Funnel and hopper

The surface is developable and the flat pattern is solved in closed form. Cut the part to the drawing and it fits — the whole uncertainty sits in the K-factor, which belongs to the material and the machine, not to the geometry.

Dimensions are entered as: Inside dimensions. The flat pattern itself is always computed on the neutral fibre — at Ø800 in 3 mm sheet the difference between the inside and the outside dimension is 18.8 mm of developed width, and then the seam does not meet.

The words and formulas the trade uses for a flat pattern. The symbols are the same throughout Discebo: α is the bend angle in degrees, R the inside bend radius, t the sheet thickness and K the K-factor — all in millimetres.

Flat pattern (development)

The part's surface laid out flat as one continuous cutting outline — the way the sheet looks BEFORE it is bent or rolled. Only a developable surface can be unfolded exactly; a doubly curved surface cannot be laid flat without stretching the material.

Flat length

The flat length the part must be cut to so the dimensions come out right once it is bent. It is either the sum of the outside dimensions minus the bend deductions, or the sum of the flat legs plus the bend allowances — both routes must give the same number.L = Σ(udvendige mål) − Σ(BD) = Σ(flade ben) + Σ(BA)

Bend allowance

The length of material that sits in the bend itself, measured along the neutral fibre. The bend allowance is always positive and is added to the flat legs.BA = (π/180) · α · (R + K · t)

Bend deduction

The amount subtracted from the sum of the outside dimensions, because the two outside dimensions between them count the corner twice. Here the bend deduction is taken as POSITIVE and subtracted; DIN 6935 writes the same quantity as the compensation value v with the opposite sign.BD = 2 · OSSB − BA

Outside setback

The distance from the theoretical outside corner point in to where the bend starts. Above 90°, tan(α/2) is clamped to at most 1 per DIN 6935, so the number does not explode towards 180°.OSSB = tan(α/2) · (R + t)

Compensation value v to DIN 6935

The standard's own way of writing the same corner loss: the flat length is a + b + v, where v is negative. Our bend deduction is therefore the same quantity with the opposite sign — never flip one without the other.L = a + b + v ⇒ v = −BD

K-factor

Where the neutral fibre sits in the sheet, given as a fraction of the sheet thickness. DIN 6935 writes the correction factor k, which applies to the neutral line in the form (R + t·k/2); the American CAD convention writes (R + K·t), so K = k/2.k = 0,65 + 0,5 · log₁₀(R/t), k ≤ 1,0 ⇒ K = k/2

Neutral fibre

The layer in the sheet that is neither stretched nor compressed when the part is bent. The flat pattern is always computed on the neutral fibre — which is why it matters whether the drawing's dimensions are inside or outside.

Bend angle

The angle the material is turned through, not the angle between the legs. The bend angle is 180° minus the included angle, so a square corner is 90° and a seam fold is 180°.α = 180° − åbningsvinklen

Inside bend radius

The radius on the inside of the bend. It is set by the tooling and the material, not by the drawing — too small a radius cracks the part in the outer fibre.

Sheet thickness

The thickness of the material. It enters every single bend allowance, so sheet delivered 0.2 mm thicker than ordered shifts the flat length at every bend.

Fold line

The line on the flat pattern where the part is to be bent. It is drawn but never cut through — in a laser file it therefore sits on its own layer.

Test bend

A strip of known raw length, bent in the material and the tooling that production will use. Measure the two outside legs afterwards and the bend deduction and K-factor can be worked back. The machine's own measured bend table beats any table.BD_målt = (A + B) − L₀

DIN 6935 covers only cold bending of flat products in structural steel. Stainless, aluminium, copper, brass and titanium zinc are not included — there the formulas are an extrapolation, and a test bend in the actual material settles it.

42 fields. The starting values belong to the figure itself — they live in one place in the code, so the tool, the share link and the smoke test can never disagree about what «default» means.

A preset sets every dimension at once. The name is often the word the part goes by in the workshop — the library's search knows them all.

Read them before the part is cut. They are here because they cannot be calculated away — not as legal text, but as craft.

• The angle of repose is a ROUGH preliminary assessment of the pitch. It says nothing about cohesion, moisture, consolidation time or wall friction and can therefore neither confirm mass flow nor rule out bridging. Only measured powder data can do that.
• The Jenike figures (φ′, δ, σ_crit, H(θ′)) are not invented by the tool. They must be measured in a shear cell using the method in ASTM D6128, against the actual wall surface and finish the hopper will get. The tool calculates B_min = H(θ′)·σ_crit/(ρ·g) on your figures and does not read Jenike's charts for you.
• The figure does not size the support, suspension or vibratory feeders. The weight of the contents is shown as a key figure, but the design of legs, brackets and fixings is a strength calculation in accordance with EN 1993 (steel) or EN 1999 (aluminium).
• A silo or a bunker installation for storage is a building structure: loads in accordance with EN 1991-4 (Eurocode 1, part 4) and explosion protection in accordance with ATEX 2014/34/EU for combustible dust (flour, grain, wood) lie outside the scope of the figure.
• SQUARE-TO-ROUND is developed APPROXIMATELY: the cone-fan arcs are replaced by chords, and the deficit is ≈ Δ²/24 at the angular step Δ. Round and square hoppers, on the other hand, are developed exactly.
• The bend deduction (BD) at the pyramid's corners is NOT subtracted by the strip primitive: it lays the piece out on the mid-plane with sharp corners. If the shell is to be bent rather than have welded corners, the deduction must be included before the blank is cut.
• The hygiene rules follow EHEDG's principles (no crevices, R ≥ 3 mm in internal corners, fully welded and ground seams, Ra ≤ 0.8 µm). They do not replace an approval under Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 or a HACCP assessment.