2 Replies Latest reply on Feb 24, 2017 8:25 AM by Julian Fesel

How to project/unroll a cylindrical surface onto a plane.

Julian Fesel Feb 24, 2017 6:26 AM

I have a model of a cylindrical vacuum chamber with several holes and need to project the whole inner surface of the long part to a plane ("unroll it"). Is there a way to do this in solidworks?

What I want to end up in the end is a sketch of the positions and shapes of the holes that I could use to manufacture a sheet, that when roled to a cylinder exactly matches the geometry of the chamber inside.

Chamber geometry_rec.SLDPRT.zip 182.8 KB

Re: How to project/unroll a cylindrical surface onto a plane.

Dennis Bacon Feb 24, 2017 7:33 AM (in response to Julian Fesel)
Are you thinking of something like this? I did an offset of 0 on the inside surface then split, delete face, then did a sheet metal "Insert Bends". Your model is still in the part but hidden.
Use the sheet metal "Flatten" for flat pattern.

Chamber geometry_rec_db.SLDPRT.zip 502.7 KB
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- Re: How to project/unroll a cylindrical surface onto a plane.
  
  Julian Fesel Feb 24, 2017 8:25 AM (in response to Dennis Bacon)
  
  Wow great! This is exactly what I need.
  
  Thanks a lot! This solves my question.
  
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