Straightening a Pipe for tube laser

[RickWiens]

Hi there, We have a bunch of Bent pipes with holes in them that we had cut on the saw followed by the drill press drilling the holes into them then the pipe bender would bend the pipes.
We now want to start cutting the pipes that have holes in them on our Mazak Tube Laser.
Is there a way for us to un-bend pipes in Creo so we can send the tubes straightened in a step file to our Tube Laser?
Right now what I created another pipe beside our bent one calculating the length so it would be the right length and suppressed the bent pipe and saved the step file of the straight version of that pipe. Then after I suppressed the straight version.
Or is there another simple way for us to get the step files of the pipes to our tube laser?

thanks

Rick

 

[3DDave]

You might also ask on PTC User or at PTC Communities websites.

I've been using PTC software since rev 12 and don't recall seeing a method. Having written software to simulate tube bending, I can say it's not such an easy task, though the Mazak developers may have their own method to go from a formed model to one the Mazak can use.