Flatten a sheet metal cone shape

eric_taylor070

Everything I see is strict cylinder. Does anyone have a work around to be able to produce a sheet metal flat pattern?

wayne_sauder

I have done it a few times using step bends. That does not produce a true round but it has produced some nice cones that work in my applications. If you need to have a rolled cone and dimensions are critical then that will not work and I have not found a workaround yet. 

romeograham

The FeatureScript General Cone Unfold works well: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/0bb13c1b6ed6d4a6dd75cf99/v/54a1492241fd6e87c631683f/e/f0e6783ee0f9a81dab9e0dab

Go to that document, and click the + Custom Features button:


Then you can use the custom FeatureScript in your document. There is an example of how to use it in one of the Part Studios.

Once you have a flat sketch of the unfolded cone (which the FeatureScript will produce) you can then use Sheet Metal tools to make it a flat pattern. You don't get the typical Sheet Metal ability to fold / unfold etc, but you can at least get a Sheet Metal part that is a Flat Pattern of your conical shape.

josh_hamelin647

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/comment/59319#Comment_59319

So this looks like it could be cat's meow… but I can't get it to work. I did my best to emulate the example, but had mixed results. Perhaps a tutorial?

glen_dewsbury

Have a look at today's update. I think you'll find some useful stuff about flattening.

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/25868/improvements-to-onshape-november-22nd-2024

Oliver_Couch

Fyi though a cone is quite simple to do manually. I remember doing this way back in high school as part of engineering studies with a compass.