Book Image

Making Your CAM Journey Easier with Fusion 360

By : Fabrizio Cimò
Book Image

Making Your CAM Journey Easier with Fusion 360

By: Fabrizio Cimò

Overview of this book

Downloading a piece of 3D software and shaping concepts and ideas is quite easy. However, designing feasible and cost-effective real parts from 3D models can be challenging with traditional production technologies, or even additive manufacturing. This book will give you the know-how and skills to develop your projects from ideas to physical products, and overcome these obstacles. In ‘Making Your CAM Journey Easier with Fusion 360’, you'll discover how to set up a CAM program, pick the right tool, and optimize production. You'll learn the pros and cons of different production technologies, including turning, milling, laser cutting, and 3D printing, and understand how to choose the best option based on your needs. You’ll also explore the important computer-aided manufacturing tools that Fusion 360 offers through the use of examples and best practices. By the end of this book, you’ll understand the potential issues and drawbacks of different design components and apply workarounds to avoid design flaws.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
1
Part 1 – Implementing Turning Operations in Fusion 360
7
Part 2 – Milling with Fusion 360
13
Part 3 – Laser Cutting Using Fusion 360
17
Part 4 – Using Fusion 360 for Additive Manufacturing
22
Part 5 – Testing Our Knowledge

Using Fusion 360 for laser cutting

This chapter is intended to present all the features and commands that Fusion 360 offers. The goal is to create a cutting toolpath ready to be exported to our cutting machine. I aim for my explanations to be as clear and complete as possible; however, there are a few important limitations related to the subject.

As silly as it may sound, laser cutting is not similar to milling. In milling, there are multiple parameters ruled by simple formulas shared as standard by every milling machine brand. The chances are high that if we take a set of cutting parameters used to mill a part on a first CNC and use them on a different brand machine, they will work just as well. However, laser cutting is totally different. Every machine brand is different from its competitors and the number of variables to take into account is huge.

For a proper laser cutting operation, to list just a few parameters, we need to consider the material type, its thickness, its...