CaldereriaOnLine.com - BLOG

Updates, New Patterns & Improvements

Here, we will be regularly posting news and updates about:

• ✅ New pattern types added to our sheet metal development tools
• 🧩 Improvements or corrections made to existing tools and settings
• 🔧 Bug fixes, adjustments, and platform enhancements
• 💬 Any other relevant information to help you get the most out of your experience

Two New Conical Helix Developments

2026/08/18

We have added two new conical helix patterns to CaldereriaOnline.com, expanding the existing helix developments beyond the standard cylindrical auger. The new Helix - Conical - Angle pattern allows you to generate a conical helical auger with different bottom and top diameters, internal and external diameters, an auger height, and a specified angle other than 360°. The input also includes material thickness.

The second addition, Helix - Conical - Side - Angle, generates the corresponding conical helix lateral flange. It uses the bottom and top diameters, auger height, helix angle, material thickness, and the lateral flange height as inputs.

These new patterns complement the existing Helix and Helix - Side developments, which are based on cylindrical geometry and a standard 360° helix. With these additions, the helix section now covers both cylindrical and conical augers and their lateral flanges, with different helix angles (not only the whole 360°).

New Pattern: Parallel (vertical) cylindrical branch on cone

2026/08/08

We have added a new sheet metal development to CaldereriaOnline.com: a cylindrical branch on a straight cone with its axis parallel to the cone's axis. This complements the existing pattern where the branch intersects the cone at an angle, giving fabricators another practical solution for common transition and vessel designs.

This type of connection is found in hoppers, cyclones, silos, dust collection systems, tanks and process equipment, or for legs or supports of such equipment.

As with all developments available on CaldereriaOnline.com, the pattern is calculated instantly online and can be downloaded as a fabrication-ready DXF file for CNC plasma, laser, waterjet or oxy-fuel cutting.

Improved Preview Images for Cone and Cone Branch Developments

2026/07/30

We have refined the preview image generation for cone and cone branch developments to provide a more accurate visual representation of the flat pattern before downloading the DXF file.

With certain input value combinations, cone developments with developed angles greater than 180° could display a preview where the branch opening was not visible, even though it was correctly generated in the resulting DXF file.
Likewise, for some cone developments where the developed sagitta was smaller than the development height, the branch opening was displayed correctly, but the cone arcs themselves could be missing from the preview.
In every case, the generated DXF files and fabrication-ready developments were always mathematically correct.

The preview generation algorithm has now been enhanced to handle these cases more reliably, providing a visual representation that closely matches the downloaded development across a wide range of cone sizes, proportions and developed angles. This makes it easier to verify the expected result before downloading the DXF and further improves the overall user experience of the online platform.

The images below illustrate examples of these improvements. The first comparison shows a cone branch development with a developed angle greater than 180°, where the branch opening is now correctly displayed on the preview.

Example input parameters: D3: 100 | L: 1000 | T: 1 | D1: 1000 | D2: 100 | H: 200 | T1: 2 | H1: 100 | A: 70

The second example shows a cone development with a small sagitta relative to its development height, where the preview now correctly displays both cone arcs and the branch opening. The example dimensions are shown below the image.

Example input parameters: D3: 100 | L: 1000 | T: 1 | D1: 400 | D2: 350 | H: 1000 | T1: 2 | H1: 500 | A: 70

Download Free DXF Pattern Samples

2026/07/09

If you're wondering what the flat patterns generated by CaldereriaOnline.com look like, you can now download a free package containing 10 sample DXF files. The examples include several common sheet metal geometries such as cones, transitions, pipe branches, hoppers and elbows, allowing you to review the quality and structure of the generated developments in your preferred CAD/CAM software.

The download also includes a short PDF guide describing the examples, their typical fabrication applications and how the patterns are generated. Whether you cut parts with laser, plasma, waterjet or prepare paper templates for manual fabrication, these samples provide a practical introduction to the type of output available from the platform.

The sample package is available from the home page and can be downloaded free of charge after a quick anti-spam verification. We hope it helps you better understand how CaldereriaOnline.com can simplify the preparation of accurate sheet metal flat patterns for your fabrication projects.

Improvements behind the scenes

2026/06/20

The first half of 2026 has been focused primarily on improving the foundations of CaldereriaOnline.com.

While most of these changes are not directly visible to users, significant work has been carried out on the platform's backend systems. These improvements have helped increase pattern development accuracy, reduce calculation errors, improve response times, and enhance overall website stability.

Our goal remains the same: provide reliable sheet metal developments that fabricators can trust for real workshop applications.

New Pattern: Straight Cone in Multiple Sections

One of the new developments added this year is the ability to generate a Straight Cone in N Parts, that is, with several vertical seams.

This pattern allows a standard cone to be divided into 2 to 5 vertical sections, producing individual developments that can be fabricated separately and assembled together using longitudinal seams.

The feature was asked for by a customer in Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada, who needed a practical way to manufacture very big cones from standard sheet sizes.

The new pattern is particularly useful when:

• Sheet size limitations prevent fabrication from a single piece.
• Large diameters become difficult to handle in the workshop.
• Transportation constraints require fabrication in sections.

As with many additions to the platform, this development originated from a real fabrication requirement submitted by a user.

Improved Identification of Premium Patterns

We have also introduced a clearer way to distinguish between free and premium developments in the pattern library.

Free patterns continue to be identified by a green border around the pattern image, while premium patterns now display a crown icon (👑) in the upper-right corner.

This small visual improvement makes browsing the library faster and helps users immediately identify which developments are included in the free tier and which belong to the premium collection.

Renewed Home Page

We also introduced a redesigned home page to make CaldereriaOnline.com clearer to first-time visitors.

The new landing page provides a more visual explanation of how the platform works, the types of sheet metal developments available, and how users can generate fabrication-ready patterns in just a few steps.

The goal of this update is simple: help users understand the platform's capabilities more quickly and start generating developments with fewer clicks and less guesswork.

Thank You

Many of the improvements and new patterns added to CaldereriaOnline.com originate from user suggestions and real workshop requirements.

Thank you to everyone who continues to use the platform, provide feedback, and suggest new developments. More improvements and new patterns are already in progress.

To everyone who uses the platform, provides feedback, reports issues, or suggests new ideas: thank you.

Your input continues to play an important role in shaping the future of CaldereriaOnline.com.

More updates are coming soon.

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For more expert insights and tools to optimize your sheet metal workflow, stay tuned to our blog and explore our suite of online development tools designed to streamline your sheet metal design process.