File preparation

To cut a part on the laser cutter’s rotary axis, you need a flat version of your (presumably circular) geometry. You can achieve this by turning your part into a Sheet Metal part and creating an engineering drawing.

1. Create a thin (1mm or less) cut along the length of your part to make it ‘unwrappable’

   Open

   

   Thin cut in annulus

2. Convert the part to Sheet Metal

   Open

   

   Convert part

   1. Switch to the Sheet Metal toolbar tab

   2. Under Create, select Convert to Sheet Metal

3. Create a flat pattern

   Open

   

   Button to create flat pattern
   Open

   

   Face to use

   1. Select Create Flat Pattern and the outer surface of the part

   2. In the flat pattern view, create an engineering drawing at 1:1 scale (use a large enough sheet)

   3. Remove the frames, and title blocks

   4. Export the drawing as a PDF

4. Open the PDF in Inkscape

   1. Remove the centerline

   2. Change the outline’s color to one different from the cuts (blue, for example)

   3. Interrupt large cuts - otherwise, the large off-cut will cam out or fall down, potentially bumping the part. (You can alternately achieve this by using the cropping tool in the laser’s software)