Evaluating the Cost of a Sheet Metal Part

In a sheet metal part, click Sheet Metal Costing (Tools toolbar) or Tools > SolidWorks Costing > Sheet Metal Costing .

If there is enough information in the sheet metal template, and if the part has a material assigned to it that matches the template, a cost estimate is performed and the Sheet Metal Costing Task Pane displays the Estimated Cost Per Part. If there is not enough information in the template, or if you want to edit the Costing input values, follow the steps below.

1. Under Costing Template, select a template. Default templates are available or you can create templates to use custom manufacturing data.
2. Under Material, make selections for Class, Name, and Thickness from template if they are not populated. The Class, Name, and Thickness from template are populated if the material in the part matches a class, name, and thickness in the sheet metal template.
   If you want custom classes, names, and thicknesses to appear in the Sheet Metal Costing Task Pane, create a template with material information and information about how the materials will be manufactured.

   The Material cost is the cost in the template for the selected Class, Name, and Thickness from template combination. You can override Material cost without editing the template. Overrides affect only the part that is open, not the template. If you override Material cost, the text box appears in yellow.

3. Under Blank Size, in Area to cost select an item to define the material usage.
4. Under Quantity, set the Total number of parts and Lot size.
5. Optionally, under Markup/Discount, adjust the material cost or the total cost using a percentage factor.

   The software extracts material information from the material set in the part and performs a cost estimate. The CostingManager displays manufacturing features such as cut paths and bends that were recognized in the part. The Sheet Metal Costing Task Pane displays the Estimated Cost Per Part.