Finally got the sheet metal pattern for that weird duct elbow to work

This old building job needed a custom offset elbow to clear a beam, and the math just would not line up. I must have drawn that thing six different ways over three days, trying to get the flat pattern to fold right. The issue was the offset angle combined with the different diameters at each end. I finally sat down with a real old school book from the library and a pad of paper, did the layout by hand, and it clicked. Took the hand sketch into the software and the flat pattern worked first try. Anyone else ever have a simple fitting turn into a multi day puzzle?

3 comments

3 Comments

bennett.riley24d ago

That "old school book from the library" move is the real story here. It's wild how often the analog way cuts through the digital noise. What was the book, some forgotten trades manual?

nora_taylor7924d ago

It was a city building code from the 70s. The diagrams showed exactly how the original pipes were supposed to be run. You just don't find that stuff online, or if you do, it's buried.

grace_white24d ago

Guess the library is the new search engine, just ask @nora_taylor79. Some problems only get solved when you turn off the screen.