Flat Pattern Spiral Sheet Metal Parts

You want to know how to Flatten a Spiral Shaped Sheet Metal parts in Inventor.

• Create a new 3D Sketch inside a Sheet Metal Part, then define a Helical Curve of type Spiral.

• Define a Work Plane normal to the Axis of the Spiral.

• Create a new 2D Sketch on this work plane and use Project Geometry to project the Spiral onto the 2D Sketch.

• Note: At this point you could make the 3D sketch invisible.
• Now Right Click on the projected Spiral and select Break link from the flyout menu. Note: This step is crucial to make the whole process work as it eliminates the G2 Discontinuities introduced by the Spiral projection.

• Now complete the sketch and Extrude the 2D sketch as a Surface.

• Using the Thicken command, select the Surface and Thicken by the sheet metal Thickness.

• The Folded shape is now complete, simply select Go To Flat Pattern to see the Development shape.