Solidworks Sheetmetal Starter Kit

SolidWorks Sheet Metal Starter Kit

Build accurate, consistent and manufacture-ready sheet metal parts faster with the 3DM Design’s SolidWorks Sheet Metal Starter Kit.

Created by an experienced mechanical design engineer, this downloadable kit provides a practical, organised starting point for professional sheet metal design—without spending hours creating templates, properties, drawings and example files from scratch.

The kit includes preconfigured SolidWorks sheet metal templates with commonly used materials, thicknesses, K-factors and bend radii already set up. Integrated custom properties carry important information such as material, thickness, finish, part number and description through to the supplied drawing templates, reducing repetitive data entry and helping maintain consistency across your projects.

A selection of practical sheet metal sample parts and starter models is also included, giving you useful references for brackets, enclosures, chassis, formed features, flat patterns and multi-part assemblies.

Key features

• Preconfigured sheet metal templates for commonly used materials and thicknesses

• Established K-factor and bend-radius settings

• Integrated custom properties for more consistent part and drawing information

• Drawing templates that automatically populate information from the model

• Practical sheet metal sample parts and starter models

• Reference examples for brackets, enclosures, chassis and assemblies

• Flat-pattern and manufacturing-drawing examples

• Custom Property Tab Builder templates

• Productivity macros for faster repetitive tasks

• Batch export of multiple drawing and flat-pattern DXF files

• Macros for populating and updating custom properties across multiple parts

• Fully editable SolidWorks files that can be adapted to your own workflow

Designed to help you

• Start new sheet metal projects quickly

• Maintain consistent material, thickness, bend radius and K-factor settings

• Reduce repetitive file setup and manual data entry

• Produce cleaner and more reliable flat patterns

• Create professional manufacturing drawings

• Prepare files for laser cutting, folding and fabrication

• Standardise your SolidWorks sheet metal workflow

• Build your own reusable design library

The starter kit is ideal for SolidWorks users, product designers, mechanical engineers, fabricators and small manufacturing businesses wanting a faster and more organised sheet metal design process.

All files are supplied in an editable format, allowing you to customise the templates, properties, macros and examples to suit your own materials, machinery, drawing standards and fabrication processes.

Spend less time setting up files—and more time designing products that are ready to manufacture.

Designed in New Zealand for SolidWorks users worldwide.# FAQ

FAQ

**What SolidWorks version do I need?**

The kit is built for SolidWorks 2020 and later. Files are standard native SolidWorks formats and won't open in earlier versions without conversion.

**Is this a plugin or add-in, or just files?**

It's a set of native SolidWorks template, part and drawing files plus VBA macros — nothing to install as an add-in. Just drop the templates into your SolidWorks templates folder and you're ready to go.

**Can I use this for commercial work?**

Yes. Once purchased, you can use and adapt the templates for your own commercial projects. "Redistribution or resale of the kit itself, in original or modified form, isn't permitted."

**Will this work with my fabricator's bend tables, or do I need to redo the settings?**

The kit ships with commonly used K-factor and bend-radius settings as a starting point. Every fabricator's press brake tooling differs slightly, so you may need to adjust bend allowances to match your supplier's actual bend table — the templates are fully editable so this takes minutes, not hours.

**Do the macros require any special setup?**

No additional software is required — they run through SolidWorks' built-in macro engine.

**What materials and thicknesses are pre-configured?**

"Mild steel, stainless steel (304) and aluminium (5052), in gauges from 1.0mm–5.0mm."

**Do I get updates if the kit is improved later?**

"Yes, minor updates and bug fixes are free for existing customers"

**What's your refund policy?**

"Because this is a downloadable digital product, we can't offer refunds once the files have been downloaded. If something isn't working as expected, contact us and we'll help sort it out."

**I'm not on SolidWorks — will this work with Fusion 360 / Inventor / etc.?**

No, this kit is built specifically for SolidWorks and relies on SolidWorks-native features (custom properties, Property Tab Builder, VBA macros). It won't import cleanly into other CAD platforms.

**Can I get support if I run into issues setting it up?**

"Yes, email contact@3dmdesign.co.nz and we'll help you get set up."