Introduction to Fusion 360

Hi All,

Would fellow hackerspacer-ers be interested in an introduction to Fusion 360 course? Just hit that like button below if yes and I’d happy accept thoughts and comments on the scope.

Here is what I had in mind:

A “from 0” approach introducing and working in the design and manufacture workspaces in F360 to design, build and generate “cad” drawings for a component. Next we would move on and define tools, tool paths, simulating and generating the g-code to use on the big cnc machine. As well as the CNC machine F360 can be used for 3d printing and the Tormach.

EDIT- ok I thought there was a like button on posts… maybe not.

Thanks,
MMc

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It would be great to have a Fusion 360 group not unlike meetups. Resource people to address topics individuals are facing in their projects.
I have to say that a video series I stumbled upon has been invaluable to me getting familiar with the application platform. It’s called desktopmakes.com I think.
I found the structure very helpful and the projects illustrative of concepts and processes.

Still local resources are also helpful

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You’re not wrong - Discourse calls the heart “like”

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Will you share the video series you mentioned? I’m definitely interested what Matt mentioned, but would like to take a look at the videos as well. Thanks

Hi Tommy

The course(s) are described HERE. There are a few levels of course.

The courses are structured pedagogically as learn by doing. It starts off with downloading Fusion360 and setting it up on your computer. There are tweaks to the environment that will make using the program less confusing for the beginner.

The application is very powerful. There are processes to do everything and it can all seem overwhelming: sketch to 3D model to dynamic dimensions (one dimension eg diameter of a part) might be dependent on the size of the part and located along a particular construction line. Change the model and everything is adjusted. These are called constraints - centered or tangent or parallel etc.

Concepts are introduced and explained as principles that work towards the completion of a simple project. There’s always and end product for each segment that you can 3D print. Like eating the elephant, the beginner doesn’t know if if you start at the tail of the trunk or the leg.

Eric P. turned me on to Lars Christianson’s channel on YouTube. It’s free. It is extensive. But for a complete beginner, You Tube does not really support an easy way to structure a channel from one video to the next to the next. The “why” you do things one way and not another is not always clear on YouTube videos.

For my learning style, I need to see the practical side of things that make it useful to me. So trigonometry remains an enigma because I was never going to shoot a cannon and calculate how much black powder I needed to achieve a certain velocity of a projectile accelerated at a particular angle to land at a particular target located at a certain elevation. I couldn’t see how that related to electronics.

So for my learning style I find that the desktop makes courses got me up to speed rather quickly for my old brain. Vlademir provides the whys of designing as well as the hows.

Setup - Mac / PC
platform environment tweaks
Sketching and sketch tools including navigating the environment with keyboard and mouse - shortcuts

designing a planter / vase and printing it
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Introducing Cura the slicer Unfortunately the KISSlicer is not covered
preparing the model for printing

Creating a phone stand with embossed text
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Designing a business card holder
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Designing a lampshade
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Design a twisted vase
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Importing an image and creating a design based on the image
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Modeling “Benchy” to illustrate the timeline tool (bottom left in the environment)
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This last first course segment pulls a lot of the design environment into better focus. This includes not only what the Fusion360 tools are, but when, where and how to use them.

And for my old brain, the opportunity to review the series and repeat segments and find THE one tool I need a refresher on instead of searching all of YouTube for that ONE I want (without being distracted by my other interests of funny cat videos, street performers and exotic foods from East Asia).

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Thank you very much for posting the info and for the excellent evaluation.