The pencil balancing demo is very impressive. Its not that long ago (well it might be over 20 years) I saw an equally impressive (for the time) demonstration on a university recruitment stand at an engineering design exhibition. They managed the trick of balancing a briefcase on one of its short edges.

Other than the challenge I don't see any reason to use the parallelogram type mechanism. For the printer you still need the Z axis anyway. Regarding the 3D printer, (that I too don't need) but I would be very tempted to build a SLA type using a DLP chip out of a digital projector which when only projecting on to a small build area, rather than a screen viewed by a room full of people, has extremely high resolution.

"Fusion 360, Is it a 3D modelling software or parametric? Can't really get the basic info from the convoluted Autodesk site…"

But at least you can try it for free.

Ian P

**LINK**

Not very relevant but fun! They also have videos of drones juggling.

If you go into the preferences menu (click your name at top RHS of screen and select "preferences&quot, you can change the "offline cache time period (days)" to the maximum of 360 days. So it will work locally for up to that duration in the absence of an internet connection to its server. As SM says, it's best to think of the cloud as your backup rather than some sinister plot to acquire and flog off your IP.

If you go into the "data panel" (by clicking on the funny square icon at the very top left of the screen), you can see all of your projects as they are held on the server. You can right click on the ones you want to store and work on locally ("add to offline cache&quot and they will be available to work on when Fusion can't see the server.

Loads of Youtube videos to watch that will help you get up to speed – nothing like watching someone to learn from them! Check out Lars Christensen, NYC CNC, Autodesk Fusion 360 etc.

Murray

Might interest people to see the original RepRap Morgan.

Not forgetting the way Autodesk is also hoovering up small companies to take free utilities off the market and either kill the products or incorporate them into paid products.

I genuinely believe Autodesk has a policy of killing free and open source software in order to delay the development of free or open source CAD/CAM 😀

Hi Joseph

Like many others I am slowly becoming proficient with Fusion 360, having spent many years using AutoCAD as a two and 3D tool. So far I can work a lot faster using Acad when creating drawings. While the parametric design features provided by Fusion can be used to control dimensions and assist in accuracy the editor is not as efficient, (for me anyway) moving between drawings in fusion can also be a slow process, a simple save taking many seconds as the program updates the server and the local files. If you keep each component in a separate file as I do the design process involves constantly moving between files. Fusion does allow you to have several files open at one time. Acad allows you to edit a component in an assembly drawing in place a very useful feature. I have not found a way to do this in fusion.

My interest in fusion is focussed on the CAM features here it clearly excels. It can also do mechanism simulation, finite element analysis, sheet metal, Etc. It also handles free form 3D design very well, things that Acad cannot do or do well.

The good news is that Fusion can "upload" many 3D CAD drawing formats including DWG and DXF files. Therefore I can have the best of both worlds. The imported drawing can be edited within fusion if need be.

For now I will continue working on improving my modelling skills using Fusion directly, while continuing to use Acad for larger design projects that are already created and import them into Fusion. Moving to fusion does not mean you have to abandon the program you are using now. Maybe I will move entirely, maybe not. The best of both worlds.

Oh! I really admire your work.

Regards
John

Thanks Murray

I get that one file is preferred by Fusion 360, I worry about a complex mechanism sitting in one file. When I started with Acad I did it that way, for me the problem was the overhead was so great that the program slowed to a crawl My current computer is an I7 with all the extras so no problem there. There is also the systemic risk of a huge file being corrupted, You have to backup every hour.

I like to design machines….. gee now I have some time I might even start building one!, I want to build another CNC router and a CNC milling machine based on Epoxy castings. Machines contain a lot of components. in the 100's is normal. I like to tuck them away in a library directory for reuse. A huge time saver. for Acad I copy any library components I need into the project working directory then link them into the drawing, that way if i change a component in the project working directory it will be updated into the project files that use it. from time to time I copy new components back to the library directory for reuse.

Most of the Fusion projects I see on YouTube are simple components or maybe something like a push bike etc.
I would really like to see how it handles a complex mechanism in one file. I would also like to see in place editing of linked files implemented the same way Acad does it.

Yes in Fusion Components are the way to go using bodies for cutting, well that's how I see it.

Regards
John

The auto recover save time is set to 5 mins in my preferences (possibly the default value, I forget) and I also save each time I make a significant change. If you open the data panel and click on the bottom right of each file where it shows the current version of that file, it will show you every version you have saved, the time and date and any comment you made when saving. It's then possible to go back to that version and either save it for some other use or promote it to the latest version. That's a lot more useful than a simple "undo" operation which generally can only take you back to the beginning of the session at best or possibly up to the last save.

If you "insert component into current design", any subsequent updates to that component will automatically carry through – unless you choose to break the link. I believe that's normal in most CAD.

To edit a linked component within an assembly (indicated with a chain symbol), you just right click on it in the component list and select open. If it's not linked, you simply activate it (select the component and either click the radio button at the right of the name or right click and select "activate" ). You are then working on just that component and the history line shows operations just for that component. If you want to hide the other (shadowed) components whilst editing that component, you right click and select "isolate". That's not a lot different to how the other programs do it, IIRC.

For machine parts, I often download standard 3D models from Traceparts, which is a repository of commercial files, created by professional CAD jockeys to support the use of their company's products. The range of models there is pretty amazing and usually well modelled. Often they aren't exactly the components I want but it's simpler to modify them than start from scratch. In contrast, Grabcad seems to be mostly amateur stuff, often (but not always) littered with errors or simply not capable of functioning when you look closely. Some stuff is pretty good but it's up to you to check carefully.

I'm not exactly sure where the threshold to "complex" is. Most of the products we see (Fusion, Solidworks, Solid Edge, Alibre etc) are described as "mid range" and good for products such as gearboxes, engines, ECUs etc rather than complete vehicles (as an example). For the "top end" stuff, you move to products like Catia (from SW), NX (from Solid Edge) etc which can handle entire vehicles, space craft and the like but the likes of us will never need to get involved in stuff like that and probably wouldn't have the time on this planet to use them meaningfully. Fusion is aimed at the mid range market and when development is complete, it should be able to do at least what the competition does.

Murray

good work !!! keep it up

thanks