Autodesk Fusion 360 for Design & Manufacturing – Exploring the Workspaces!

In my upcoming blogs, I will dive into why Autodesk Fusion 360 is such a disruptive technology on the market and why industry and educational institutions are becoming more interested in what Fusion 360 has to offer.

In this blog, I will explain what Fusion 360 is and introduce the Simulation, Manufacture, Drawing and Electronics Workspace.

So, what is Fusion 360?

Fusion 360 is the first collaborative, cloud-enabled CAD, CAM, CAE, and 3D PCB design platform that allows designers and engineers across the industry to connect, collaborate and ultimately bring products to market faster than before.

The Simulation Workspace

The Fusion 360 Simulation Workspace allows Engineers to perform simulation studies of different FEA concepts on the design models. The following image is an overview of the types of study that can currently be generated:

These tools available in the preliminary design stage allow engineers to perform testing on the products during the design phase to help reduce errors and improve the product’s safety before the manufacturing process starts.

Fusion 360 users also have an advantage where you can import any native CAD file from any CAD package on the market and perform FEA tasks when required. Models can also be simplified in the Fusion Design or Simulation Environments that allow output to other third-party FEA tools that may be used in the design or quality departments, for example, ANYSYS, CFD etc.

The Manufacture Workspace

Fusion 360’s Manufacture Workspace offers the CAM Engineer a comprehensive set of manufacturing setup options for Milling, Turning or Mill/Turn, Cutting, Additive, Inspection and Fabrication type workflows.

The types of toolpath strategies available include 2.5-Axis Machining, 3-Axis machining, 3+2 (5-Axis Positional) Machining and 5-Axis Simultaneous Machining techniques. Recent updates are incorporating high-end machining strategies such as Steep and Shallow finishing found in Autodesk Flagship CAM package PowerMill, including multi-axis capabilities and collision avoidance, strengthening the machining capabilities that Fusion 360 has to offer.

As the associative behaviour of Fusion 360, where changes are made in the Design Environment, is automatically updated and reflected in the Manufacturing environment meaning that CAM related rework to applied toolpath strategies is kept to a minimum and captured with the design change.

Autodesk Fusion 360 offers an excellent machining simulation environment allowing CAM Engineers to simulate their toolpaths. They can check for collisions and gouges. Adjustments can be applied to the toolpath strategy to ensure a high level of safety before generating the NC code required to operate their expensive CNC machinery.

 

Autodesk gives users access to a free online library of generic post processors, machine simulation files and tooling libraries where all the big players in the CNC world are accommodated for. They are constantly updated with the new and required functionality, including new machines and post-processors being added regularly

If you are unable to locate the desired post processor and or machine simulation file, you have two options:

Option 1

Autodesk released instructions on manually creating and manipulating post processors, which can be found on the Post Library Website.

Option 2

Manufacturers can approach highly training Autodesk Partners to take on post-processor development projects to get you up and running with the software by producing working post-processor and machine simulation files to suit your needs.

If you are looking at adopting Fusion 360 for manufacturing, exploring the Post Processor Library is the perfect place to start. Many post processors are available for free. If you find a post relating to your CNC hardware, see if you can replicate the required toolpath strategies created with your current CAM solution?

Symetri offers excellent services to help you explore Fusion’s functionality and see if it is right for you. We can take your models, apply toolpath strategies, and generate test code to see if further alignment is required for a working post-processor. We also offer comprehensive best-in-class training around all the CNC machining capabilities mentioned above.