Fusion 360 - MECHANICAL design Tips Tweaks and discussion. (Not Eagle)

[beanflying]

As we go a little sideways on the thread (never happens of course  ) look at https://lightburnsoftware.com/ for software it is what I am going to with my new one rather than the issues with RDWorks and go for a Smoothieware board. I have a clone one (open source regardless) that hooked up fine with Lightburn and at some stage it will go into my smaller Laser so I can stick with one bit of software.
http://smoothieware.org/laser-cutter-guide

[beanflying]

Another External CAD repository that exports Fusion format I have added this link into post #1 too before @tautech gets in my ear again

Signup was painless and you had to opt-in for marketing rubbish so  https://www.traceparts.com/en It has taken longer to type this post.

I was looking through the natively available options in Fusion for a footswitch and couldn't find whgat I wanted so Google to the rescue https://www.traceparts.com/en/product/rs-components-footswitch?Product=10-16112011-141340 Auto opened in a new model in Fusion which isn't a major thing but in this case I would have just shoved it into the other model as a part and saved the separate file.

Still saved 20 minutes of head scratching 

[mnementh]

Yebbut... you aren't going to BUY that are you...?

mnem
*knocks self unconscious with a ZIF mallet*

[beanflying]

Given my Kidney's and Right arm are already mortgaged it is unlikely short of buying the winning lottery tick this weekend

[beanflying]

This morning over Coffee I went looking for a model for a USB Drive to insert. NIL found

So what I did find was some very boring one piece cable end models https://autodesk-fusion.partcommunity.com/3d-cad-models/sso/usb-cables-te-connectivity?info=teconnectivity%2Fcable_assemblies%2Fcopper_cable_assemblies_new%2Fmultimedia_cables%2Fusb_cables.prj&cwid=6550 and split their boring grey selves into bits for some adaption and material changes.

Then copied the tweaked USB A bits into a new Component and roughed in a body styled after Brand V without the retraction bit for a KISS Drive. All three are here if they are useful https://a360.co/3hdA00S

EDIT: RJ45 model is here https://a360.co/2XUD0HP I treated it fairly differently to get the 'look' I wanted. Rather than split it up I just changed a bunch of surface finishes to Blue and Clear but it remains one body.

The Raised Text is actually done in the larger model with one face coloured for visuals so you won't find it in the model linked above.

[mnementh]

The part of me that survived working HellDesk at a borg cubicle ship (one of those buildings that's nothing but floor after floor of these) cringes when I see things like those poor decapitated cables...  This was the culprit in "one of those real calls" enough times it made me wish we could outlaw anything sharper than a eraser in the building...

mnem

[beanflying]

Doing a Manual DRC and Oops 

Using an Actual DIN rail to pacify @mnementh for using snipped cords 

[mnementh]

Hey, I’ve seen THAT in in the wild too... 

“What happened tooda fiber uplink from the 13th floor?”

“I dunno, what happened...?”

It keeps flip-flopping whenever they’re on a video conference.”

“Oh fuuuu...”

“Oh eff WHAT...?”

“Joey did a rack & stack in the MDF last week...”

“Good lord... who let HIM in THERE...?”

“You said ‘I don’t care whose turn it is; I want those switches turned up before the weekend’. It was his turn.”

“Ohhhh, fuuuuuuu....”

mnem
You can’t make this shit up.

[beanflying]

'Fixed' also redid the Pneumatic Plumbing layout. Added another lump to the design I wasn't going to. The Industrial blower because they are clunky looking and would dominate the layout. The Cure is change it to Clear Acrylic as a material and add it in. There to show what it is but see through so it more or less hides.

[beanflying]

Learn to love the Loft Command.

Shiny Bling. 3/8 Thermistor thingy so the Render is just because. 

Single Sketch as shown. Three Extrudes, one for the hole in the brass plug, one for the body and another for the two connections. Loft one Body to one connection as a new body then another for the other side then use the combine bodies command to put them together.

The Brass bits and Hose ends are all inserted from manufactures and just put into place using the point to point move so the alignment is easy.

[beanflying]

Just for completeness sake Epic model is now complete.  https://a360.co/2XZg1u0

Some of the details

17 Discrete Externally created custom models linked into the design (some of them then used multiple times) plus about 6 small Models created in the larger model.
Maybe 20-30 externally sourced models/components from various libraries are used within the various models.
Something over 150 Sketches
Having a quick look at some of the sections and there is well over 1000 bodies in the overall model.

Ryzen 3700X 32GB and a 5700XT Cruises fairly much. The GPU numbers peak around 40% if you really spin the model around, memory usage is fairly light peaking at about 8Gb. That all changes when you try an in-canvas (local) render all cores pegged and very light GPU load

The online viewer also has some good features you can right click on bits and hide them or also add markups and export views.

[mnementh]

Learn to love the Loft Command.

Shiny Bling. 3/8 Thermistor thingy so the Render is just because. 

Single Sketch as shown. Three Extrudes, one for the hole in the brass plug, one for the body and another for the two connections. Loft one Body to one connection as a new body then another for the other side then use the combine bodies command to put them together.

The Brass bits and Hose ends are all inserted from manufactures and just put into place using the point to point move so the alignment is easy.

Interesting... So loft in this case is being used as a "mirror" function? That does sound like a powerful function. *makes mental note to search out some tutorials*

The brass tee and the plug you used as a base for the TC are all from someone's catalog; McMaster-Carr or Grainger, etc... you only had to make the silvery bit? That is intended to represent a stainless tube, crimped around a couple wires, like most industrial thermocouples/thermistors come packaged?

 I wouldn't have thought of that; I'd still be trying to make the brass plug.

mnem

 

[beanflying]

You could use the Mirror command with one loft but you would need a plane to mirror around or you could copy and rotate the part around an axis but then you need to create that axis. So Two Lofts then post joined into one is easiest in this case. More ways than one to skin that Cat

The Tee and Plug were McMaster Carr bits using the Move command but the align point to point in this case. Get the orientation correct first then pick a circle on one and a circle on the other and tweak the height if you need to. It took me some fiddle the first few times but do it in that order makes it easiest.

EDIT: There you go todays learning module  Place the Tee under the plug after fixing the orientation of it. Use the already created sketch and make the 4mm Probe and pins with lofts. 20mm Probe and 5mm pins with a 5mm offset is about right for the look. Download link https://a360.co/2N3vJiM

I will check in after some 

[mnementh]

Oh, now you're just making my brain hurt. 

I think I'll come back to that when I'm a bit more awake myself; just came in from shooting hoops with the boi.

mnem
 

[beanflying]

Got to look after the Kids and your mental health first 

The move is two parts in this case as I deliberately laid the tee on its side (Because I am )
Step one is just a rotate as per pic one.
Step two is put the tee and align it with the plug/ This is what took some sorting out for me initially. I tried just using the 3D move arrows to align bits and they never did. You just need to pick in this case two circles and it doesn't matter they are different sizes Fusion will force a common center point. For looks I then moved the Tee down 1mm so a partial thread shows.

This small skill is really worth learning and in particular the point to point move.

Then onto the sketchy extrudy lofty bits.....

[beanflying]

In a similar vein this concept model https://a360.co/2N9BaNb for Cross Bed Airflow on a Laser.

The Elbows were made using a Loft between two Plates. This could have been done with a Circle on one sketch and a Path on another with the Path function but the Loft is easier. ** For those who haven't tried the Loft function it will not Loft a hollow object it needs to be a solid surface.

So When your Loft is done use the Shell command to hollow it out. But this leaves an issue of the far Face still being in the model. Select it and do an extrude cut to remove it from the world and then you are done.

Take this base model use the rectangular pattern on it do some rotations and aligned moves and presto you have a model to get a concept across to others.

[mnementh]

You know, every time I get an eMail from AutoDesk/Fusion360, it's to tell me about more features they're taking away. As they still refuse to offer a reasonably-priced nonprofit/personal use subscription, I'm beginning to wonder how long before all that's left is the advertising. 

mnem
Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

[Bassman59]

You know, every time I get an eMail from AutoDesk/Fusion360, it's to tell me about more features they're taking away. As they still refuse to offer a reasonably-priced nonprofit/personal use subscription, I'm beginning to wonder how long before all that's left is the advertising. 

mnem
Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

I got this email, too, and figured that too many people were taking advantage of the free service for it to be worth Autodesk's while.

The only part of it that is aggravating is that it won't do STEP export any more.

The "10 active and editable documents" thing seems to me to be that you simply indicate (somehow) that a document is "inactive," meaning that it can't be worked on or edited. But it's still in your cloud account. If you need to work on it, make something else inactive and re-activate it. For the home user who just wants to design things for 3D printing it's not much of a concern.

[sokoloff]

The "10 active and editable documents" thing seems to me to be that you simply indicate (somehow) that a document is "inactive," meaning that it can't be worked on or edited. But it's still in your cloud account. If you need to work on it, make something else inactive and re-activate it. For the home user who just wants to design things for 3D printing it's not much of a concern.

I wasn't so sure. I saw another bit of content on their site somewhere earlier today where they indicated that you need to "archive" a project to let yourself make a new 10th one.

When I took a project in my account and started to archive it, you get a dialog with this scary-sounding warning:


Since it was just a sample project, I then archived it, went to the website and restored it, and it does appear that you can still work on it once restored.

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,
The STEP export feature is a big deal for me. I was using Fusion 360 to make 3D models for KICAD.

KICAD can use STEP or WRL.

Any suggestions on another way to generate 3D models for KICAD?

Regards,
Jay_Diddy_B

[langwadt]

Hi,
The STEP export feature is a big deal for me. I was using Fusion 360 to make 3D models for KICAD.

KICAD can use STEP or WRL.

yep I also use it for kicad models, and you have to use step if you want to export the whole thing as step

[Jay_Diddy_B]

It is now on Hackaday:

https://hackaday.com/2020/09/16/autodesk-announces-major-changes-to-fusion-360-personal-use-license-terms/

Jay_Diddy_B

[Bassman59]

Hi,
The STEP export feature is a big deal for me. I was using Fusion 360 to make 3D models for KICAD.

KICAD can use STEP or WRL.

Any suggestions on another way to generate 3D models for KICAD?

I also use F360 to create STEP models for Kicad. A thing I did last week was to create a 3D model of the rotary encoder with RGB LED shaft that SparkFun sells. It's a close fit to the Bourns part (same PCB footprint) but the body size is different enough to not be a true replacement. Bourns has a model, Sparkfun does not. And I was able to create a decent-enough model of the part and I put it into my Kicad library. I didn't bother re-generating the STEP model of the PCB with the new model; instead I just modified the board model that I had already imported into F360 and replaced the Bourns model with mine. That worked as expected.

The guy who does the excellent Kicad Step-Up thing (which, for those who don't know, is a tool that takes a STEP model and allows you to precisely place it within the PCB footprint) does that with FreeCAD. But FreeCAD is shite compared to F360. I guess you get what you pay for, dunno.

[asmi]

Any suggestions on another way to generate 3D models for KICAD?

It's not just KiCAD. I used it for making step files for Orcad and Altium as well. This is a super big deal to me. I guess I've got to look for alternatives, as this functionality is not worth $300/year to me.
UPDATE - I googled around a bit and found this: https://www.alibre.com/atom3d/ Looks like a promising option, no-BS permanent license model, and upgrade path. Will need to take a closer look at it.

[langwadt]

 As they still refuse to offer a reasonably-priced nonprofit/personal use subscription, I'm beginning to wonder how long before all that's left is the advertising. 

mnem
Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

yeh, with their claims of "staying true to our guiding principles of democratizing design for everyone." it just doesn't feel right that someone
using every day professionally and some using for fun as a hobby on weekends should pay the same

to a company using it professionally to make money $800 for three years might as well be nothing, for a hobbyist not so much