Book Image

Improving CAD Designs with Autodesk Fusion 360

By : Kevin Michael Land
Book Image

Improving CAD Designs with Autodesk Fusion 360

By: Kevin Michael Land

Overview of this book

Autodesk Fusion 360 has become an indispensable tool for designers, tinkerers, and engineers worldwide thanks to its versatility that allows for large-scale assemblies and smaller, quick 3D prints. If you’ve faced challenges with learning Fusion 360, this book will help you overcome them and build the confidence to design your own projects, explaining step-by-step instructions and the purpose of each tool. In this book, you’ll dive into the design workspace and learn sketching fundamentals such as setting up a component, recognizing when a sketch is fully constrained, and parametrically flexing models. Through trial and error, you’ll work on multiple easy-to-build projects to create simple, useful items that can be quickly 3D printed for use around the house and then advance to much bigger projects that require joint connectivity and large assemblies. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to sketch fully parametric designs, translate them into 3D models, and create your own unique designs.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Part 1: Simple, Fun Projects for Around the Home
7
Part 2: Bicycle Water Bottle Holder Project
13
Part 3: FORM Modeling Techniques
17
Part 4: Working with 2D and 3D Scanned Images

Creating a reference model using primitives

Using primitives is a great way to get the basic shape of your reference model without having to use too many details. It’s a quick and easy way to get your project moving forward. It is limited, though, by its basic function, so just be aware that this is not the preferred way to build since it is not a parametric model.

Here is how we can create our reference model of the handlepost and handlebars using primitives:

  1. Within the SOLID tab, click on the CREATE drop-down arrow, and select Cylinder.
Figure 7.7 – The Cylinder tool location

Figure 7.7 – The Cylinder tool location

  1. Left-click on the XY plane and then left-click on the origin to place the center of the cylinder.
Figure 7.8 – Placing a cylinder on the XY plane

Figure 7.8 – Placing a cylinder on the XY plane

  1. Type in a diameter of 40 mm and hit Enter.
  2. The CYLINDER flyout will appear. Type in 270 for Height and hit Enter.
Figure 7.9 – The CYLINDER flyout

Figure...