topic Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part! in Inventor Forum

Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

jakeQH7X4 — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 12:29:49 GMT

Hi,

I have been sent a model which needs to be machined with grooves in to bend around a framework. However the panel is in its curved state and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to flatten the panel out with the chamfered edges intact. I have tried the unwrap tool but I'm not sure of the accuracy of the geometry nor can I figure out how to get the chamfered edges from there.

Can anyone give me some tips on how to achieve this?

Really appriciate any help on this!

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

blandb — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 13:30:28 GMT

Scratch that last post....

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

jakeQH7X4 — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 13:36:47 GMT

Just to clarify, I need this part as 3D at 12mm; not just unwrapped.

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

jakeQH7X4 — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 13:55:37 GMT

Okay, I have figured this one out. I unwrapped the top and bottom face, alligned them as necessary then lofted the sketches to eachother using guiderails. I believe this is the solution!

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

CCarreiras — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 14:17:25 GMT

@jakeQH7X4 wrote:
Okay, I have figured this one out. I unwrapped the top and bottom face, alligned them as necessary then lofted the sketches to eachother using guiderails. I believe this is the solution!

That's not a good solution...

This is a better solution:

(File attached, just add the chamfer If you want... anyway, I don't believe that part with no chamfer could make any difference for the final result, i would cut it with no chamfer. since is such a tiny angle....)

Note: unrap method is not accurate comparing with sheet metal unfold

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

jakeQH7X4 — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 14:34:47 GMT

Thanks for the reply!

This does look much better. I'm not too sure how I would add the chamfer to the flat pattern from here, can you tell me how I would do this?

Thanks!

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

jakeQH7X4 — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 14:52:04 GMT

Apologies for my inexperience but I am confused how you flattened this, I haven't used the sheet metal part of Inventor before. It looks like you have converted something to a surface then deleted the faces to flattenen the chamfer and thickened the panel? I dont understand where you have added the seams for inventor to know where to flatten from.

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

CCarreiras — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:04:46 GMT

Analyzing the part... this is not a chamfer, since it will vary across the part.

Question one:

Do you have a cut machine that cut variable chamfers across the same part's edge?!!

I believe not.

Again, I suggest cutting the part first like a normal sheet metal piece, and later you have to do some additional work (if needed) to mount the part with others.

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

jakeQH7X4 — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:10:40 GMT

We have a 5 axis CNC which can cut this edge. Could you please tell me how to flatten the panel as you did so I can do it with this chamfer on. I can handle the rest on the machine!

I have tried offset/thicken with surface mode on then setting the distance to 12mm. Then when I put this as sheet metal and flat pattern it just comes up with an error.

Thanks, Jake

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

CCarreiras — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:12:15 GMT

I select the representative face (upper) and add the Thickness you need: 12mm

In this case, the (what we have been calling chamfer, but isn't, is a variable surface) will disappear.

From there we can flat the part, so the software will calculate the flat Pattern.

Next, we can continue the work, add chamfers, etc.

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

jakeQH7X4 — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:16:53 GMT

Can inventor not calculate a flat pattern with the variable surface on the edge?

If not, how can I add this to the flat pattern after the fact?

Thanks, Jake

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

CCarreiras — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 17:20:58 GMT

Hi!

The flat you need is the file:

Intersct_Final_Result_Flat_Pattern.ipt

This part is the intersection between:

the file based on the flat pattern (based on top, the bigger side)
the file based on theflat pattern (based on the bottom, smaller side)

These two files were placed in an assembly and the final part was created in the assembly context, mixing both in the final result using references from both files.

May be too complex to understand, but the result is solid.

This is not a traditional Flat pattern case, since the sides are not a pure chamfer, and sometimes the software cannot solve the flat pattern. Sometimes we have to do more work to achieve the final result. This is a workaround, but the result will be good enough to produce part correctly.

Re: Need Help! Cannot Flatten a Curved Plywood Part!

jakeQH7X4 — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 07:32:41 GMT

This seems like the perfect work around for this, really appreciate all the help!

Thank you!

Jake