Fusion 360

I keep a list of helpful information I learn as I go first, under which you will find my progress through the Learn Fusion360 in 30 Days.

For .stp files: Grabcad.com (best for finding STEP files or other native formats). Thangs.com (best for general models, and creativity, including many for 3D printing) Thomasnet (best for gears, mechanisms, and more)

Change size of lines: right click, sketch, constraints Esc key to get out of anything, but make sure to finish the line first “X” construction option “A” appearance “C” center circle “R” rectangle “S” shortcut (search) “P” project (adapts to any changes in size on the parametric model) Projected geometry is purple “F” fillet makes a rounded edge (chamfer makes a sloped edge in drop down menu) “M” move/copy

• Modeled check box is for making the image into a 3d model (threads) takes computing power so don’t check only an image is required.

I do not find Fusion to be intuitive. To make any changes you must click on the particular item in the browser on the top left or double click it the time bar on the bottom. Then the item needs to be “right clicked” (2 finger click on Mac) to pull up a menu in which you must find what.

Day 1:

Toy block I had so much trouble trying to adjust dimensions that I started over. The second toy block worked fine, but I am continuing to work on figuring out what rent wrong on toy block 1. I learned that I need to right click to pull up a menu for every adjustment I want to make, even deleting. The escape key is very helpful, as is command z! I had the most trouble with the circles on the bottom of the block. I pressed the “x” key too many times. It turns on and off the construction option. I did get the cylinder to work, but something has happened to the block shell. It looks like I cut the whole bottom off. I tried editing the shell, but the dimensions are correct as far as I can see.

Day 2: Glass soda bottle

I do not like the way the curved line points adjust. It is not like Corel draw. I cannot get the shell to be more than 2mm. I have changed neck dimensions, which allowed me to get to 2mm, but I can’t figure out why it will not let me get to 2.5mm. *I figured it out! There was a problem with why bevel on the bottom of the bottle. There was an error, and it hadn’t made the bevel. I was able to make a bevel of 4, but not 5mm. Then the top bevels had errors. I had a curved top from my curved line following the bottle image. So I straightened the bottle top, and added the 5mm bevel, and could then change the bottom bevel to 5mm. I was then able to change the shell to 2.5mm as well.

Day 3: Paperclip

Sweep command rotationally extrudes along a path. Find sweep in solid - create menu.

Day 4: Loft Bottle

Center rectangle makes a rectangle with the chosen spot being the center. Avoid fillets on a sketch if possible. Offset plane - construct - offset plane, choose surface to be offset from, and distance away. Loft in solid menue to create solid figure. This tutorial explained why my bottle from day 2 wouldn’t allow the 2.5mm shell. If the angles are too sharp the shell command won’t work correctly. Create a thread from the solid create menu. Check box “modeled” to make sure the thread is transferred into other programs.

Day 5: Ice Cube Tray

I forgot to name the new component “tray”, and cannot figure out how to rename it. This project was made using extrude with a negative distance, and tapering the sides. Then use the fillet on the inner edges. Use rectangular patterning from the solid menu to multiply the hole, click on features and choose the extrude and fillet features on the bottom timeline. Then choose optimized compute type to multiply them. The shell command after choosing the 4 sides and the bottom. The edge was created by sweeping a sketch created on the mid plane of the tray. The mid-plane is constructed by choosing it from the construct menu, and choosing 2 sides. Then create a sketch on that plane. Use constraints to make dimensions. I was supposed to link the shape to the tray before sweeping, by using the coincident constraint. However, my sketch would not move freely, and the coincident constraint would not activate. It seems it was already constrained. The sketch was then swept using the edge of the tray as the sweep path.

Day 6: Hex Nut

Circumscribed polygon tool on in create sketch. Use horizontal sketch constraint to make the top line remain horizontal. To create the chamfer I created a triangle, and revolved the triangle around the hexagon. It automatically became a cut. The hole was added with a thread. The chamfer was mirrored after making a mid plane construction plane. The hole needed to be changed to reduce the threads so that they were not intersecting the bottom chamfer.

Day 7: Bike Handlebar Grip

Use the shortcut key “s” to search for operations. I used text to type my name, change the font, size, and spacing. Constrain the text box, so that it stays with the handlebar, and the spacing will work correctly. I noticed that many fonts appeared below the midpoint even when the spacing was chosen to be middle of the text box. This was the font, not the operation. I found a font that looked to be centered.

The grip was made by projecting onto the edge of the cylinder. This makes sure that the grip will change if there are any size changes to the parametric model. The offset sketch tool was used, 2 lines were added to block off the embossed font, and extruded 1.5mm. Then multiplied down the handlebar 50 times with a spacing of 2.5mm. Next the 2 semicircular grip rings on each end were completed using the sweep tool.

If I were to do it before this tutorial I probably would have made a full circle extrusion, multiplied it to make 2, created an off set plane set at 5mm (.75+2.5+.75+1), then made the semicircle, extruded it, multiplied it 46 times at 2.5mm, made another extruded full circle at the right end of the handlebar, and multiplied that to make 2 from that end. However that would not have lined up as the tutorial did, because the last grip line is actually recessed from the edge.

? Why is the last grip recessed the edge. 2.5mm spacing x 50 =125mm. The spacing is from center point to center point. With each grip line being 1.5mm wide, starting from the right edge. That would be half of the first grip line plus 49 more spaced at 2.5mm plus the second half of the 50th grip line. 1/2(1.5mm)+2.5mm*49 +1/2(1.5)= 124mm which leaves 1mm left at the end. To make the handlebar smooth at the end we should make the cylinder 124mm to start.

The shell command was used to hollow out the handlebar, but it wouldn’t work because of the text. So I went back in the timeline to before the embossing to use the shell command.

? I was surprised to see that the handlebar was not hollow all the way to the end. The image of the shell command key on the top menu looks like a tunnel. Is the shell command is made to hollow out the object only penetrating through the selected side? If so, is there an option to select more then 1 side for the shell operation to penetrate?

Rubber is under miscellaneous in appearance menu, hot key “a”.

Day 8: Rubber Doorstop

When constraining my shape, I started by making the bottom 100mm. This caused my shape to continue below the y axis (yz axis shown). I expected the other constraints would fix this, but I was wrong. I was surprised that making the dimension on the right d2/3 didn’t create a negative value. I understand that a dimension can’t be negative, but so many constraints can be flipped by using a negative. I tried that, but got an error.

Adding an angle only made it worse because the angle was measured from the intersection. This brought me down a fun rabbit hole of geometry, and I tried to use different angles to get the correct result. Unfortunately, basic geometric theory had too many unknowns, and I am not sure I can input trigonometric functions into the constraints. I backtracked, and moved my lines so they would work with the constraints.

Chamfer tool makes a beveled or sloped edge where fillet tool makes a curved edge.

I cannot get my embossed grips to work on the doorstop. When I try to choose the top surface to emboss the whole outside of the doorstop gets selected, and there is an error. I think the embossing will not wrap around the chamfered edge. I tried to do the embossing before the chamfering to see if that would work, but it just sticks out, and has another error. Below is my drawing with the embossing refusing to click on the top surface. Then my attempt to go back to an earlier edge to see if the embossing would conform to the future edits, but it sticks out. Lastly is the image from the tutorial where the top surface is highlighted.

1hr 20min later, it occurred to me to check the comments under the YouTube tutorial. The top comment,
“October 2023 Emboss Update (10:11 in the video). The new emboss tool works on more surfaces, but has also impacted how the Emboss tool worked when this tutorial was recorded. SOLUTION: 1. Activate Emboss 2. Uncheck 'Tangnet Chain' in the Emboss dialog. * Very important. This must be done * 3. Select the 4 sketch profiles (two halves of the circle, two rectangles) 4. Switch to the 'Faces' selector in the Emboss Dialog 5. Select the top face of the doorstop (the largest face). 6. Hold the CMD Key (Mac) or CTRL Key (Windows) to select the two remaining top faces. 7. Select OK to confirm the Emboss.” (https://www.youtube.com/@ProductDesignOnline)

The project finished very quickly after that. I used a white silicone rubber for the appearance so that it would show up better then the handlebar grip.

Day 9: Lightbulb

Quick design using sphere and thread tools. “Primitives” or quick shapes are good for small sketches, but not great for full parametric drawings.

Create -> project -> intersect. This makes the new shape intersect the other one.

• Fillet tool adds material or removes material as needed to make the curve.
• color of a material in “appearance” can be edited.
• click modeled in create -> thread menu so that the threads are not just for show. It takes more computing power so avoid if only for images.

When creating the thread be sure to click the top of the cylinder so that the threads start at the top, and travel the designated length in the direction of the arrows. Thus leaving the flat offset area is at the bottom. I found this tip in the comments below the tutorial.

? In the tutorial he said to drag the arrow down to set the offset to 3mm, but the number entered was 12. So the input must be done as length - offset. He wasn’t setting the offset, just defining the length of the threads, as the input “length” implies.

? I did not figure out a way to flip the arrows while threading. Negative numbers, and left handed thread direction did not work. Is there a way to do this? The comment below the video suggests no.

Day 10: Phone Case

Sweeping sketch profiles around existing 3d models. Try GrabCAD.com for free 3d models. Use a STEP = .stp file when a native Fusion 360 model is not available. .stp format is accepted in CAD programs.

I did not want to set up an account at GrabCAD.com so I used the phone linked in the tutorial. *flexible TPU filament to print phone case (recommend Polymaker TPU-95A)

? This did not work: File import. Imported .stp files are brought into direct modeling mode, and parametric timeline is off. right click on the top component and select “capture design history”.

This is what I did: I opened the file by File -> open -> from my computer -> choose .stp file Right click on top component and at the bottom of the menu it shows it is in parametric mode

Right click on body, and create components from body.

Orientation can be a problem with imported files. If it is apply a joint at desired center origin.

Sweep a shape around the edge of the phone. Project edges into sketch “p” to use for sweep. For some reason my sketch, sweep1, would not create a fully closed profile. Sweep2 was created on the other side of the phone to try again. It wouldn’t close either. I had to define the top and bottom lines despite them being perpendicular.

I had to use the create sketch key on the top menu, and choose the surface rather than creating a sketch from the chosen surface.

My detail on the back of the phone is not cut all the way through, because the “D,” “o,” and “a” would have had a big hole in the middle of them. Also the program does not like “ ‘ “ apostrophes. I had to use an “*”.

Christmas Tree Project

I created a battery holder for a wood turned Christmas tree. I matched the threads for the base and connector, and used the “pull” feature to widen the internal threads of the base to account for 3d printing thickness. I added a hole from the top of the base for a wire to connect to the negative side of the battery. Then used a tangental plane to that hole to create another hole perpendicular into the battery compartment. The inside of the base is 17mm to accommodate a 1632 button battery. I fed a wire through the hole, and used copper tape on the top of the larger cylinder and along the edges and top of the smaller cylinder. This battery holder worked exactly as I had hoped. Unfortunately it couldn’t handle the amount of multicolored LEDs I had hoped to use.

I was overzealous with my LEDs, using too many and varying colors. (I forgot to take a picture with all the wires hanging out the bottom attached to the 3d printed battery holder).

I decorated the tree with beaded ornimants and star.

I then made another tree, and used 1 yellow led on top for, just to prove it would work. I did not use the 3d battery holder because I did not have time to drill out a matching base size to match that tree.

Day 11: Dog Bowl

Surface modeling, offsetting and thickening surfaces. Section Analysis tool.

Sketch half of a cross section, the radius, then revolve 360degrees.

My sketches don’t show the red lock icon. Luckily surface modeling does not require a fully closed sketch profile like Solid modeling. Use the orange surface Revolve tool to revolve around the Z axis.

Surfaces have one gray face and one yellow face if no appearance is applied. “Chain selection” selects all faces at once. Unchecked you can individually select faces. Use Thicken command to define the thickness of the surface. In the browser the original surface body and the Solid BREP body is created. —> The surface Offset tool in the create menu was used to make the rubber piece surrounding the bottom metal lip with a slight gap between the surface.

I tried to add a polished stainless steel appearance to the bowl body, and a black rubber to the rubber piece, but it wouldn’t work. I could only get the bowl to be steel satin, which it was set to as a default. I was unable to click on any other option. I tried to change the color so the rubber and the bowl would look different, but both kept changing. There was a notice about Fusion360 being offline, and I am hoping that is why the appearance wouldn’t change.