u/Metalbox33

We have cloth seats and I’m thinking about seat covers or even replacing them with leather to prevent post-workout stink from lingering in the interior and seats. Any recommendations?

We receive customer files as STEP/STP, DXF, and rarely, native SolidWorks parts. For sheet metal work, I'm trying to understand the real technical differences between a STEP file and a native .sldprt when it comes to unfolding, k-factor, and bend allowance. Our programmer says that he can't flatten .stp files and adjust the bend allowance/ k factor for our tooling.

Can you actually convert a STEP of a formed sheet metal part in SolidWorks and apply your own k-factor to get a usable flat pattern? How reliable is that in practice?

And with a native .sldprt, can you just open it, adjust the bend parameters to your own tooling, and flatten it — or are there limitations there too?

Trying to understand where the actual technical limits are vs. where it's just a training gap.