Book Image

3D Printing with Fusion 360

By : Sualp Ozel
Book Image

3D Printing with Fusion 360

By: Sualp Ozel

Overview of this book

As 3D printing gains traction, the demand for CAD experts in manufacturing grows. If you're a fan of Autodesk Fusion and crave hands-on experience with automated modeling, generative design, and the full potential of additive manufacturing, this book is your guide to elevating your design and 3D printing skills. In this book, you’ll learn how to open CAD or Mesh files in Fusion and expertly repair, edit, and prepare them for 3D printing. You’ll unlock the secrets of effective print preparation, learning about print settings, support structures, and part orientation. This book also highlights Fusion’s diverse preferences designed specifically for additive manufacturing. Subsequent chapters will guide you in choosing the right part orientation and position, as well as creating suitable support structures based on your chosen printing technology. You’ll simulate the printing process to detect and remedy common print failures associated with the metal powder bed fusion process. Finally, you’ll leverage templates and scripts to automate routine tasks around print preparation. By the end of this 3D printing book, you'll be armed with the knowledge and skills necessary to harness the power of Fusion for additive manufacturing, meeting the growing demand with confidence.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) and Fusion 360
6
Part 2: Print Preparation – Creating an Additive Setup
10
Part 3: Print Preparation – Positioning Parts, Generating Supports, and Toolpaths
15
Part 4: Metal Printing, Process Simulation, and Automation

Base plate supports for SLA and DLP printing

When generating bar supports automatically using Fusion 360, Fusion adds pads to each bar support by default. Pads are added to bars where they connect to the build plate with a surface area larger than the bar diameter. This action ensures good adhesion between the support and the build plate. Pad connections are often recommended for printing small parts such as jewelry with an SLA/DLP printer. However, if you are printing a larger part with bar supports using a bottom-up resin printer, you should consider printing them using a base plate connection instead of pads between your bar supports and the build plate. This will ensure that you have a stronger build plate adhesion and increase your chances of printing success.

In the previous section, we covered how to group bars together and connect those groups to the build plate using base plates. Fusion 360 also has an explicit Base Plate Support action as can be seen in Figure 10.19. This...