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

Tessellation, a critical step for 3D printing with non-Fusion 360 slicers

As we learned in the chapter introduction, there are many slicers out there for 3D printing. Even though certain slicers can accept solid models from CAD software, more often than not, you will have to tessellate your models and turn them into mesh models prior to sending them to your preferred slicer. Fusion 360 can convert solid and surface models into mesh bodies using the TESSELLATE command located within the MESH tab of the CREATE panel.

Tessellating a solid body

The TESSELLATE command has multiple options to control what the mesh outcome will look like. After selecting a body or a component to tessellate, you can use the Refinement Settings dropdown and change the quality of the tessellated mesh body. The default refinement option is medium, but I would recommend using high in order to get a more refined mesh outcome, especially around a curved surface. The refinement option you choose controls the...