Bloom Forge for Rhino

Select parts and ask for fabrication drawings. Layout follows the Style and the drawing template. Each drawing is checked against a set of drafting rules, and the faults that can be fixed automatically are fixed.

• Flat patterns with bend lines, and bend notes on leaders
• Hole callouts such as Ø6.6 CSK Ø12.4×90°, Ø9 CBORE Ø15 DEPTH 2 and KEYHOLE SLOT
• Plan, side, section and 3D views, with break views on long parts
• Section hatching by material
• Title block filled in from the part data
• Detail views on request

This covers bent and flat sheet metal parts for now. The chat models the part as a closed solid in Rhino from a STEP model, a section, a surface you have modelled or a description with dimensions.

• Flanges on any straight edge and on other flanges
• Hems, jogs, mitred corners and bend reliefs
• Holes, slots, hole rows by spacing rule, notches and cut-outs
• Series on rail lines with end cuts, grouped by length and end cut and numbered, with identical parts counted
• Unfolding uses the K-factor tables your company fills in per material, and it stops and says so if no value fits
• Open or badly stitched STEP models are repaired where possible, and the repair is reported
• Part numbers from the Family prefix and a serial number

A Style is your in-house drawing standard. Bloom Forge derives it from sample drawings of your own, for you to review, and it records the views and their positions, the scales, the sections, dimension and text sizes, and which notes appear. It holds no material or thickness, so one Style can serve aluminium and galvanised steel.

• Separate from the drawing template, which is made from your own title block
• Shared across the company through Bloom Cloud
• Can be changed later in the chat
• Can add extras such as a bend table to each drawing

A Family is a group of parts made the same way, identified by part number prefix. Every part in the group takes its values, and a Family can be copied to another project.

• Material and finish options
• K-factors from a named table per material, chosen per Family
• Hole rule, for example all Ø5 holes countersunk
• Hatch pattern
• Default bend radius, bend relief, corner type and hole-row spacing
• Number of serial digits in the part number
• One assigned Style

Fabrication drawings can be made for the following work. Timber is limited to drawings and lists.

• Laser-cut plates
• Press-brake parts such as brackets, angles, channels, trays, covers and flashings
• Profiles such as extrusions, hollow sections, angles and flat bars
• Timber boards, posts and glulam, with tenons and mortises
• Bolted and welded assemblies, panels and frames, with item numbers and parts lists showing bolt, washer and nut

Bloom Cloud is the company’s part registry. Materials, hatches, finishes and K-factor tables are held at company level, and parts and Families are held per project.

• Finish per part, inner and outer
• Profile catalogue with article numbers and section areas
• Styles and drawing templates shared between users
• Production lists exported to Excel

Many corrections can be made in the chat in plain language. An edit that makes the drawing clearly worse against the drafting rules is refused. You check the drawing and release it, and whether the part suits the job stays with the engineer who releases it.

• Add and move dimensions
• Change view scales and add break views
• Add sections and detail views
• Edit notes and title block fields
• Undo the last edit

Files are exported as PDF, DXF, DWG and STEP to a folder you choose. The DXF holds the cut contour, with the smallest hole of a countersink and the tap drill on a threaded hole.

• A hole needs a thread property on it to be cut at tap-drill size
• Arcs and circles are written in +Z so CAM software does not mirror them
• File names built from part number and revision
• Drawings in Rhino on named layers, which can be renamed

• Rhino 7, 8 or 9 on Windows
• An internet connection