fablab   fabacademy

Fabacademy: Fusion360

Screen

Basic steps

  1. Create sketch
  2. Press R: create two-point rectangle (two opposite points); Esc when you’re done with rectangles
  3. Finish sketch
  4. Press E: extrude, select sketches and specify height you want, the output (new body in this case) and press ok
  5. Press F: fillet, select edges and specify radius etc. and press ok
  6. Right click feature in the ‘past’ and click edit feature; see how it affects the ‘future’. Notice how with every change a feature is added to the timeline; use the line on the right to go back in time
  7. Save (ctrl + s): every time you save your project you can add a version description. After saving the name is updated to the next version (v1>v2>etc). You can go back to every saved version in the data panel.

Constraints

Features we apply to our entities

Instead of just drawing the line/shape you can also click and then enter values in the prompts (mm/deg/etc); press tab to go to the next value. This will fix the values. Fusion likes to create relations/constraints between shapes. If not wanted you can just delete them but they are very convenient.

Examples

When creating a for example a center rectangle you can see that the constraints are different (left to right: center rect, 2 point rect and 3 point rect)

Center point arc is an arc based on a circle circumference (left), 3 point arc is created by first selecting start and end point and then a third point the arc goes through (right) and tangent arc (center) is a “halo that touches a circular halo” (just look at the image below).

A fit point spline is a bezier curve (think of Illustrator), press escape to finish; then you can change the shape with the handles (left). Use control point spline to create a spline with construction lines.

Mirror speaks for itself:

Circular pattern (use the blue slider to create more or less copies or enter a number): select the object(s) (or features etc.) and centerpoint to repeat the object around.

Rectangular pattern (is pretty intuitive):

Polygons:

Workflow

Solid

Example of impact of design decisions: if you want to extend the curve of an offset (shortcut for offset is O, found in the modify menu, left image below) the relation will be lost because the curves are no longer the same size (but you can move them around freely); sometimes you need that to get to your design but the parametricity will be lost. If you want to keep the parametricity you have to create a new line/shape/whatever, see the image below. Fusion helps you a great deal by suggesting constraints (like the parallel constraint below) but you can also add them manually in the menu.

Shortcut for dimensions is D, very important for dimensions of and between sketch objects. On the image on the left the dimensions are set, the line from the center to the circumference is split using break and then a line is drawn from the corner right to the midpoint of the smaller line, which is then mirrored and repeated using a circular pattern. The finished sketch on the right.

When the sketch is finished, the menu shows different tools suited for 3D modeling (solid objects instead of sketch objects).

Plane: what you can create a sketch on (XY, XZ, YZ), can also be faces of what you already made > planar face Profile: selected geometric entity Surface: a geometric entity, a body without the 3rd dimension: it can be drawn in 3 dimensions but it has no thickness so it is 2D.

Important shortcuts

A 3d manipulation of a 2d sketch:

Wrench

Vase

Loft: a way of connecting surfaces, making a shape of sketches. Start with a sketch, then make offset planes (construct menu) and make sketches on those planes. Then select loft from the create menu and click on the surfacesx.

Sweep: make sure the path and profile intersect. The body is a projection of the sketch.

Surface

Different tab, different menu; now we’re working with hollow objects. Patch and stitch are very important for closing objects and making them solid.

Extrude for surfaces is different than extrude for solids! Once you thicken a surface, it becomes a solid body. You can see this change in the browser. If you then want to add fillets, you have to go back to the solid menu.

Form

Render

Beautiful realistic render:

Adding an image (or logo) with decal:

Mechanics

For this you need to transform your bodies into components (do this in the browser). Ground your base component (right click component and then ground, this will add a little pin to the component).

Assemble: as-built joint. Select the two components and the type of motion. In the folder joints you can set the limits. Contact all: so they can’t move through each other Motion link: when one component moves, another moves as well

Animation

Drawing

Other notes

You should try other programs too depending on your goals, like: