Archimedean spiral

The surface is developable and the flat pattern is solved in closed form. Cut the part to the drawing and it fits — the whole uncertainty sits in the K-factor, which belongs to the material and the machine, not to the geometry.

Dimensions are entered as: Neutral fibre (mean dimension). The flat pattern itself is always computed on the neutral fibre — at Ø800 in 3 mm sheet the difference between the inside and the outside dimension is 18.8 mm of developed width, and then the seam does not meet.

En plan Arkimedes-spiral (r = a·θ) trukket som et rundt rør med konstant spor-afstand mellem vindingerne. Pladearbejdet er selve røret, der rulles fladt til ét langt rektangel og bøjes til spiral bagefter.

Spiralformede rør- og slangeføringer, varmevekslere, dekorative spiraler og spiral-render. En øvelse i at udvikle et lige rør (parallel-linje) og forme det til spiralen efter rulning.

Smed, VVS-energi og industritekniker — spiralformede rør-/slangeføringer, varmevekslere og dekorative spiraler.

Stål, kobber eller rustfri rør. Kobber til varmevekslere (god varmeleder). Røret rulles fladt og bøjes til spiral.

Source: Materialer/tykkelser: src/lib/kasse/materialer.ts (DIN 6935 for stål; massefylder og handelstykkelser; springback). Fremstillingsfælder: docs/PLAN-UDFOLDNINGSBIBLIOTEK.md §9.2/§4.

Omgange — Number of turns

Hvor mange hele vindinger spiralen laver. Indgår kvadratisk i rørets udviklede længde (L ≈ π × spor-afstand × omgange²).

Spor-afstand — Spor-afstand

Radial afstand mellem to nabo-vindinger (mm) — spiralens 'a' ganget med 2π. Konstant hele vejen ud.

Rør-radius — Rør-radius

Radius på selve røret (mm). Udrullet bliver rør-omkredsen 2π × rør-radius til det flade panels bredde.

Step by step with compass and square — in cardboard first, in sheet metal after.

1. 01Beregn rørets udviklede længde: L ≈ π × spor-afstand × omgange² (spiralens omtrentlige buelængde).
2. 02Aftegn det flade panel som et langt rektangel: bredde = 2π × rør-radius (udrullet omkreds), længde = L — klassisk parallel-linje-udrulning af cylinderen.
3. 03Markér eventuelt 12 lodrette stationslinjer på tværs som rulle-reference, og afsæt en limflap langs den ene lange kant.
4. 04Skær rektanglet ud, rul det til et lige rør så de to lange kanter mødes, og luk sømmen langs limflappen.
5. 05Bøj til sidst det færdige, lige rør blødt til Arkimedes-spiralen (r = a·θ) med konstant spor-afstand.

Røret udvikles som et lige rør — spiralformen kommer først ved bøjning bagefter. Bøj langsomt og jævnt (gerne om en skabelon) så røret ikke folder/klemmer sammen i de inderste, skarpe vindinger.

• ·Udvikl RØRET som en lige parallel-linje-udfoldning (rektangel = π·d × længde) og form til spiral EFTER rulning — spiralen er ikke selve pladeudfoldningen.
• ·Bøjes røret uden dorn/fyld, bliver det ovalt (ovalitet) i vindingerne — brug dorn eller sandfyld ved lille bøjeradius.
• ·Hold konstant spor-afstand mellem vindingerne, så spiralen ligger jævnt.

The words and formulas the trade uses for a flat pattern. The symbols are the same throughout Discebo: α is the bend angle in degrees, R the inside bend radius, t the sheet thickness and K the K-factor — all in millimetres.

Flat pattern (development)

The part's surface laid out flat as one continuous cutting outline — the way the sheet looks BEFORE it is bent or rolled. Only a developable surface can be unfolded exactly; a doubly curved surface cannot be laid flat without stretching the material.

Flat length

The flat length the part must be cut to so the dimensions come out right once it is bent. It is either the sum of the outside dimensions minus the bend deductions, or the sum of the flat legs plus the bend allowances — both routes must give the same number.L = Σ(udvendige mål) − Σ(BD) = Σ(flade ben) + Σ(BA)

Bend allowance

The length of material that sits in the bend itself, measured along the neutral fibre. The bend allowance is always positive and is added to the flat legs.BA = (π/180) · α · (R + K · t)

Bend deduction

The amount subtracted from the sum of the outside dimensions, because the two outside dimensions between them count the corner twice. Here the bend deduction is taken as POSITIVE and subtracted; DIN 6935 writes the same quantity as the compensation value v with the opposite sign.BD = 2 · OSSB − BA

Outside setback

The distance from the theoretical outside corner point in to where the bend starts. Above 90°, tan(α/2) is clamped to at most 1 per DIN 6935, so the number does not explode towards 180°.OSSB = tan(α/2) · (R + t)

Compensation value v to DIN 6935

The standard's own way of writing the same corner loss: the flat length is a + b + v, where v is negative. Our bend deduction is therefore the same quantity with the opposite sign — never flip one without the other.L = a + b + v ⇒ v = −BD

K-factor

Where the neutral fibre sits in the sheet, given as a fraction of the sheet thickness. DIN 6935 writes the correction factor k, which applies to the neutral line in the form (R + t·k/2); the American CAD convention writes (R + K·t), so K = k/2.k = 0,65 + 0,5 · log₁₀(R/t), k ≤ 1,0 ⇒ K = k/2

Neutral fibre

The layer in the sheet that is neither stretched nor compressed when the part is bent. The flat pattern is always computed on the neutral fibre — which is why it matters whether the drawing's dimensions are inside or outside.

Bend angle

The angle the material is turned through, not the angle between the legs. The bend angle is 180° minus the included angle, so a square corner is 90° and a seam fold is 180°.α = 180° − åbningsvinklen

Inside bend radius

The radius on the inside of the bend. It is set by the tooling and the material, not by the drawing — too small a radius cracks the part in the outer fibre.

Sheet thickness

The thickness of the material. It enters every single bend allowance, so sheet delivered 0.2 mm thicker than ordered shifts the flat length at every bend.

Fold line

The line on the flat pattern where the part is to be bent. It is drawn but never cut through — in a laser file it therefore sits on its own layer.

Test bend

A strip of known raw length, bent in the material and the tooling that production will use. Measure the two outside legs afterwards and the bend deduction and K-factor can be worked back. The machine's own measured bend table beats any table.BD_målt = (A + B) − L₀

DIN 6935 covers only cold bending of flat products in structural steel. Stainless, aluminium, copper, brass and titanium zinc are not included — there the formulas are an extrapolation, and a test bend in the actual material settles it.

8 fields. The starting values belong to the figure itself — they live in one place in the code, so the tool, the share link and the smoke test can never disagree about what «default» means.

A preset sets every dimension at once. The name is often the word the part goes by in the workshop — the library's search knows them all.

Read them before the part is cut. They are here because they cannot be calculated away — not as legal text, but as craft.

• The figure supplies the FLAT spiral — the geometry and the cutting contour. If the strip is to be drawn up out of the plane into a screw flight on a shaft, that is a forming operation not covered here; it belongs in the figure ‘Screw flight’.
• The contour is NOMINAL. The machine must compensate for the cut width itself — without kerf compensation the strip becomes one cut width too narrow and the gap between the coils one cut width too wide.
• A spiral with many turns cannot be drawn infinitely finely: the cutting contour has a budget of 800 points, and the chord deficit at the outer radius is given as a figure. Let the machine interpolate true circular arcs rather than the DXF polyline on large spirals.
• If the spiral is used as a flat spring/spiral spring, the spring constant, stress level and fatigue are NOT calculated. Size it in accordance with EN 16983 and the material's spring condition — the tool only supplies the geometry, not the load capacity.
• If the spiral is a load-bearing or exposed decoration (a volute in a railing), it is a building component; fixing, wind load and anchoring must be sized separately and are not covered.
• Alloy and material figures are material data and are not invented. The K-factor for stainless steel and galvanised steel is an extrapolation — DIN 6935 covers only structural steel — but it only applies once the piece is bent, and a flat spiral is not bent.
• Sharp cut edges must be deburred. On a narrow, springback-sensitive strip, a flame-cut or laser-cut edge can produce a hardened, brittle edge that must be softened before the piece is loaded.