Unwrap or flatten a cylindrical surface

[Max_Marz]

There are many topics relating to flattening or unwrapping that I have been pouring through all morning but I'm having a hard time understanding how to leverage sheet metal tools in order to "unwrap" a surface or flatten a body, specifically how to set up my surface/body in order for the sheet metal tools to recognize my cylinder as a bend so to speak...  Is this possible with stock tools to avoid tools like exact flat that is more appropriate for compound curves and complex geometry?

Below is a screenshot of my surface that I would like to turn into a flat sketch so I can analyze some dimensions easier secondly is a screenshot of a flattened pattern of the same geometry done in a different software by a colleague of mine as an example of what I'm trying to achieve. I really want to avoid doing any projection moves because faithful geometry is critical on this part.

Thank you.

[TheCADWhisperer]

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

Have you followed the 4 sheet metal rules?

Do you have a single body, multi-body or disjointed bodies?

[Max_Marz]

It is a single body, I can use the surface body of the OD to derive the flat pattern, or the solid model, for what I need it is irrelevant.. whatever works.

The file contains both.

Diving a little deeper... (choose your own adventure)

I need to determine at what point on the cylinder the groove stops being a constant width and starts widening so that I can split the body along those  extents to tailor my toolpath to cut those sections of the groove specifically. see: 

All of this is a dance I have to do to get around the limitations of 4th axis wrap and not being able to control Y axis offsets... sorry... I know its complicated but if I can get my flat patterns I can start dropping tangent circles to determine where I have to split.. I really hope that makes sense.

(All of my toolpaths have to be constrained to centerline (Y0) of the cylinder and my widths come from using exact size tools in order to avoid tapered walls:

 )

Thanks for playing along.

[TheCADWhisperer]

No Timeline?

[Max_Marz]

Model was given to me as a step file, nothing I can do about it unfortunately.

[TrippyLighting]

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@Max_Marz wrote:

Model was given to me as a step file, nothing I can do about it unfortunately.

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There's not much you can do in Fusion 360 to unwrap imported geometry. 

[ToddHarris7556]

Agree w/ @TrippyLighting specifically in this case because:

• The unfolder wants to work with a single body at a time. As soon as you split along the C/L the way that you're after, the unfolder will see every one of those disconnected pieces as an individual body. In order to give the unfolder a chance, you'd have to unwrap it like a crescent roll tube - one long spiral. 
• It sounds like your goal isn't so much on getting a flat pattern, but on analyzing/solving the machining problem associated with the 4th axis. Flat pattern would be one logical way to think about attacking that, but it doesn't sound like that's your end goal in and of itself. 
• Another possibly complicating piece is that it sounds like it's pretty critical to analyze the fin profile in the true machined orientation - which might be part of what you're saying when you say 'limitations of wrapped 4th'. In other words, this might have to be done as a true 4th, and not wrapped, to get the true profile. 

In any case, I suspect that flat pattern is a dead-end road on this one - even if you started with clean modeled geometry. 

[TheCADWhisperer]

@TrippyLighting wrote:

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There's not much you can do in Fusion 360 to unwrap imported geometry. 

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If it follows the 4 rules of sheet metal - the source is irrelevant - I can generate a Flat Pattern.

There was someone posting here a while back trying to model a sheet metal enclosure before Fusion even had sheet metal tools. I kept trying to get the person to follow my instructions, but all they wanted to do was argue with me. and finally requested that I stop posting to their threads.  Even after Fusion added sheet metal tools - he wouldn't follow my instructions.  

[TrippyLighting]

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@TheCADWhisperer wrote:

@TrippyLighting wrote:

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There's not much you can do in Fusion 360 to unwrap imported geometry. 

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If it follows the 4 rules of sheet metal - the source is irrelevant - I can generate a Flat Pattern.

There was someone posting here a while back trying to model a sheet metal enclosure before Fusion even had sheet metal tools. I kept trying to get the person to follow my instructions, but all they wanted to do was argue with me. and finally requested that I stop posting to their threads.  Even after Fusion added sheet metal tools - he wouldn't follow my instructions.  

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In Fusion 360 or in Inventor ?

Either way I'd love to see the workflow.

I rarely work with sheetmetal and then only for really simple stuff so excuse my ignorance. What are the 4 rules of sheet metal ?

[mavigogun]

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@TheCADWhisperer wrote:

I kept trying to get the person to follow my instructions, but all they wanted to do was argue with me. and finally requested that I stop posting to their threads.

I remember this,  or a similar circumstance- and that I learned more from the thread than the original poster seemed capable of.    Much of value goes unsung- best we can do is voice appreciation, pay it forward, and press "Like".