I hope the title makes sense…
I want to design a 3D part that will be laser-cut from steel and then bent to final shape.
Is there a way in Rhino that I can design this part as 3D and maybe automatically “flatten” it for laser cutting?
Right now I’m thinking I’d have to design the part in 3D and then manually lay out the flat file for laser cutting and would like to avoid that (to make iteration easier during prototyping).
I’m following a guide on bending here ( https://hackaday.com/2016/05/18/the-art-and-science-of-bending-sheet-metal/ ) that mentions Rhino specifically can do bent construction and automatically take into account how the metal bends to ensure dimensional accuracy on the final product. Is this true? If so how can I get back to an accurate flattened file from there…
Thanks for your time