Sheet Metal in Fusion 360 has Officially Arrived!

After much angst and waiting, sheet metal has finally been officially released in Fusion 360.  Previously it has been warming up in the bullpen known as "preview".

Upgrade in progress!

This evening, upon getting hope from work, I started Fusion 360 and was greeted by the "Updating Fusion 360" announcement in the Job Status.  

Once the update completed, Fusion 360 asked me for a restart, and once restarted, a shiny new Sheet Metal toolbar made itself available.

Now I have to confess, this is the first time that I've seen Sheet Metal in Fusion 360.  16 weeks worth of evening classes and a full time job prevented me from having the time to really do much with the sheet metal package except for the occasional wishful thought.

The sheet metal tools!

So the reality of the matter is, I can only serve to announce "HEY LOOK! SHEET METAL IN FUSION!"

Yeah, I know, not much good for much am I?

But I did take a few quick "who needs the instructions!" swipes at the tool, just to see how it compared to the Autodesk Inventor I'm used to.

All told, I probably had, about 15 minutes of  seat time with it, so it's easy to argue that I'm not at a place to talk about the tool confidently.

So I'm not going to go into the things I love or hate about the sheet metal tools at this time.

It just wouldn't be fair or proper, one way or the other.

What I will say is that it is similar to Inventor, with it's flanges, rules and flat patterns, but there are some differences as well, such as no face tool, or "cut across bend"  that I've found so far.

But what I do have is a list of parts that I'm going to make, and once I get a few parts done, I'll have a better idea of how Fusion 360's sheet metal tool sizes up!

Stay tuned!

Using Extrusion Templates in Fusion 360 Using Insert into Current Design

An F4U Corsair at Planes of Fame in Chino Ca.
Photo is mine.

As part of my Fusion 360 experience, I've been building different parts for a WW2 era Vought F4U Corsair.

Why am I doing it?  It provides me an opportunity to learn how a machine like this was put together, it challenges me to find ways to use Fusion to find creative ways to solve design challenges, and I flat out enjoy it!

And what's the point of doing it if it's not a least a little bit fun!

The planes I've used came via my subscription to Aircorps Library, who has done a marvelous job scanning and sharing plans for WW2 era aircraft.

And before you ask, sorry, I'm not sharing the plans.  I pay for my subscription with them, and I'm happy to support their efforts.  To me, sharing their plans without proper compensation would be tantamount to stealing their hard work.

But with that being said, here's what I've learned about how the engineers of the 1930s and 1940s who designed the Corsair, and here's how I was able to get Fusion to help me with my "recreation" efforts.

Many parts were created from extrusions,  These extrusions were in turn, machined to create various parts for different parts of the aircraft.

The "Make From" reference in the
drawing's title block

Due to this fact, the finished parts had a note to "make from", the "from" part referencing the standard extrusion.

Well the last thing I want to do is redraw the exact same shape for multiple parts!

So here's how I was able to use Fusion to make the extrusion profile available, and reusable, to multiple drawings.

It's actually quite simple.  The first step is to create the cross section of the extrusion in a Fusion 360 part file.  I opted not to extrude the part at this point in time.

A sample of the extrusion template

This part becomes my template for future use.

The next step is to insert the template into a new model file so I can create new parts from the template.

The goal of this is to insert the previously created sketch into a new model, and extrude this sketch to create a new part.



First start a new Fusion 360 file.  Once the file is open, browse to the location of your template, and choose "Insert into Current Design".

Choosing  "Insert into Current Design" to use the
template for the extrusion

This function links the extrusion profile into the new file.  Once the sketch has been inserted, the sketch can be extruded just like it had been created right in the part, instead of being linked in.

The part being extruded using Fusions std. Extrusion tool

Once the extrusion is created, you can work on the part just like any other Fusion 360 part.  You can add and remove material as needed to meet your design requirements.

That's the basics  of creating an extrusion template in Fusion 360.   At least that's how I've approached it.

So what are the advantages I found that drew me to this conclusion?

Well, for starters, I don't have to drawing the same shape over and over again.  That alone is reason to chose that route, at least for me.

Second, any new parts created from the template are linked back to that original template.  So in the event any changes have to be made to the template, the parts generated from the template will also update.

In the event that happens, it can be a lot easier to update several parts than have to transfer the same dimension to several parts, and run the risk of missing that one odd part.

So in conclusion, this is why I approached this file in this way.  You may come at it completely differently, or maybe just vary this process just a little bit.

It's up to you!  If you find a different approach, feel free to share  in the comments.



Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Planes of Fame Air Museum or AirCorps Library.

Hydraulic Fluid Fitting Models in Fusion 360

A project I've been working on, "here and there" has been a series of AS5174 hydraulic fittings.

Original created in  Inventor they were imported into Fusion 360 and added the gallery here.

They're samples I've opted to share in the event anyone can use them out there.

If they help you, let me know!

Have fun!

Using Attach Canvas in Fusion 360 to Find an Unknown Measurement

For the last few weeks, on my spare time, I've been creating models from scanned prints in Fusion 360.

Most of these prints are produced in the 1940s, and they border on artwork.  When an drafter nearly

80 years ago could accomplish with pen and paper was impressive.  They were certainly masters of their

craft!  You can see a sample of a similar drawing here. 

How can you find the missing dimension? 

But a challenge I encountered was one that even modern users of 2D drawings encounter.  Missing

dimensions.

In some cases, the missing dimension was a result of a drafting error, in most cases, the dimension

was referenced on a different drawing that was unavailable to me.

But it doesn't matter how the dimensions ended up missing, if they can't be found or derived.  Without the missing dimension, creating a model from the drawing becomes much more challenging.

Fortunately Fusion 360 has a nice tool that makes finding this dimensions pretty simple, as long as

you have a single dimension, and the drawing is consistently scaled. 

How do you do it?  Here's how I was able to figure out what that phantom dimension.

Convert your drawing into an image file, a *.png, *.jpg, *.jpeg, and *.tif are all formats you can

use.

Now this image can be imported using the "Attached Canvas". icon.

Fusion 360 will want to know which plane you want to place the image on, and will also want you to browse for the image you want to insert.

Once an image and a plane are selected, you'll have an opportunity to scale the image, using either the handles or in the dialog box.  You can scale it here, but there's a step coming up where it'll be easier to scale the image accurately.  In my case, I used this yet to be seen step.

The Attached Canvas Preview

The drawing will import onto the Fusion 360 canvas, but it's not calibrated.  It's up to us to make sure the scale of the drawing  is 1:1. . 

I recommend re-positioning the attached image easier to measure.  Once that's done, locate the "Canvases" folder in the browser.  Right click on it, and choose "Calibrate".

This step gives you the opportunity to measure a known value on the Attached Canvas.

Choosing the calibrate option will allow you
size the imported image. 

Returning back to the situation I found myself in, The drawing I was reproducing had edges I with dimensions I could use, so I just picked an edge with a dimension, and chose the extents of the dimension for scale.

In the case of my drawing, the dimension I chose was 5 inches.  Naturally, the calibration the dimension on my canvas, but trust me!  It's 5 inches!

Calibrating the image using a known edge.

The image will resize according to that known dimension, and if the drawing with a consistent scale, measurements can be taken from any part of the drawing and a reasonably accurate measurement can be made. 

A measurement taken to obtain the part thickness

By using this method, the dimensions of the part can be obtained from the drawing, and the drawing turned into a 3D model.  

But of course, it's not all a walk in the park. There are some things to be aware of going in.

You've already seen me use the phrase "consistently scaled".  In other words, the drawing has to be created to some sort of accurate scale.  If it's sketched to different scales in the X and Y axis, it will be difficult, possibly impossible, to get good dimensions.

I've also used the phrase "reasonably accurate".  That means you can't quite get to the last decimal point of your measurement.  But you can get close enough to determine many measurements.

For example, if you measure .193 on a part that can be expected to be a standard thickness, then you might be looking at a thickness of .1875 inches.

But even if not perfect, this method can get you exactly what you need when no other methods work.

So give it a try!