How to unwrap to flat from an STL

[nkloski]

I have a client request where they have created a nice STL from a type of wire-mesh device that is:

• made out of constant thickness wires
• repeats in a 3D pattern (twists in Y as well as travels in X)

It is a more complex pattern than this, but it is a similar idea.  The area I am working on is just a cylindrical shape with no termination, to keep things simple:

Here is my thought process:

• Import the STL
• Do some painstaking spline-work (or maybe in Sculpt with snapping edges) to re-create the shape
• Use the Sculpt--> Pipe command to make it all nice
• Create a thick sheet metal cylinder around the shape, intersecting it
• Boolean Subtract the pipes from the curved sheet metal
• Unbend the sheet metal to a flat

Would that work?  Since I don't know sheet metal, I am unable to answer that.....but will "things" that happen to a curved sheet metal object, "flatten" out when unfolded?

Thanks! 

[davebYYPCU]

Seeing the pic is not the real deal, and sizes are unknown, as long as it is a cylinder, or conical should work.

If it were me, I would make the cylinder unwrap it, the place the 2d knurling pattern on it, as indicated.

In the real world it takes some doing to roll thick sheetmetal.

My 2 cents....

[TrippyLighting]

As @davebYYPCU said, if the shape is a true cone or cylinder the sheet metal method works (I would love to have this available as a general modeling tool), but if is the cone has curvature then unwrapping that in Fusion 360 won't work.