Fusion 360 and 3D Printing

The above image and time-lapse are that of a lego. To initially start the project I selected a plane and created a sketch in Fusion 360. Once my sketch was created, I made a rectangle using the line tool, and dimensioned the part to be 31.8 mm by 15.8 mm. Then I extruded the part to be 9.6 mm tall. After the extrusion I created a sketch on the top of the rectangular prism, and made a circle 5 mm in diameter, and 3.9 mm from each edge of the rectangular prism. After I finished that sketch, I extruded the circle 1.7 mm. Once I extruded the circle, I used a rectangular pattern by clicking the edge of the rectangular prism to make 4 circles across 24 mm, and then two across 8 mm. Then I shelled the bottom face by 1.49 mm. Once I shelled the bottom, I sketched a circle tangent to the circles on the top, with a circle inside that with a value of 5.314 in diameter by using the offset constraint. Then I extruded the circle by 8.1 mm, and made another pattern to repeat 3 times by 16 mm. Then I created a fillet of 0.2 mm on the edges of the top circles, and the faces of the bottom circle. Lastly, I selected a face on the side of the rectangle, and made a sketch using the text tool to add my name to the brick. I then extruded that into a cut by -0.25 mm. After the design was finished, I saved the file as an STL, and opened Prusa Slicer. In Prusa slicer, I imported the STL file and modified the speed to 0.2 mm, and the infill to 15%. I also added supports for everywhere, in the supports dropdown menu to ensure the print doesn't fail. Then I clicked splice, and exported the Gcode file. I opened up octoprint and cleaned the bed of the printer after. I uploaded the Gcode file to octoprint and then selected print, then waited for the print to finish. The issue with the final product was that I used supports, as they simply created a mess and weren't necessary.

To make the book holder I started with a sketch. In the sketch I used a 3 point arc in order to get the curve of the piece correctly. Then I made to construction lines, one vertical, and one horizontal in order to mirror the design. Then I mirrored over the horizontal line, and over the vertical line to get a complete shape. After I mirrored the arc, I filleted the corners to 1 mm to make them smooth. Then I made a circle in the center of the arcs, that was a size roughly of my thumb, in order to place my thumb inside for comfort while reading. I defined the distance from the edges of the arcs to the circle to be 2.5 mm in order to anchor my sketch. Then I extruded my sketch 10 mm. Then I filleted the edge of the circle on one side of the sketch by 1.5 mm, and the on the same side all other edges 1.5mm in a separate fillet. Once that was finished, I created a sketch on the side that was filleted and typed my name in using the text tool. After my name was entered, I cut it into the sketch using the extrude tool with a factor of -0.5 mm.

3D Printer Workflow

1- Save model as an STL file from fusion360

2- Open your file in Prusa slicer by clicking the import STL button in the top left corner and selecting your file

3- Modify speed in order to print in a reasonable time, filament to the filament that is loaded into the printer you will use, and printer type to the necessary printer you need

4- Click slice now, adjust parameters to change the time, and change file to include your name once you finished slicing and exporting GCODE

5- Check which printer is open, and open the corresponding printer in octoprint

6- Inspect your printer to clear anything off of it, check it to be clear, and clean the baseplate with alcohol

7- Import your GCODE file into octoprint

8- Begin your print by selecting start print in octoprint.

9- Watch print to ensure no errors occur

The modification I provided to the left image above was adding a party hat to the top of it. The first thing I did was import the file into Fusion 360, and center it near the origin in order to save myself time further down the line. Then I created a sketch and made the rough shape of the party hat, and revolved it around a construction line. then I maneuvered the hat to the top of the head, which is where I encountered my first issue. The Issue that happened is that when I selected the individual parts of the hat, the cone and the sphere, and tried to move them, it warped the part. I fixed this by undoing the warping, and selecting the whole body then maneuvering where the hat went.

NC State and Cayde the Dog

The way that NC State is using 3D design and printing to aid in their veterinary practices is fascinating. The way that they are able to use technology in order to practice the surgery before it happens is likely very good for the patient, and makes success rates much higher. The usage of printing also helps to give a better understanding of what is happening with Cayde and what needs to be done to fix the issue. 3D printing is used as a tool to increase success and aid in the diagnosis and treatment of issues, which is truly incredible.