Unwrapping a cyclinder

Hi all,

I am currently designing an exhaust mainfold. The exhaust primeries have 4 small pipes that meet up and join into 1 larger pipe.

I have moddled the cyclinders and used the subtract command which has left me with the shape of the cyclinders i need to cut out in real life.

what i would really like to be able to do is almost unwrap the surface of these cyclinders onto a flat plane so i can print them off full size cut them out and stick them to the stainless steel pipe. this would give me nice cut lines.

is this possible, has anybody got any ideas on how i could achieve this?

unfortunatly it wont let me attch the file becasue it exceeds the 250kb limit!

Thanks for all your comments and help,

could you do a screen shot of your drawing and attach that so i can get a better idea of what you are actually tryin to do?

hiya i hope this helps

I would think a program like Solidworks or Inventor could do it. Forum member J.D. Mather would most likely be able to tell you for sure.

Something like this?

(Done with an application from http://www.ant-ares.de

in AutoCAD2006).

Send me your file and I try to help you.

Regards

Jochen

cyl2plane.dwg

what i would really like to be able to do is almost unwrap the surface of these cyclinders onto a flat plane

As indicated - Inventor or SolidWorks.

Jochen,

do you have an email address i can send it to?

Thanks

Send me your sample via scj.schulz(at)t-online.de

Regards

Jochen