Assistance with Unbending Tubes and 4th Axis CNC Plasma Cutter Integration in Fusion 360

[jacobpintyejr]

Hello Fusion 360 Community,

I’m currently designing a tube chassis in Fusion 360, and I need some guidance to ensure I can achieve what I’m aiming for.

Is it possible to select a body (such as a section of the chassis or a tube) and have Fusion 360 "unbend" the tube geometry if necessary? My goal is to generate a 2D or 3D sketch from the selected tube that I can then convert to a DXF file, which I will use on my 4th axis CNC plasma cutter.

Alternatively, is it possible to use the Manufacture workspace to generate the G-code directly for cutting a bent tube on a 4th axis? I’ve been exploring the options, but I haven’t seen any specific tools for handling bent parts with 4th axis cutting in the manufacturing setup.

Any advice on workflows, tool setups, or additional add-ins that can help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help.

[jhackney1972 · Accepted solution]

The process of straighten a bent tube can be accomplished using a Sheet Metal process.  The video will explain.  I point out in the video that your tube was not hollow.  The same process works for hollow tube but the last step of removing the sheet metal strip is a bit different.  Model I used in the recording is attached.

[m_lototsky]

best way to unbend all tubes config, inc. multianngle direction, if one angle= one component. i'm happy)