Design & Cut Arch

[krazycnc]

Need to fall upon you experts in Cad to see which software can do this. I want to weld together a tapered arch cut from flat steel sheeting using a cnc plasma torch. As cad programs go I guess the term is "lofting" or "extruding" in 3d. Take a square on the working plane and copy it, rotate it 90 deg and place it up and to the right and reduce it 65%, now extrude in an arc from bottom to top. You now have four sides, the top and bottom pieces are curved and have to be "straightened out" so I can cut the flat pieces on the plasma table, the two side pieces are already "flat" and provide the profile to the arch. What I need is Cad software the allows extruding like this and then allows the flatning of a curved piece then saved as a dxf file that Sheetcam can read and convert to machine code. I would like to do 3 or 4 sided designs. Does anyone know a Cad program that allows this type of designing and not have to spend a fortune on it?

Thanks a bunch

[ger21]

Does anyone know a Cad program that allows this type of designing and not have to spend a fortune on it?

Thanks a bunch

I saw a program like this last week, but can't find it now. It would break 3D shapes into flat objects for cutting out of sheet materials. They had some Stainless stell sculptures for examples. I think it was between $500-$1000. I'll keep looking.

[ger21]

http://www.novedge.com/Prods_LaminaDesign.asp

[krazycnc]

Thanks Gerry I'll give a look.