How to make a cone in Sheet Metal for unrolling....

[Anonymous]

Hi-

Yes, I'm a newbie, and yes I've looked though the threads here in an attempt to find the answer to this one... And yes, it seems like this has been covered by other threads, but not in a way that I could understand. I've tried!

(For the record, some of the threads feature links to .f3d files people are uploading as part of their answer, but I can't figure out how to open those. There is no "open" command in the menus of Fusion 360... )

I have managed to wrap my head around the facts that:

•you need a flat face for unwrapping, and that flat face can be extruded from a cut edge of a cylindrical or conical shape, using Join

•you need to build your cylindrical or conical shape in the sheet metal environment

I've read and understood the 6 rules of Sheet Metal.

But I can't figure out how to make a cone in Sheet Metal.

(I can make cones all day in Model, but they won't flatten/unwrap)

I've actually managed to successfully accomplish all this with a cylindrical shape, having created the shape with the flange tool. Is this the only way to accomplish this?

Thanks for helping the new guy!

Cheers

[docara]

Cristian 

Why don't you listen to people when they try and tell you something, you were the same with the other post you made - I just don't understand!! 

The way and what you are writing here is really getting to annoy to me, I get the impression you are teenager messaging or friends on Facebook or some social media system. Fusion is a PROFESSIONAL product used largely by professionals for a professional application. The vast  majority people here, and the developers who also visit the forum, are an amazing bunch of incredibly intelligent people who give so freely their time, impart their experience and wisdom and give so much advice back to the community that you should listen. You seem unable or unwilling to be courteous enough to listen or educate yourself.

I have just checked the Ideastation link I gave you earlier today - it still has 93votes you obviously haven't bothered to check it out our even vote for it.

I'm through answering any of your questions

@docara - this post has been edited due to Community Rules & Etiquette violation.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry to have offended you, Docara.

That certainly was not my intention.

I did in fact check the ideastation link you sent earlier. I'm not sure I understand how you came to the conclusion that I didn't check it.

In any case, I am a beginner, as everyone is at some point.

I am doing my best to follow everyone's advice, and experiment on my own in search of a solution.

As always, I appreciate your help and everyone else's.

I too am a professional, but a beginner.

Thank you

[TheCADWhisperer · Accepted solution]

I recommend that  you ignore @docara - there is evidence in his responses here that he does not understand the problem descriptio... and has not done due diligence before responding.

Turn on your sound.

http://autode.sk/2tpM6iJ

[Anonymous]

Wow, CADwhisperer, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to make that video.

I've watched it once through, and there is more involved in this procedure than I would have imagined, but I am confident that if I watch it a few more times and follow along, I will get the hang of it.

I really appreciate it!

I do have another question which pertains to how to make custom contours to the TOP or BOTTOM edges of the cone (such as you might find if you had a cone and sliced through it at an angle other than 90 degrees [let's say 60, or whatever] to the center line.

I think it's probably best if I mark this one as solved and perhaps start another thread with that question... but first I will practice this for a while and see if I can get it, and then see if I can find the answer to that other question somewhere else on the forum, or youtube, or...

Again, a big THANK YOU

-C

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@Anonymous wrote:

.... sliced through it at an angle other than 90 degrees [let's say 60, or whatever] to the center line.....

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A truncated cone something like this?

[Anonymous]

Yes, sir, that is exactly what I am talking about.

Before getting to that.. I followed your steps exactly (or as exactly as I could) and the flat pattern command failed on my first attempt.

I then tried again and it worked like a charm the second time.

I'm not sure what the difference was between the attempts, although it seems like on the first attempt the flange feature was not properly joined to the patch body, even though I selected join during the Thicken command.

(it seems like, in the video, when you used Thicken and selected Join, you briefly hovered over the flange element and I wonder if you were somehow selecting the flange as the "thing" that was going to be joined to...?)

I'll include the failed attempt to see if there's an obvious failure I'm not catching...

As for the truncated cone... 

how do you do that, and still make it flattenable?

[TheCADWhisperer]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
....I'll include the failed attempt to see if there's an obvious failure I'm not catching...

As for the truncated cone... 

how do you do that, and still make it flattenable?

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@Anonymous

Your Revolved surface is going the incorrect direction - lapping back overtop of the Flange.

The Truncated Cone is done with the same process (see attached).

[Anonymous]

I have the same problem. No videos on a how to do. Have you figured this out yet?

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have the same problem. No videos on a how to do. Have you figured this out yet?

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Attach file here.

[Anonymous]

TheCADWhisperer worked this one out. Go back to the first post in this
thread and click the link for the solution in the green bar directly below
the post.

(Personally speaking, I found this procedure unexpectedly cumbersome. As
this was the core issue of a large project and I was under an incredible
time crunch, I ended up giving up on the program and going back to
cardboard, hot glue, and a 2D drafting program! One day I will get back to
Fusion...)

[Anonymous]

How did you do this?!

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How did you do this?!

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Do what?

Did you examine the attached file?

Can you File>Export and then Attach the *.f3d file of your attempt here?

[hammerquill]

Excellent, thorough explanation of a process which looks like it's way more complicated than it needs to be. I found and watched your other video on the rules of sheet metal, too. Thanks for all the information and your time on this, TheCADWhisperer.

I'm also a beginner at this , but I'm going to attempt to apply these ideas to a more complex piece, with a few extra issues not covered above. But I'm wondering if there's something simpler available that we're not looking at, possibly in the Patch interface? There's a lot to this program and I know there are many things available that can be hard to find.

What I and a lot of designers want, especially at early prototyping stages, is simply an unroll function (like Rhino apparently has, or like something as simple as Pepakura), which would simply allow you to select a surface and (provided it has no compound curves) produce a flat drawing of it for output to a printer or plotter, or a laser or waterjet cutter. It sounds like this is what the OP wanted, too. For many purposes - such as a piece consisting of several conic sections, cut flat and separately, and curved to join one another later - this would be sufficient, without needing the program to take account of material properties and bend allowances.

Once the model is done right - to the final dimensions - taking account of the thickness of the material for manufacturing is only important for extreme precision, and the existing system you describe, with the hokey little add-on flat flange and the incomplete revolution to avoid intersection, has already lost you that precision, so we wouldn't be losing much by just mathematically unrolling the conical surface based on one curved face and producing a flat drawing.

Is there such a system hidden away in Fusion? The only references I've found so far are to Rhino, Pepakura, and the extremely fancy (and in this case completely unnecessary, as well as expensive) capabilities of the ExactFlat addon. But the math is so simple, and already incorporated in Sheet Metal, that it ought to be available at the touch of a button. Is it actually there somewhere? Anyone know?

[g-andresen]

Hi,

Just as you want a unwind function, other users require additions in different areas.

Applications that offer this "elementary" function are cited again and again.

The same applies to the call for "All in One".
On the other hand, users demand that elementary tools, such as the sketching tool, be optimized before new ones are implemented.
I would like to point out that multifunctionality has its limits when you can no longer see the forest for the trees.

regards

günther

[Eatonasher]

Don't worry, I''m in the exact same boat! There seems to be a lot of people answering questions that aren't actually asked. As far as I can tell, Fusion isn't capable of converting revolved solids into sheet metal equivalents/approximations. It's unfortunate, but oh well.

I wish someone would give a tutorial on how to make something like a hopper with rounded edges on one of the profiles. I'd be able to glean all the information I need from such a thing!

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@Eatonasher wrote:

I wish someone would give a tutorial on how to make something like a hopper with rounded edges on one of the profiles. I'd be able to glean all the information I need from such a thing!

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I probably have already done so.

You should start a new thread and File>Export and then Attach your *.f3d attempt in the new thread.

[kenTML5C]

TheCADWhisperer's solution is pretty freaking brilliant. Saved me. I'll add that a little experimenting showed that the process can be simplified a bit. After creating the tiny flange per TheCADWhisperer's process ... just select the whole flange (body) and in the Solid tab, do a 359º-ish Revolve around your cone's central axis, Operation = Join. Done. Go to the Sheet Metal tab and make it a lovely flat pattern. (That is, there's not actually a need to detour through Surface.)