Tubing cut teplates, is there a way?

[GTMule]

I am working on modelling some fairly simple pieces of fabricated 1 1/4 metal tubing. In the parts, there are various joints, at various compound angles, none of which are anyhting simple, like 45, or 90 degs. The joints will all be welded, and gusseted, with threadded buckets in the joints, for attachment. My question is, when these pieces are being fabricated (especially the forst time) in the past, we have left figuring out the cuts to the fabricator (esp the first time). My question is, is there a way to "unroll" these tubes, before all the gussets and buckets are added to the model (which was created using intersectiing curcular extrustions, and then shelling to the desired wall thickness) and put this in a drawing to be brinted, and used as a template to make the fabrication somewhat less time consuming, at the ends, there are some very complex cuts which have to be figured out, and wrapping the tube in a teplate, and drawing on the sape, would at least help. I'm not opposed to redoing it (perhaps each tube individually) with sheet metal features, cutting one tube, where the other would have been extruded, then doing the others, individually. However, I'm not very famillar with the sheetmetal features in SW. Any help, or ideas would be much appreciated.

Chuck Boulware

Formula World Racing, Inc.

 

[SnowCrash]

Hmmm.
One way is to put the assembly together without doing the cuts ahead of time. Just let the parts overlap. Then edit the parts in place. Use the intersecting part to creat a cavity in the one you are working on. Eliminate the extra pieces as you go along. If you have a chamfer to add that can be done after you make the trims. This is cool because it will update the design and cuts when you make changes.

Consult with your vendor and find out what they really need to know to define the cuts. Wraparound templates may not be helpful. They may want to know the axis and diameter of the cuts.

Crashj 'it' about processes' Johnson