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3. Computer Aided design#

Short description of this week's topics

TL;DR: what this week was about about

Major takeaways

This week's outline and assignment page Explain the difference between vector and raster

See the class videos below

Homework this week#

Model (raster, vector, 2D, 3D, render, animate, simulate, ...) a possible final project, and post it on your class page

What I did#

Importing a cord set file to build around#

I decided to make a lampshade that uses the ikea cord set as a base.

  1. I downloaded this 3D design file for this Ikea cord set to build a lampshade around it that would fit it perfectly.
  2. I opened Fusion 360.
  3. Created a new untitled project and saved it with the name LasercutLampshade
  4. Selected File > Open > Open from my computer... > navigate to file and select it > Click Open
  5. Return to the emtpy LasecutLampshade file.
  6. Select Show data panel
  7. Navigate to the ikea file, right click, and select Insert into current design
  8. I wanted it to be positioned vertically, so I selected the component in the browser menu, pressed M on the keyboard (opens the Move/Copy settings), selected the component from the browser that I wanted to move, and used the arrows to rotate it up 90° on the Z-axis, then up 76mm from the origin. Now that this is done, I'm ready to get desigining

insert screenshot#

Designing the base#

Drawing the fin - Navigate to the front view - Select Create sketch - select the XZ plane under the origin area of the browser - When prompted to select Capture current position or continue to previous position, I selected Capture Position - Next, I usel L to create lines to draw an outline for the fins of the lampshade.
- I selected Sketch > Trim to close the profile of the shape, then Stop sketch to close the sketch and return to the modeling envrionment. - Create > Extrude and selected the fin. The material I am using is 3mm so I entered 3mm for the thickness of the fin.

insert screenshot#

  • I selected the fin body, right clicked it in the browser, and selected Create new component and named it fin.

insert screenshot#

Create the ring - Select the socket screw base as the plane to sketch - Sketch > Create sketch > C for circle > Select the center point of the base, move the cursor away from the center, and type 5" and press enter to set the diameter, then stop the sketch. - Return to Create > Extrude to create the rim. Note: Since the circle has a concentric circle inside it, our circle has two profiles (divided by the line of the inner circle). It is necessary to select both profiles

insert screenshot#

  • Change the operation to new component and click ok.
  • Rename the newly created component to be named ring

Refining and positioning the fins#

  • Create > Fillet > then select the edges to round out. Use the arrows to adjust the fillet, then select ok.
  • Now to rotate the fins so that they can obscure the light. I select the top view, right click the fin in the browser, select move, select the Y axis, then use the arrows to rotate the fin

insert screenshot (s)#

Now to create the rest of the fins.
- Create > Pattern > Circular pattern. In the prompt, select Capture position because we want to keep the new orientation of the fin. Select set the pattern type to components, select the fin as the object and the face of ring as the axis, and select ok. The default is 3, so increase the number as you like.

  • To create the cutouts, draw a line where a fin overlaps the ring. Then, draw a new line from the midpoint of that one down through the ring. Right click on the fin body in the browser, and select Isolate. Also, enable the current working sketch in the browser as well. Zoom into the cut you made, select create > extrude, and cut out the notch in the fin. This will be applied to all fins.

  • To make the cuts in the ring component, I had to do this a few times because it is difficult to select all of the fins. Go to Modify > Combine and select the ring in the browser as the Target Body. Select the Tool Bodies option and select all the fins, and set the operation to Cut, select Keep Tools and click ok.

Chamfer the edges: - Right click the ring in the browser and select Isolate. Select Modify > Fillet, then select all of the exterior edges of the notches in the ring cuts, and champfer them a little bit (I selected 2mm) so it will be easier for the fins to press-fit into the ring. Repeat this process for the fins.

Export profiles to illustrator - Select Sketch > Create sketch, select one of the fin faces, then select Stop sketch. Rename this new sketch to be fin. Repeat this process for the ring, and name the sketch ring.

  • Right click on the fin sketch in the browser, and select Save as DXF. Repeat this task for the ring sketch.

  • Open the dxf files in Illustrator, paste them both into a new document, move them so that they line up on the left side of the screen, copy the paste fin outline until you have 10 of them, set stroke width to 0.001, and save.

TODO: - image conversion and compression - import images into this post - add notes for group project - write about vinyl cutter - create vinyl cutter overlapping design - explain autotracer - complete 3d printing and scanning documentation - build

  • Write 3d printing and scanning documentation
  • Solidify house model
  • print house
  • write docs
  • add pics

Issues I had#

  • Figuring out Pan, Zoom, and Rotate were difficult with my development environment. I use a Touchbar Macbook Pro that has a force touch trackpad. The software kept crashing for me and clicking anything was very unpredicable. I deleted and re-installed the software, used a USB mouse, and changed the navigation settings to use Tinkercad. This helped but did not completely resolve the issue. I discovered that Fusion 360 automatically backs up your changes to the cloud as a default (just like editing a document in Google Docs), and this severely weighed down the responsiveness of the software. Only after I figured out these fixes, was I able to get to the fun part.

Tasks#

Challenges I had this week#

Advice#

Videos#

Computer aided design(1:16:00) January 30th, 2019 from Academany on Vimeo.

Global review of this week's work(1:30:49) February 6th, 2019 from Academany on Vimeo.