Lasercutting Acrylic pipe

Community Laser Talk
1

Hi all,
Anyone tips and tricks on how to program shapes to cut in pipes with rotary axis? Do you need a special program or just draw it in Solidworks like program and then unfold? Maby you got suggestions…

Thanks!image

2

You’d just draw it flat, with the Y axis length set to match the outside circumference of the pipe, like you had “unwrapped it”. Then just run it on a rotary.

3

Thanks Oz,
That’s how I do it right now but with som more complex shapes it’s difficult to draw in 2D and to see if it matches your ideas.

4

If you can unfold in Solidworks, the result will be just as Oz suggests, no need to start in 2D. All that is really required is a file format that LB accepts. I see some of the design appears to wrap and merge. That could be tricky in alignment. It would be better if the unwrap has a straight edge on both sides, rather than a contour that has to meet up, but with care and fine tuning you may be able to make it work.