3D Modelling

This week we were introduced to many different softwares for 3D modelling. I learned that each software has its own focus and approach that apparently.. quite different in workflows compared to one another.

Regarding the Final Project, there will be 3 parts that I need to model: (1) Glass container, (2) Connector for electrode, and (3) the ‘brain’ of the technology. And I will try to explore Onshape, Fusion360, and learn a bit about Blender.

Onshape

Onshape is a cloud-based computer-aided design (CAD) software used for creating, editing, and collaborating on 3D mechanical designs and drawings. It allows us to design complex 3D models, assemblies, and drawings entirely in a web browser or via mobile devices😲 without the need for powerful hardware or software installations✨. What I found most interesting is Onshape enables real-time collaboration among team members, version control, and access from anywhere! The minus is that it requires internet connection for making any edits.

Getting Started

For exploring onshape, I refer to this complete guide to Onshape Tutorial Documentation. And here are some Onshape keyboard shortcuts that I found handy, for more list of the shortcuts you can check here:

• to Drag/Pan: press middle mouse
• Zoom in-Zoom out: scroll mouse

• Precision Orbit: Alt + Right click [for mac]

• Extrude: Shift+E

• Fillet : Shift+F

Process

1. Start a new working document

Once you log in into your Onshape account, you’ll be directed to the home/dashboard. To start a new document:

Click ‘Create’ button > ‘Name’ your document > ‘Select’ remote repository folder to save your document.

2. Create a new sketch

Most 3D precision modelling softwares have the same working principles. You start from ‘Sketching’, a.k.a drawing the base wireframe of your model, and then ‘Designing’ or editing, which means building your model based on the wireframe that you’ve set previously. The same goes for Onshape.

Here, the first part that I need to make is a Glass Jar to contain the catalyst solution. Therefore, I’ll start with a round shape sketch.

Click ‘Sketch’ > Select sketch plane (Top) > Select sketch tool of your choice (Circle) > Place the sketch geometry in the centre point > Write dimension (diameter of the glass jar = 50mm)

✨ Notice that when in ‘Sketch’ mode, the 3D operational feature tools will change momentarily into Sketch Tools.

✨ The new sketch will be shown in the ‘Features’ list on the left side, as ‘Sketch 1’. Right Click > Rename to rename layer

3. Part Modelling 1: Glass Jar

Extruding

Select the sketch > Click Extrude icon or Shift+E > Input dimension in ‘depth’ > Then ✅

🖍️ There are 3 types of Extrude that can be chosen: Solid, Surface, and Thin. To extrude to Solid, the sketch needs to be a closed region. And you can choose whether the extruded body will be a new, addition, substraction, or intersecting feature to the main part.

Shelling

Click on the Shell icon > Select face > Input the ‘Shell Thickness’ = 3mm You can also opt to make your shell a ‘hollow’ by checking the hollow box

Filleting

Click Fillet icon or Shift+F > Select edge(s) to fillet > Determine the fillet type and dimension

Bottom: radius 5mm

Top: radius 2mm

✨ You can select multiple edges under the same fillet operation at the same time as long as the fillet characteristic is the same.

4. Part Modelling 2: Connector Lid with Electrode

First, I start off by moving to a new Parts Studio tab for making this part. But later I found out that you don’t need to make new tabs. On the same tab, just create a new sketch to start any new parts.

🖍️ Disclaimer: There will be some operational moves below that I’ve mentioned how to do it above, so I will not repeat the how-to for those.

Sketching

Create a circle with diameter dimension the same as the jar mouth, which is 50 mm

Extruding

Extrude the face to be the thickness of the lid, which is 15 mm

Offsetting

Next, is to make the lid lips. By using the Search Tool box, I searched for ‘Offset’. I then chose the ‘Offset Curve’ tool, with the hope that I could offset one of the edges from the solid.

But instead of offsetting outward in the top plane, it offsets the edge along the part’s surface. I think this is because I edited from the ‘already-generated’ solid part. Therefore, I decided to go one step back, I deleted the previous extrusion and went edit right from the sketch:

Select the circle edge in the lid sketch > Click on the ‘Offset Curve’ tool and insert the offset dimension of ~5-7mm.

Extrude: Symmetric

Extrude the offsetted surface in both ways by checking the ‘Symmetric’ box.

Filleting

Fillet the lip edges with a radius 2mm, just enough to get the edge not too sharp.

Now the main lid part is done! Next, I need to make an electrode rod in the centre of the lid

Move Face

Using pretty much same operation tools as above, I modelled the electrode in the centre of the lid, and then using ‘Move Face’ tool to position the top at the same level as the lid surface.

Boolean

Boolean is an operational tool that we can use if there’s an overlapping parts in our model. We can choose whether to join (Union), cut and delete (Substract), or cut and keep the intersecting part (Intersect). I did a Boolean > Substract, by setting the Electrode as the cutting tools and the lid as the cutting target.

5. Part Modelling 3: The Meter Head

I then proceed on continue modelling the head of the meter kit.

6. Assembly

Now that I have all the parts I put everything together by activating the ‘Assembly Studio’ tab and importing all the parts model into it.

Fusion360

Fusion 360 is also a cloud-based CAD/CAM/CAE software developed by Autodesk. It provides tools for 3D modeling, simulation, rendering, and machining in a single platform. It allows us to create parametric designs, simulate mechanical behavior, generate toolpaths for CNC machining, and produce realistic renderings of their designs.

While Onshape excels in collaboration and accessibility, Fusion 360 offers a broader range of features and capabilities, catering to varied needs in design, simulation, and manufacturing.

Getting Started

The principles is very much the same like Onshape. There are just some different positioning of tools. One of the differences is that it records the development history in the bottom bar, while in Onshape, it’s stored at the version control management – showing the history in a ‘graph’ visualization. Moreover, in Fusion, the various working mode are placed under the same button (the top left), meanwhile on Onshape it’s in the bottom side, in a form of a bar.

Modelling Process

❗ Disclaimer: The documentation of this part is derived by looking back through the version history to screenshot my every moves. That’s because my documentation workflow is usually through Screen Recording, with the intention that I can focus on exploring and learning without having to be interrupted by screen capturing, and later on I’ll just watch back the recording and extract key moments from there. Unfortunately, the recording when I exercise this Fusion360 got corrupted and lost… I think it’s because I forgot to turn it off and left it for a while when it was doing rendering… But good thing Fusion360 record our every moves, so I can easily go back to see how I developed the model from scratch. Hopefully that’s okay to fulfill the requirement of this week’s assignment

Sketching the Lid

• Create a new sketch by clicking the ‘Create’ tab and choose ‘Sketch’
• Sketch toolbar will showup > Choose ‘Circle’ > Insert diameter = 80 mm
• Position the centre of the circle in the origin

Offseting

• Still in the sketch mode > select ‘Offset’ icon > insert offset dimension outward = 10 mm

Extruding

• Exit sketch mode by clicking ‘Finsih Sketch’
• Select the offseted surface > Extrude (E) / click ‘extrude icon
• Set Direction = Symmetric | Distance = 15 mm | Operation = New Body

Then, proceed onto extruding the middle surface by repeating the steps above

• Set Direction = Symmetric | Distance = 5 mm | Operation = New Body

Sketching the Electrode Rod

Following the same steps, create a new sketch and set the diameter to 20 mm

Extruding

• Set the Direction = Two Sides | Distance 1 (up) = 20 mm; Distance 2 (down)= 100 mm

So here’s the result so far

Splitting Body

Next, we need to make a hole in the lid body. SInce right now the 2 body of Lid and electrode is overlapping with eachother, we’re going to do boolean operation

• Click Split Body tool > Choose (1) Body to Split: the Lid > Choose (2) Splitting Tool: the Electrode
• Hide the Electrode body > Delete the resulting splitted body in the centre

Creating Threads

Next, is creating thread for the lid. I tried to do this on Onshape before, but some reasons I failed to do it –(now that I think of it, maybe because I changed the setting too much ?) So, right now I’m curious to see how it goes with Fusion

• Go to ‘Create’ > ‘Thread’ > Adjust the setting (in my case, I didn’t change anything because apparently it generated the recommended setting automatically)
• Check on ‘Modeled’ – to see how it look like > OK

And finally, this is the result of the first lid part of my Electrolysis Meter Device! ✨

Appearance

Rendering

Reflections

As I have mentioned in the overview, my experience with design softwares are mostly with Sketchup and Rhino3D, which turn out to be an ‘Imperative’-type of design software, which means you generate geometry objects based on commands without really having to set a pre-defined parameter. In simple terms, it’s a ‘freeform’ design software that allows you to explore geometric form as freely, easily, and crazily as possible, in the expense of not being too precised.

On the other hand, I had started exploring Fusion360, which apparently a ‘declarative’-type of design software, during the Pre-FA Bootcamp. And I found that the approach is very different, in a way that you got to to declare a defined parameters first to be able to generate model easily later. The good thing is that it has its own version control system, in which it records your every moves and you can go back to any point of your previous history. While this is a very useful feature, my brief experience exploring Fusion360 at the bootcamp led to a cluttered document history, which led to a conlusion (or perhaps an assumption) that it will be very challenging to use this kind of software for ‘playing/exploring with design forms’, especially when you have vague idea of what you want to make at the very beginning.

However, my experience exploring various 3D design softwares this week kinda shifted that assumptions..

On Onshape

So far, I find Onshape very easy and handy to use. I like the fact that I don’t need to install anything, and everything is stored online. Also, I love how they laid out the workspace and designed their UI, especially the iconography which I find very straightforward, making it more intuitive for any beginner to CAD. Plus, much of the positioning of the tools feels familiar too.

Onshape definitely has a lot of potential. It features assembly, simulation, the ability to create exploded views, working drawings, and even a material library, making it a great option if you have an older laptop like mine! However, there are still some features that are being developed and some limitations I’ve noticed, such as:

• Offline editing is currently not available, so you still rely on an internet connection.
• Onshape Render Studio is still in beta and reserved only for Pro users at the moment.
• The UI doesn’t look as sophisticated and clean as Fusion360, but it’s somewhat more low-key, like SketchUp. However, operation-wise, it’s smooth!
• We can edit appearances, but not materials, even though it has a material library. I think maybe it’s because Render Studio is not available yet (?)

Despite the current inability to render in Onshape, it has various plugins that connect to third-party sources.

On Fusion360

Fusion 360 is surprisingly user-friendly! Initially, I hesitated to use it due to a bumpy experience during the Pre-FA boot camp. At that time, I struggled to grasp its fundamental workflow. However, trying Onshape first, which I found more intuitive, before delving into Fusion 360, significantly improved my understanding of the latter! Fusion 360 boasts an easy, impressive, and sleek UI design, with extensive capabilities for post-design processing. Nonetheless, for complete beginners, grasping its fundamental workflow might require some time and patience.

Onshape/Fusion360, which one to choose?

It really comes down to personal preference. If you prioritize flexibility and a more beginner-friendly features, Onshape is the way to go. However, if you require advanced capabilities such as rendering and generating toolpaths for CNC machining, then Fusion360 is the clear choice.

Personally, I found that Onshape serves as a valuable stepping stone to understanding Fusion360 better. Its beginner-friendly UI design, including intuitive iconography, clear descriptions, and easy navigation, made the transition smoother. Therefore, if you’re new to the world of 3D CAD modeling, I recommend starting with Onshape. But for those already familiar with CAD software or needing advanced functionalities, Fusion360 is the more suitable option.

Design Files

Onshape

• Green Electrolysis Meter (.step)
• Green Electrolysis Meter (public view)
• Green Electrolysis Meter (FAB Educators) - team access link to copy, export, comment, and download

Fusion360

• Electrode Lid Connector (f3d)