Hi everyone,

I am trying to fold a globe out of sheet metal. Like the planet earth globes we had, when we were kids. Please have a look at the screenshot attached.

Now I can't figure out how to make the flanges on top, so they come together perfectly and don't intersect. I have tried three different options and none of them seem to work:

1. I created a flange with a very big radius and afterwards cut off the sides with an extruded cut (as seen in the flange on the right). For a single flange this works, but once an extruded cut is applied, the flat pattern tool doesn't work any more. Also, if I add another flange next to the existing flange, they intersect before I cut it off. Once I cut the second flange off, Solidworks doesn't realise, that they are not intersecting any more.

2. Adding all flanges in one command and hoping that the automatic miter would solve the problem. Unfortunately the automatic miter only works on the flat areas - not on the curved areas. As I am only working with the curved area, the pieces simply keep intersecting.

3. Editing the sketch of the flange. Same as for the automatic miter, the changes in the sketch of the flange only apply to the flat areas, not to the curved ones, so the flanges keep intersecting.

Help is very much appreciated.

Many thanks

Tino