Unwrapping Tube/Pipe (Cylinders)

Tarabich

How would I go about unwrapping tube ends?

I'm using the beam feature to model a tube chassis. Looking to unwrap the ends of the tubes so I can have a template to cut/notch the tube ends in preparation for welding.

Any solutions to this? It seems it can't be done with sheet metal...

konstantin_shiriazdanov

hi, my Sketch wrapper FS works with cylinder and cone faces, and Fold FS works with arbitary extruded faces, so it can help if your profile lies on one of the described surface types. And one more thing - you need to split or cut your closed profile along to unwrap it by this tools.

both FS are in this document - https://cad.onshape.com/documents/0bb13c1b6ed6d4a6dd75cf99/w/b4493d47a45c27ce485c84b9/e/c8050a35a7417c12b801bd40

owen_sparks

@konstantin_shiriazdanov where are you at?

He has a funky unwrapper tool that I believe will do what you want...

Owen S.

konstantin_shiriazdanov

hi, my Sketch wrapper FS works with cylinder and cone faces, and Fold FS works with arbitary extruded faces, so it can help if your profile lies on one of the described surface types. And one more thing - you need to split or cut your closed profile along to unwrap it by this tools.

both FS are in this document - https://cad.onshape.com/documents/0bb13c1b6ed6d4a6dd75cf99/w/b4493d47a45c27ce485c84b9/e/c8050a35a7417c12b801bd40

Tarabich

Think this should do, thx. I'm assuming the dimensions are all the same eh?
Edit: @konstantin_shiriazdanov Wait the feature seems to only work on vertical tubes... for horizonal tubes I just get a line

konstantin_shiriazdanov

hm, it keeps the dimensions, and the result shouldn't depend on orientation of the cylinder. would you mind to share an example of not working case?

Tarabich

@konstantin_shiriazdanov

Tarabich

As a test I split the tube and tried to unwrap it on the plane behind it, got that line. Looking for the end profile of the tube end attached to the bent tube,

Tarabich

@konstantin_shiriazdanov

Do you think it has to do with the fact that its trimmed to a curved beam? I've been testing the feature on the other tubes and they all seem to work.

Edit: Did some "tests" it does appear to work on bends, idk what I did wrong in that particular instance though...

konstantin_shiriazdanov

you can derive that part to a public document and share here, i'll take a look

Tarabich

@konstantin_shiriazdanov

This work? https://cad.onshape.com/documents/0224482b113f893476ab050b/w/37198fa1db22a66b3451dc07/e/f2718821e76235da8b9372c2

btw thx for all the help

konstantin_shiriazdanov

i made a cut by myself precisely along the cyl axis and rotated cylinder's coordinate system at 90 deg and it turned to work.
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/613757184cc86b3d44ef5d56/w/927fc57466b6aebdac40d93d/e/4940f8dd0a9acd3eeaa9d37c
the problem was that in your case y axis of cyl's coord sys don't comes through the cut

Tarabich

@konstantin_shiriazdanov

Oh so I gotta rotate it eh? So the feature when correctly used should reveal the whole unwrapped part? (Thx for giving me an example, every time I did it before it was giving me only a portion of the tube.)

Sorry just to clarify so I don't make the same error-

The problem was the cut wasn't on an axis of the tube.
And to display the full unwrapped tube I have to rotate the surface.

So the final unwrapped tube should be a complete flat surface right, no lines sticking out or anything. Is there a way to determine exactly what angle I have to view it at (some seem to be 90/270 some 180, does it have to do with the position of those red arrows in relation to the part?). (I also saw a delete face in there, is that needed?)

Tarabich

Thanks for all the help!

I might have more questions later so sorry. It might take me a bit to get better with your feature.

Is there a tutorial, video, or checklist for the feature so I don't miss any steps or make any mistakes?

konstantin_shiriazdanov

Lio said:

So the final unwrapped tube should be a complete flat surface right, no lines sticking out or anything. Is there a way to determine exactly what angle I have to view it at (some seem to be 90/270 some 180, does it have to do with the position of those red arrows in relation to the part?). (I also saw a delete face in there, is that needed?)

yes, since the feature unwraps the face it normally creates a corresponding sketch region. sadly now you have to do some manual work of making cuts along closed surfaces and orienting coordinate system's y axis to come through the cut, but not through the face.
no matter how you do the cut, but y axis of surface coordinate system should come through it, when looking along z axis of that coord system. that why you can rotate that coord sys around it's z axis.
and because of my laziness I didn't any manual or a title sheet to those features. delete face i used to delete your cut because it was done not along the cyl's axis, you probably selected a sketch plane which was not normal to the cylinder.

Tarabich

@konstantin_shiriazdanov

I see, well thanks for all the help, I surely would've been lost without ya. This feature will definitely make cutting the tubes easier and more accurate.

Thank you!