Fusion 360 SIG - Getting started!

Special Interest Groups Design
#1

With the goal of rallying around one piece of CAD/CAM software for all digital tools, this SIG was started. It’s lead by Tim Peachey who has decades of experience with such software though he’s quick to (humbly) point out he’s not yet expert with Fusion 360. Today’s session was an opportunity for 27 registrants to share what they know, share the uses they have for CAD and what they’d hope to get out of the SIG. From this interesting opener, Tim will choose a path forward.

0:00 Intro of SIG by Tim Peachey, SIG Leader

    **Partisipant Introductions**

5:00 Tim __________ 40:00 Paul S
8:30 Travis ________ 43:00 Jim S
13:45 Mike K ______ 47:45 Lance
19:00 Nancy _______ 51:00 Sam
21:30 Paul D _______ 54:45 Dallas
23:45 Ray _________ 58:00 Lem
31:00 Eric ________ 1:01:00 Harry
34:00 Lem ________ 1:04:45 Mark
37:15 Jim C

1:10:00 Open Discussion

1 Like
#2

It was fun hearing from members and learning about various backgrounds and interests. Based on what was shared last night, a format for lessons and discussions that will keep the sessions interesting for all is being discussed. Once the ideas are honed to satisfaction, next steps will be announced. Please feel free to make suggestions and ask questions.

The Google slides presented are at this link . They aren’t particularly exciting, but there are some links on a later slide that maybe helpful.

There were some areas that people had specific questions about. In the next few days I’ll post some more links to videos addressing some of these subjects. In the meantime, ask more!

1 Like
#3

For your viewing pleasure, Tim’s Fusion 360 links one step closer:

1 Like
#4

Hi fellow Fusion 360 enthusiasts

We honed our various ideas on how to proceed with this group following our Monday session. In the session, I mentioned being better at implementation than on originality; for example, the bulk of good ideas on how we proceed came from Travis, and I am going to do my best at implementation. :sunglasses:

While we are sequestered at home and more likely to be available for sessions like this, we can do a weekly session for beginners. In advance, I’ll provide an “assignment” on the forum for beginners. Initially at least, this will mainly follow an online tutorial. Those who want the beginner training should follow the tutorial at home and complete the included exercises. On Mondays at 6:30pm, I’ll go through aspects of the tutorial on Zoom. We can explore details that aren’t clear to users, answer questions, address different approaches to design etc. Then I’ll assign a design challenge for you to do on your own during the next week.

Every SECOND Monday, the beginner class at 6:30 will be brief. At 7:00, we’ll shift to a session for the whole group including non-beginners. This might be an advanced topic, demo, guest speaker, Q&A, etc. About 7:30 we’ll open it up for show and tell, socializing, and a virtual happy hour!

April 13 - Beginner Class at 6:30 - details coming later today
April 20 - Beginners at 6:30, full SIG group at 7:00
April 27 - Beginner Class at 6:30
May 4 - Beginners at 6:30, full SIG group at 7:00
etcetera for the time being

Everybody be safe!

2 Likes
#5

You can now register for Fusion 360 SIG meetings on the Shop’s PunchPass calendar.

#6

For those who have yet to install Fusion 360, here is the link:
https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360-for-hobbyists

#7

For the basic beginner class on Monday, let’s do the following tutorial:
Fusion 360 for Woodworking

If that seems like a breeze for you, then proceed to the next one as well:
Modeling a Bookshelf in Fusion 360

If you have questions that you like addressed before Monday, please post them here.

See you Monday at 6:30pm!

#8

Hi all,

A reminder that tonight at 6:30 we will review the introductory videos, and take any questions that you have. Our focus for this session will be a beginner approach to learning Fusion 360.

See you on Zoom!

#9

Hi Tim! Thank you for leading the SIG - you’re doing a great job and I’m learning a lot already. Much appreciated!

Bookshelf: From your demo I was itching to understand how easy it would be to incorporate dado cuts in the upright pieces to properly hold the shelves in the model. One of my design weak points is neglecting the joinery aspects that affect the dimensions when actually cutting the pieces. I think it would be as simple as using extrude to ‘cut’ out the dado channel, and ‘attach’ the shelves from dado to dado just as you did with the faces of the side pieces. I’ll try it out!

Speaking of design: Is there a way to export a cut list? How about defining materials (3/4 ply, for example) when creating an object so that thickness dimension doesn’t need to be defined?

I’m also very intrigued by the ability to manipulate imported objects, and look forward to exploring that.

Thanks again! I’ll have lots more questions, I’m sure. :nerd_face:

#10

Hi Nancy, I’m glad the meetings are beneficial. I really like your question, because it is very relevant and an opportunity to explore several different ways to achieve an objective like this. I try to include as much detail as I can in a part design.

I’m going to explore several ways to include the dado cuts and pattern them, while maintaining the parametric linking for future changes etc. It might be a good way to demonstrate the mirror feature, which is useful in symmetric parts and assemblies. I will experiment with a few different approaches to see how the functionality works on F360. If we are ready to get ambitious, it might be a good example of using parametric relations. When I think I have a few decent suggestions, I’ll make a video and post a link to this forum.

We can use the Parts List function as a cut list. Drawing will be a topic we should cover pretty soon. Since we have planned sketching and file imports, and a demo of the 3D printing for next week, maybe we can have a session on creating drawing in 2 weeks.

#11

A question was asked last night about how to change colors and appearance. I forgot to get back to this later in the evening. We can cover this in more detail when we do a session on appearances and rendering, but here is a video that describes the process.

1 Like