Fusion 360 help please.

[Erie Fred]

I have never used the electronic module side of Fusion so can't say if it is good or not but if it is even 80% as good as others then my personal choice would be to use it.
Having everything within one programme is one of the reasons I rate Fusion so highly compared to others I have used. For example when I used SW I had to then export my model to my CAM programme, it was a pain. Another thing with SW that I found that was a pain, it may have changed now but I don't think so, is that for an assembly you needed to have lots of separate models then bring them into another file for an assembly. With Fusion you do all within the same file, much easier in my opinion.

Inventor does this in regards to assemblies.
I have been running it since 2008 and have made hundreds of assemblies, doesn't seem to be a problem here.
I make parts, I assemble them, I go back to mod them (parts) in the assembly, cross linking features as needed.

 

[Hood]

Inventor does this in regards to assemblies.
I have been running it since 2008 and have made hundreds of assemblies, doesn't seem to be a problem here.
I make parts, I assemble them, I go back to mod them (parts) in the assembly, cross linking features as needed.

Yes but are the parts within the assembly or do you have to bring them into the assembly?
Fusion they are called components and are all in the one place, see below.

As an example here is a cylinder trolley, all components are drawn in the same file and can be freely edited within the file

Can also be split apart.

Then go to the manufacture tab.

There you can do whatever manufacturing process required, this particular one is plasma cutting.

Go back to the design tab and your model is still complete as before.

All of this is in one file whereas when I was using SW I would have had a file for each component another for the assembly then I would have to import each individual part into my CAM programme.

As said things may have changed since I had SW

 

[bricol]

Inventor does this in regards to assemblies.
I have been running it since 2008 and have made hundreds of assemblies, doesn't seem to be a problem here.
I make parts, I assemble them, I go back to mod them (parts) in the assembly, cross linking features as needed.

Exactly as every 3D CAD system I've used since mid 90's worked - I too do not see a problem.

I've got an assembly on screen at the moment, comprising many individual components/parts, as well as a good number of sub-assemblies, made up of many components themselves, some probably with sub-assemblies too. Including fasteners, probably a good few thousand individual components - and it's a small part of the main machine.

 

[Hood]

Exactly as every 3D CAD system I've used since mid 90's worked - I too do not see a problem.

I've got an assembly on screen at the moment, comprising many individual components/parts, as well as a good number of sub-assemblies, made up of many components themselves, some probably with sub-assemblies too. Including fasteners, probably a good few thousand individual components - and it's a small part of the main machine.

Are all of those contained in a single file?
For example, if you saved the file to give to someone else would it just be a single file containing everything from models to assembly to CAM info so when they opened on their PC everything would be there? Or would it be like I used to have when using SW, the assembly file then all of the model files then a cam file and if I just sent an assembly file to someone it would be no use as the model files and cam files would also be required.
Maybe I just didn't know how to do it in SW.

 

[Dr.Al]

Are all of those contained in a single file?
For example, if you saved the file to give to someone else would it just be a single file containing everything from models to assembly to CAM info so when they opened on their PC everything would be there? Or would it be like I used to have when using SW, the assembly file then all of the model files then a cam file and if I just sent an assembly file to someone it would be no use as the model files and cam files would also be required.
Maybe I just didn't know how to do it in SW.

In solid works the default is definitely to draw parts (in .sldprt files) and then combine them into a simple (and small) assembly file (.sldasm).

However, you can have a single .sldasm file with everything in (by creating parts in the assembly). It generally isn't the recommended way in most CAD systems as for large assemblies it'll become a bit of a monster file with much more risk of hard drive corruption vs small files where the most you would ever lose would be the one part.

If I wanted to send the whole assembly to someone, I'd just zip it up & tell them to unzip & then open the .sldasm file, which references all the other parts, so still a single file you have to open. Alternatively, I'd send a STEP file.

I used to use a CAD system (ZW3D) that stored everything in one file & it's notable that they had heavy pressure from customers to split the files up so that now (like Solid Works) you can do either but the default is multiple files.

I don't use CAM though, so can't comment on the implications for that. I would expect that most manufacturing routes would involve making each part separately (and hence separate files make sense), but as I said, it's not my area really.

 

[Maker]

In Solidworks you "Pack and go" the assembly and it puts all the sub-assys and parts into their own (Zipped?) folder which you can send around easily. You can import an assy into CAM if you need to.

I think the "Import part files into an assembly file" system is better for all but the simplest projects, it seems like a more efficient workflow to build sub-assemblies, then import those into higher level assemblies, add fasteners, etc.

 

[Hood]

Yes that was the way I had to work in SW/BobCAD combo, I just find Fusion so much easier and as for corruption, it is on the cloud but also on my HDD and there are copies of each version so unlikely I would lose all.
Size wise, now the trolley isn't exactly a massive project but it contains all info and is only 600KB.

 

[Hood]

Here is another, the stainless foot peg I made, everything in one file from 3D model, sheet metal flat pattern to CAM with three separate operations.

 

[Misterg]

Fusion will work either way. When I first came to it after PTC Creo, I copied that workflow and was drawing components as separate files and then bringing them into an assembly. There are advantages in this approach - the components are re-usable across different designs, for example.

However, for 'hobby sized' projects (i.e. not a complete excavator or something), I too find the option to keep the whole design within one file very convenient, and have gravitated to that way of working. (This isn't an either/or decision - you can use a mixture of approaches within one design.)

The CAM integration in F360 is fantastic if one has that requirement (which I do).

 

[Hood]

Fusion will work either way. When I first came to it after PTC Creo, I copied that workflow and was drawing components as separate files and then bringing them into an assembly. There are advantages in this approach - the components are re-usable across different designs, for example.

However, for 'hobby sized' projects (i.e. not a complete excavator or something), I too find the option to keep the whole design within one file very convenient, and have gravitated to that way of working. (This isn't an either/or decision - you can use a mixture of approaches within one design.)

The CAM integration in F360 is fantastic if one has that requirement (which I do).

You can also copy components and paste them into other drawings and they are linked, so if you change the original it changes the one in the other drawing or you can also edit the new linked one or even break the link.

 

[ajlelectronics]

The one thing to bear in mind is that many of us cannot afford the full version of Fusion and so many functions are unavailable.

 

[Misterg]

The one thing to bear in mind is that many of us cannot afford the full version of Fusion and so many functions are unavailable.

I don' use the 'paid for' version. Everything I've described is in the free 'hobby' version.

Incidentally, there's a benefit to keeping everything within one file with the 'hobby' version in that it doesn't eat into the 10 editable file limit too quickly (you can easily make files 'read only', but it is a minor PITA).

For instance, this would be 7 files as separate components (6 parts and an assembly):

Or one file, which also includes the CAM for the three machined parts:

What you get for 'free' is pretty impressive!

 

[Hood]

I pay for mine as I find it worthwhile £10 a week is nothing compared to what I was paying before for SW and even BobCAD were wanting 5x the cost. Granted BobCAD was not yearly but after a couple of years you would be wanting an upgrade for new features where Fusion you get them all the time.

Horses for courses I suppose but Fusion is so much better for what I use it for than anything I have tried before and it just suits my type of work.

 

[ajlelectronics]

I am still puzzling about why I can't import this into EasyEDA. Steps (sorry) are to first export as a .step and import that to FreeCAD for export as a .wrl. I have been successful in this so far, it is just the Teensy boards that will not import. Could be the size maybe, but EasyEDA doesn't say what the limit might be. The WRL file is too large (5.7Mb) to upload here.
My next thought is that it might be due to the complexity / two combined parts but I am out of ideas.

Edit...

I am looking at the "Pro" edition of EasyEDA (also free) and that will and has imported the .step file directly. It all looks a bit scary though, very different to the standard version.