Deep Dive Into Fusion 360 Part 2

This is the warm-up we did in class. We need to use the dimensions to make a cylinder in picture 2. I used REVOLVE feature to make the cylinder.

This bicycle rack used SWEEP command to create. To do Sweep, I need to create two files: One is sweep path, the other is sweep profile. I used the line command to create the basic shape of the bicycle rack. Next, I used Fillet command to make the sharp corners of the bicycle rack round. Then I used the Center Diameter Circle command to create a circle on the plane that is perpendicular to the plane which had the shape of the bicycle rack on. At last, I used the Sweep command and selected the shape of the bicycle rack as sweep path and the circle as sweep profile and the bicycle rack was done.

How to create 2D drawings in Fusion 360

In order to create 2D drawings, I first need to open the design I want. Next, go to File-New Drawing-From Design/From Animation and Fusion 360 will automatically create the 2D drawing of the 3D design you selected. There is another way to do it: go to Data Panel-Find the design you want to use-right-click on the design-select New Drawing From Design. There will be a panel pop up and after you change the preference, click OK and a 2D drawing is created. Click anywhere on the 2D drawing to settle the first image of your design. I usually use the Projected View to present the multiple views of the design. You can also add dimensions on the 2D drawing. 

For the 1x4 Lego, I was given the dimensions. I first created a rectangle. Next, I extruded the rectangle. Then I started to create the blocks on the top. I use Center Diameter Circle command to create two concentric circles. Then I extruded the space between the two circles. After that, I used Rectangular Pattern to make a 3 other copies of the circular block I just created. Then I started to create the holes on the front. I first use the Circle command to create two circles. First, I extruded the space between the two circles for -0.5mm. Next, I used the Extrude command to extrude the smaller circle and created the hole. Then I used rectangular pattern to create the two other copies of the holes. Since the bottom of the Lego was supposed to be hollow, I used the Shell command to hollow the bottom. Then at the bottom of the Lego, I used the same way of creating the top blocks to create the circle blocks at the bottom. The only difference was that when I was extruding the circles, I selected Joint so that the circle blocks were connected to the holes.

To start designing my Lego piece, I first used a caliper to measure the height, width and length of the lego. Then I measured the diameters of the circular holes on the Lego. After I got all the dimensions I needed, I started to design it in Fusion 360. I first created a rectangle. After I extruded it, I used Fillet command to make the edges of the rectangular prism round. Then I started to draw two concentric circles on the top and the bottom of the  object respectively. Then I used rectangular pattern to make copies of the two circles both on the top and the bottom.  I started to extrude these circles. I first extruded the space between the two circles for -0.5mm. Then I negatively extruded the inner circles to create holes. There were some hour-glass shaped hole between the circles on the original Lego. I decided to use line sketch command to create  the arcs. Then I used rectangle to create copies and extruded it. Then I used Fillet command to make the edges of the hour-glass holes round. I used the same way to create my bottom hour-glass holes. Finally, my Lego is done.

My partner gave me his 2D drawing of his Lego with dimensions on it. I first created a big rectangle, a smaller rectangle in the middle and two rectangles on two sides of the big rectangle respectively.  Then I extruded the part excluded the smaller rectangle in the middle and the two rectangles on the side. In the front of the object, I created eight two concentric circles using Center Diameter Circle and Rectangular Pattern commands. I also needed to create spaces between the circles. I use Spline and Line commands to create the shape of the space and extruded it all the way through so that it became holes. For the  side of the Lego, I repeated the process. On the top of the Lego, I needed to create a hole that has tube connected. So I made three circles: outer one was 6.2mm, inner ones were 4.8mm and 4.79 mm respectively. I extruded the space between the 6.2mm circles and 4.8mm circles and made the 4.8 mm circles joint-extruded all the way through. However, when I used Joint feature in Extrude, the 4.8 mm became a solid column. So I created the 4.79mm circles on an offset plane. Then I extruded the 4.7mm circles to create holes. There were two dumbbell-like spaces between the two circles on each side of the row. I used the line command to create the shape of the spaces and extruded them for -1mm each side. I used the same way to create the holes and spaces on the bottom part of the Lego. My redesign of my partner's Lego was done.

Tutorial Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUGoevQzW-g 

My 3D Printed Dodecahedron

When I first tried to create my own Lego, I used Tangent Arc command to create the round edge of my Lego. However, it didn't went well. After I extruded the plane, I tried to create the circle on the Lego. The tope of the circles worked very well. However, when I was doing the circles on the bottom, I found out that the circles on the top and at the bottom are not at the same position. Besides, I made a mistake on my dimensions, which made the space between the circles bigger than what I had expected. So I used another method which was using the Fillet command to create the round edges and corrected the dimensions. The second design was very successful.