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

Generating the support structures

Two commands generate support structures in Fusion 360, and they can both be found in the SUPPORTS dropdown menu under the ADDITIVE tab. The first and most common support command is called Solid Volume Support, while the second is Solid Bar Support:

Figure 16.18: SUPPORTS commands

Figure 16.18: SUPPORTS commands

Straight off the bat, I can tell you that Solid Bar Support has very poor performance on most FDM printers (it is widely used for SLA printers instead). Since SLA printers have limited support in Fusion 360 and since we are printing an FDM part, we will focus on Solid Volume Support only. Once launched, you’ll see this panel:

Figure 16.19: Solid Volume’s Geometry tab

Figure 16.19: Solid Volume’s Geometry tab

This command is not complex to use, with just two tabs. Let’s look at the first one – the Geometry tab:

  • Supported Model: Using this selection tool, we can specify the 3D model we want to create support material for...