Gaps/Overlaps

When the individually developed strips are combined to form the complete developed plate the limits of adjacent strips normally do not fit perfectly (except when the plate is planar). Thus when they are combined the result may either be gaps or overlaps along the longer edges and/or the baseline. If the development method is contraction, the strips are combined in such a way that there may appear gaps between them. These gaps should then be eliminated by shrinkage in the forming process. Similarly, the differences are registered as overlaps when the workshop method is expansion. If the workshop uses expansion, all the gaps must be removed by a negative translation. This translation can be made at the same time as the coupling. The way this translation is performed is affected by the setting of the environment variable SBH_COLDFORMING.

The gaps/overlaps can be used as guidance in the forming process, for example, by telling how much pressure needs to be applied at a special location for the plate to expand and get its shape properly.

The sketch of the developed plate used for checking purposes presents the gaps/overlaps as numbers on a rough level (see the sketch below). However, more detailed information is stored along with the plate.