I built a tube cutter attachment out of the headstock of 9x20 lathe for my CNC plasma cutter. I can cope pipe with it all day long. I know there's a coping calculator on the internet and I've used it to create flat curves for this sort of thing. But what I want to do is cut a piece of pipe that will be welded to a flat surface at a given angle. In other words, think of a flag pole or something of the sort that is pitched 60 degrees to the left and 15 degrees to the front. I can project a straight line on the pipe and I get the curve, but is there a way to unwrap it?

I kind of understand the tube calculator suggesting a 1" offset on 1" pipe and getting a miter cut, but that seems like you would only get one angle. I want a compound miter. I could cut it on the chop saw, but I'd have to set the piece in the saw at 60 degrees and then lift the pipe 15 degrees and somehow gig that to get it right every time. I want to put the pipe on plasma table, spin it, cut it, done.

Is there a way to get this done in Rhino or something else?

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