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Fusion 360

Started using it a bit more last week. Needed to design a 1.25"x1.25" femail pipe thread to hose barb connector.

Once I got through the design paradigm, it wasn't too bad. Threads were super easy. But I'm still way faster at things in sketchup.
 
There are some basic tutorials here, I've been trying to make time to do them since I've got some curved surface modeling I want to do.

Fusion Help

f360ap.autodesk.com f360ap.autodesk.com

Clough42 did a video on using inkscape to create artwork and then imported the svg into F360 and walks through setting up the cnc operations and viewing the output.
 
Not for you, lol. I know we went down this path before.

In fusion 360, there is a tool for creating threads that allows you to pick the type, size, pitch,etc and just apply it to a 'hole'. It was a little bit easier, at least for me, and it created threads that fit right on the pump I was working on.


hosebarb1.jpghosebarb2.jpg
 
I downloaded and played with 360 some. Two things are keeping me away. There seems to be a pretty steep learning curve (even thought I have used AutoCAD) and I lack the free time to really get into it. Second, one of the primary reasons I looked at it in the first place was the realistic rendering it offered. Turns out that part is not free. Oh well.
 
For woodworking, traditional and CNC, I'd just stick with Sketchup and Vcarve.

I know the CNC doesn't apply to you, but for me, the ability to pull the vectors directly into vcarve from an skp file is nice.

The only reason I'm looking at Fusion 360 is for 3d printing. There are some quirks to designing or editing 3d models that can be a little tough to do in SU. Particularly if I download someone elses stl files, editing them in sketchup can be a bit difficult.
 
I am a Solidworks kinda guy. I have used it to design jigs and fixtures at work for years. I am quite comfortable with Solidworks. I HAD it at home as well and used it for lots of design stuff at home. Now that I don't have the work license any longer I need something more. Solidworks is parametric and that is a HUGE feature to me.

Fusion 360 is a parametric modeling platform. It is a little different than Solidworks, but learnable. I see it as my goto CAD going into the future.

As far as I know Sketchup is not parametric. I could be wrong, as I am not so familiar with Sketchup.
 
Leo, you are correct. SketchUp is not a parametric modeler. I've never found that to be a big issue but I know for some it does seem to be. I've been slowly learning OnShape because that's what the robotics team uses. I find it rather backward in the way it works. Seems you have to know and enter too many dimensions to get models right.
 
I have designed using parametric modeling for so many years it is just a natural to me. With the constraints and parametrics, "what if" scenerios become quite easy. To me, it is essential - a must have. I use it 100% of the time I am modeling. Vectric drives me nuts because it is not parametric, but with all else I love Vectric, but I do wish it was parametric.
 
I been playing with the software the last few day and today I decided to try a design from concept to .nc program using nothing but F 360. the following is a rendering of what the finished product will look like. I went from concept to finished .nc code ready to run in less than 1.5 hours. Not bad considering I am still learning the software. The program looks good and runs well in a dry run mode on the cnc in Mach 3. I am begining to see the value in this software. If the last parts ever get here this will be the first real program I will run. It is the fram work for the dust boot on the CNC and measures 13" x 12 " made of 3/4 plywood. there will be two of these sandwiched together. They will be mounted to the frame work for the X axis and move in the X and Y direction with the machine.

Dust Boot Frame 0410.jpg
 
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