uiTerm"> Preferences&rarr;Sheet Metal&rarr;Use Self&ndash;Forming Features</b> enabled, then all newly created solid punches will have the ability to unform themselves using the <b class="uiTerm">Form/Unform</b> dialog box. When <b class="uiTerm">Preferences&rarr;Sheet Metal&rarr;Use Forming Operations</b> is enabled, you cannot create the unformed solid punch curves. If you apply the <b class="uiTerm">Unbend/Rebend</b> feature to a self&ndash;forming parent of a solid punch, the solid punch will loose its ability to form and unform. You can revert the solid punch back into a self&ndash;forming feature if you delete the Unbend feature and use the <b class="uiTerm">Model Navigator</b> menu&rarr;<b class="uiTerm">Make Self&ndash;Forming Feature</b>.
      </p>
      <div class="title_division">Flat patterns of solid punches</div>
      <p class="para_division">When creating a flat pattern of a Solid Punch, you should first unform the solid punch (and any other self&ndash;forming features as well). <b class="uiTerm">Flat Pattern</b> will treat the solid punch unformed curves as additional curves.
      </p>
      <div class="title_division">General tips</div>
      <p class="para_division">An option is available in the <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> feature <b class="uiTerm">Options</b> dialog box to create a tool center point at the centroid of the solid punch.
      </p>
      <p class="para_division">If the solid punch is being created with the <b class="uiTerm">Forming Feature Method</b> the selection of the <b class="uiTerm">Target Face</b> becomes important. If the <b class="uiTerm">Solid Punch</b> is placed so that one of the faces it is placed on is the face of another forming feature, such as a flange, inset flange, or bend, the target face should be the face of these features. This is needed so that the solid punch will know to change from its solid state to its wireframe state when the <b class="uiTerm">Forming</b> feature changes state.
      </p>
      <p class="para_division">For more information see: Appendix A:  <a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('sheetmetaldes/lance_type.html');return(false);">Lance Type</a>,  <a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('sheetmetaldes/appendix_solid_punch_die.html');return(false);">Solid Punch Die</a> and  <a class="links" href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="top.openFile('sheetmetaldes/appendix_punch_solid.html');return(false);">Punching Using Solid Punch</a>.
      </p>
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