Thread: Sheet Metal Cone Pattern Generator

I've just put up a Cone Pattern Generator on blocklayer.com.
But I'm not a metal worker, so would appreciate advice on whether or not it's set up ok for sheet metal cone patterns.

http://www.blocklayer.com/cone-patterns.aspx

Enter the cone dimensions and it draws a full scale template to print.
You can also mark out increment points around the cone.
Enter the number of increments, (slant) height above base and diameter of the points to mark, and it adds them to the template.
It also animates with slider controls so you can see how the pattern changes as top and base width, and height are changed.
At the moment it goes up to 500 mm high by 200 mm wide. This fits pretty easily on an A1 size page, which OfficeWorks will print for around $4.
Hit the Print Diagrams button at the bottom of the page to create a PDF up to A0 size (841 mm x 1189 mm)
Is it worth while making it go up to the A0 size?

Thanks for any feedback.

Great piece of work!
For sheetmetal work, it is very useful to have the incremental points at both ends of the cone, for progressive bending/forming in a folder. Those marks also allow for easier even marking and cutting of flanges or segmented spigots at both ends.
Also, much more difficult to program though, is the aility to set an offset - in other words being ale to determine the relative position of the'inlet' and 'outlet' of the transistion/cone. For example it is often required that an edge of the inlet and outlet are in a plane or lining up with each other.
Your pattern generator only allows the centres to line up.
Thank you very much for your great work and telling us about it!

Originally Posted by jhovel

For sheetmetal work, it is very useful to have the incremental points at both ends of the cone

Thanks for that info Joe.

Wondering if the option to draw full height incremental lines on the template would be useful?

The off center bit sounds a bit tricky, but will take a look at what might be done.

This is interesting,thanks for posting.

Hi locklayer,
yes, having the incremental lines drawn for the full lenght of the cone would be good. This is particularly useful if and when you find a centre offset option.
The last thing that would e really useful - but MUCH more complicated - is a transition from round to rectangular crossection. These are the most tedius to develop....
This page http://www.tpub.com/blueprintreading/48.htm gives a bit of an insight of what's involved. I've done quite a few in my life manually and they are a pain....

Thanks Joe.
Ill add the incremental full length lines.
At the moment, the marked points start in from the join edges of the template, so there's no point right on the edge.
Could the full length lines start the same, or would it be better if they were right from the edge?

Will take a look at the transition you mentioned (thanks for the link), but it sounds a bit complicated code wise.

Thanks again for the info and suggestions.

my dad would have loved that if he was still alive

he did all his the hard way...divders etc etc

he had over 50 templates for stuff like funnels, watering can spouts, those quart and 2 quart oil pannikins etc etc..

Having the lines go edge to edge would be more useful than somwhere near the edge.