Hello,

I'm fishing for ways to model the flat version of a thin-walled helical part. This is actually a flex circuit that will be printed flat and installed to form a helix or cylinder. I want to be able to map the locations of helical circuit traces so we can fabricate the flat pattern and the achieve the correct circuit trace shape after rolling it up. I've successfully done something similar for arc sections of a cylinder using sheel metal, but not full wrap-around.

Attached is a start for visual purposes. I have a cylinder with a helical cut thru it, and also a helical ribbon for a similar 2nd approach. I tried to convert these to sheet metal just like others have done for slit tubes but didn't get it to work. I tried to add a small flat along the helical cut to see if that help to no avail.

Thanks!