AutoDesk Fusion 360 Tutorial
The purpose of this page is to provide an introduction to using AutoDesk Fusion 360. The reason that I choose to use this program is that it is free for students. I have found that this program is also straightforward use and I now use it to design any of the objects I am interested in 3d printing. This page will serve as an introduction to Autodesk and should cover enough of the basics for the reader to begin creating their own parts.
Getting Started
AutoDesk Fusion can be downloaded and licensed for free if you are a student at an accredited university. To download AutoDesk Fusion so simply follow the instructions in the link below.
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Besides the Autodesk software the only additional hardware you need is a mouse. AutoDesk actually works pretty well using a trackpad, but I would still suggest using a mouse to avoid unnecessary headaches.
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Tutorial
The first task that needs to be completed, is to create a sketch on the blank workspace. To do this pulldown the origin menu on the left side of the screen. Here you will see 3 planes listed: XY, XZ, YZ. Right-click one of these planes and select "create sketch". Below is a video showing how to create a sketch in Autodesk
Now that the sketch has been added, we can begin editing our sketch. We will start by adding a circle to the sketch. Select the "Center Diameter Circle" from the top menu. This will allow you to first place the center of the circle on the sketch and then adjust the diameter as you see fit. Usually, I like to place the center of my circle at the origin of the part. The reason I do this is that it will help us to "fully define" the part. Once the circle has been placed select the "create" pull-down menu from the top menu. Near the bottom of the pull-down menu there is the "sketch dimension" option: select this. We can now dimension our sketch. Now select the circle you just added to the sketch. A text box will appear allowing you to exactly define the diameter you want the circle to have. Also, note that whenever you finish using a tool you can deselect that tool by simply pressing the "ESC" key. Below is a video showing how to create and dimension a circle in Autodesk.
The next step is to learn to use constraints in a sketch. Constraints are one of the most important concepts in any 3d design software. Essentially, what constraints do is they give the relationship between objects (lines, circles, points, etc) within the sketch. In the video below I demonstrate using constraints to create two circles of equal size, which are horizontally aligned. All constraints in Fusion 360 are shown in the top menu above the word "Constraints". To use a constrain you can select multiple objects by holding the shift key. Once this is done, select the constraint you want to enforce from the menu. You can also do this in reverse order by first selecting the constraint and then selecting the objects you want to constrain. Below is a video showing how to add constraints to a sketch.
I do not actually want to use the second circle though so lets delete it. To do this highlight the right circle with your mouse. Now right click and select "delete" from the pop up menu. Below is a video showing how to delete lines on a sketch.
Now lets create an extrude from our sketch. Extrudes are what allows us to create 3D parts from our 2D sketches. To do this select "FINISH SKETCH" found on the right of the top menu; this will exit the sketch. Now that we have exited the sketch ensure you are in the "SOLID" menu and then select the extrude symbol. This will bring up the "EDIT FEATURE" menu. This menu allows you to configure the length of the extrude, the direction of the extrude, the offset of the extrude, and a variety of additional parameters. Also note that within the "EDIT FEATURE" menu there is a pull-down menu labelled "Operation" this menu is used to toggle between if we are adding new material (new body, join body) or if we are removing material (cut). In the example below I selected the new body function, because I was creating a new body. Below is a video showin show to create an extrusion.
Now that we have created an extrusion, we can create additional sketches on the faces of our extrusion. This will allow us to create additional extrusions/cuts. Using multiple cuts and extrusions we can create more complex bodies. In the video below I demonstrate creating additional extrusions on top of an existing body. I also show how to create a cut from a sketch. Below is a video showing how to create additional sketches and extrusions on already existing extrusions.
Now that we know the basics of creating a new sketch/extrusion it is time we learn more about dimensions and constraints. These two concepts greatly simplify the creation of more advanced bodies in any 3d design software. As I briefly explained before, dimensions allow us to define the length, radius, etc of a specific part. This is very useful when we are creating a part that needs to fit into other parts or a larger project. Now if we had to dimension every angle, length, etc of our sketches we would quickly be overwhelmed by the number of dimensions. Additionally, this would not only make our sketches more cluttered but it would also make it more difficult to make changes to our sketch. This is where constraints come in, using constraints we can define certain relationships between the entities (lines, circles, etc) on our sketch. For example, we could determine that two lines are always equal and we could then apply the equal constraint. This decision would allow us to have only one dimension for the two lines, meaning that if we needed to change the length of the two lines we would only have to change one value and not two. While this example may sound slightly trivial for more complex sketches constraints are necessary. Another reason we need to use constraints and dimensions in our sketches is that all of the entities in our sketch need to have a position defined relative to the origin. When all the entities in a sketch can be described entirely by their position relative to the origin we say the sketch is fully defined. It is important that we create sketches that are fully defined so that there are never mishaps when we go to extrude our sketches.
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In my opinion two of the most useful constraints in Autodesk are the "MIDPOINT" constraint and the "VERTICAL/HORIZONTAL" constraints. I frequently use these two constraints to center all of my sketches on the origin. This greatly simplifies the process of fully defining a sketch. To use the MIDPOINT constraint it is easiest to go to the "CREATE" menu while editing a sketch. From here select point. Now go to the line whose midpoint you wish to define. Hold shift and hover the mouse over the line near the center of the line. Eventually a point will pop up with a triangle next to it. This point is the midpoint; select it. Now with the midpoints defined we can use the VERTICAL/HORIZONTAL constraints to line the midpoints of the lines up with the origin of the 3d space. Note that lines will go from blue to black once they become fully defined. Below is a video showing how to use the MIDPOINT and VERTICAL/HORITZONTAL Constrains to center a rectangle on the origin.
This is the end of my beginner introduction to Autodesk Fusion 360. For more advanced concepts see my page on Advanced Autodesk Fusion 360.