Sheet metal blank development - elliptical cone

Hi,

We manufacture vessels fabricated from flat steel sheet, designed
using AutoCad LT98. We want to have the ability to produce blank
developments automatically from the CAD, specifically the blank
development of elliptical cone frustum shapes (circle at top of cone,
ellipse at base).

I know that there are LISP routines which can do blank developments,
but LT98 can't do LISP and even upgrading to LT2005 isn't going to
help on that score. I know that solid modelling packages like Inventor
and Solidworks can do it, but that's a huge investment for such a
simple problem.

So.. do you guys know of any other way that this can be done
automatically on cad, or any lightweight programs or utilities which I
should be looking at?

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer.

Nick

 

So upgrade to IntelliCAD 5 (Latest Release) and get Lisp for less than
1/10 of the cost of full blown AutoCAD.

Then find the Lisp program you seek......

Even better download the evaluation version and try it out

Alan (Cadalot)

 

Can a LISP routine solve the slightly thorny issue of neutral axis
adjustment (i.e., material stretch) along bend lines? Are you dealing
with straightforward bends rather than with forming methods? If not,
then I'd venture to suggest that it's not "such a simple problem" after
all. If you're dealing often with forming, nothing short of some of the
most advanced software available will help you. If you're dealing with
bends (not forming) then perhaps you would do well to consider moving
from AutoCAD (LT or not) to a real MCAD design tool such as the ones you
mention, or else buying one seat of such software and using it only when
necessary and outputting to AutoCAD format. FYI, I create usable and
pretty accurate flat patterns all the time and output to AutoCAD format
from SolidWorks very easily, but the flat pattern for any but the
simplest and mildest kind of drawing or forming operation is pure
guesswork.

Mark 'Sporky' Stapleton
Watermark Design, LLC
www.h2omarkdesign.com

 

In full AutoCAD you could use my BREUEL-routine (see www.black-cad.de) to
unfold any 3d-surface.
If you have only LT - try out the variant unfoldings from www.KED.de
Regards
Jochen