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Creating flat pattern of a coil/spiral shape

4 REPLIES 4
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Message 1 of 5
djreesing
2212 Views, 4 Replies

Creating flat pattern of a coil/spiral shape

Hi,

 

Is there a way to unfold a coil shape to get the flat pattern? When I try to unfold the attached part I get an error message (see attached error_msg.jpg). We have been using AutoPOL to unfold these kind of shapes (which works fine). But since we have a very old version which we really need to upgrade, I was wondering if nowadays Inventor could handle coil unfolds.

 

If this will not work with the current IV2013 release, will this then be implemented in a future release? Are there any alternatives or should I just go for the AutoPOL upgrade?

 

Best regards,

Daniël Reesing

IV2013 Pro SP1

 

 

 

4 REPLIES 4
Message 2 of 5
BLHDrafting
in reply to: djreesing

I believe it can't be done becuase to make coils some stretching must take place which Inventor won't calculate. There is a program I have seen on the 'partners' page which promotes that it can do this. Try here if you really want to do it http://partnerproducts.autodesk.com/popups/product.asp?rdid=SESE0009&prodid=SEP05425&id=23003

Brendan Henderson
CAD Manager/Owner

BLH Drafting Services
Web www.blh.com.au
Twitter @BLHDrafting

Inventor 2012 PDS Premium SP 2 and Vault 2012 Update 1

Please mark as Accepted As Solution or give Kudos.
Message 3 of 5
djreesing
in reply to: BLHDrafting

Thanks for your response!

 

The program you refer to is AutoPOL (the program I was talking about). I know that AutoPOL can unfold these coils but I was wondering if Inventor can also do this (maybe with some kind of workaround). Our AutoPOL version is very old and in desperate need of upgrading, so if I can find some way of doing these unfolds in Inventor we can save on the upgrade.

 

So my question is if someone knows a way (workaround) of doing these unfolds in Inventor.

 

Best regards,

Daniël

Message 4 of 5
mrattray
in reply to: djreesing

Try building the part using the lofted flange tool. I'm not sure if it wil work, but it might. If it doesn't, you might just be SOL.

Mike (not Matt) Rattray

Message 5 of 5
BLHDrafting
in reply to: djreesing

A company I sub to makes thes coils (or flites or segments) so I can't give you the exact formula to do this (very IP), but I will say you can do this with math. assuming that you have a square pitch coil (OD and PITCH are equal) then the length of the circle/arc around the pipe can be found using pythagoras. And another tip :- when developed the angle of the wedge (the bit of material left between the inner and outer circles) is 20 degrees for a square pitch segment. You will need to do many, many tests an variations to get the 'allowance' for stretching correct. This is why I say IP as this company have been gathering data for 40 years. best of luck Smiley Happy

Brendan Henderson
CAD Manager/Owner

BLH Drafting Services
Web www.blh.com.au
Twitter @BLHDrafting

Inventor 2012 PDS Premium SP 2 and Vault 2012 Update 1

Please mark as Accepted As Solution or give Kudos.

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