How to create flat patterns for tube cuts

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Fellow member Tom recently asked me if Fusion 360 could be used to create a flat pattern from a tube shape as shown below.
Tom said: " I drew up a tube and put the fish mouth cut into it to connect to another tube. It shows what I need to complete to a DXF file for cutting."

Toms tube cut sample.jpg (20.02 KiB) Viewed 3481 times

Toms tube cut sample.jpg (20.02 KiB) Viewed 3481 times

The answer is "Yes". This is pretty simple to accomplish using Fusion 360 - and once the program is finished - it can be easily and quickly modified by entering different values for the angle, tube diameter, wall thickness, etc.

Here is an example showing how I would do it. The first part of my example shows 2 inch diameter tubes for both the main and branch tubes, as those were the sizes that Tom was using for his sample project.

The second part of my example shows a 3 inch diameter main tube with a 2" diameter branch tube, and some examples of how to easily edit the angle between the tubes, tube diameters, etc. to create specific flat patterns for each particular configuration.

Let me know if you have any questions and/or comments.

Thanks,

David

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[acourtjester]

Tanks David, big help with my getting started with Fusion 360 I understand the concept and visualized it in my mind but did not know the tools to use.
The software I used to create the original sketch I had is very basic and lacks the exact indicators (maybe mine) to make a true precise DXF drawing. Teaching an old dog new tricks, 2 woofs

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Tom - here is the download link for the Fusion 360 file for the example I showed above. Let me know if you have any questions about using it.

David

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CN6vgW ... sp=sharing

[acourtjester]

Thanks David