Repairing a Surface Body to Create a Solid Body

Autodesk Fusion 360 can open STEP files directly as a solid body.  Occasionally you will find one that does not open correctly because there are faces missing and the file opens as a surface body.  This may be OK for your purpose but if you plan to modify the part, you will want to fix the missing faces and have Fusion 360 convert the part into a solid model.

I created a short video showing the theory behind this process and also demonstrated how I added the missing faces to my STEP file import to change it from a surface body into a solid body.

 

Direct Modeling in Autodesk Fusion 360

There are two types of modeling available to you in Autodesk Fusion 360, parametric modeling or sometimes called relationship modeling and direct modeling.  Parametric modeling can be created and edited from the capture history line at the bottom of the Fusion 360 screen.  Sketches and features can be edited by manipulating the dimensional values entered during creation.

There will be the occasion when you need to import a model from another CAD package using a neutral format such as STEP or SAT.  The resulting model is a solid body containing the features but all the parametric relationships and the capture history are not available.  The model is a dumb solid body.  This is a prime time to consider using direct modeling.  Take a look at my short video and see the process.  I apologize, the sound is a little over-driven due to a microphone setting I did not catch before recording.

 

Autodesk Vault Custom Numbering Schemes

Autodesk Vault Workgroup and Vault Professional offer an automatic number system to aid companies in the management of their design files.  This system can be configured to add intelligence and clarity to file naming in Vault Workgroup and Vault Professional and to Items and Change Order naming in Vault Professional.  Once the numbering system in configured, it can be used directly from the CAD applications, logged into the Vault as well as the Vault Client itself.  Please take a look at the attached video to see the configuration options of the system and the use of the system in Autodesk Inventor and the Vault Client. 

 

Creating Inventor Associative Drawing Sections

Sectional views in an Inventor drawing are not initially associative with the feature that they are placed on.  If the feature moves, the sectional view will not update and move with the feature.  In this short video, I would like to demonstrate one method of overcoming this condition.

Creating Autodesk Fusion 360 Construction Features

When creating a model in Autodesk Fusion 360, your first sketch should be on one of the origin planes and related to the origin point.  This practice not only will align your model to the world and make building your assemblies easier but it also give you the use of 3 work places, 3 axis and a center work point to build your sketches and features on. 

Sometimes the origin work features are not enough and you will need to create other work features to support additional model geometry and features.  This is when you take advantage of the different types of construction features, often called work features, available in Fusion 360.

I have created a video showing you how to create each one of these construction features and some tricks along the way.  I tried to cover them as thoroughly as possible but there are many methods I could not get to.  One rule of thumb you should always keep in mind, you sometimes have to create one type of construction feature to get the geometry required to create the construction feature you really need.

Creating Intermittent Contour Flanges Along Edges

Autodesk Fusion 360 treats sheet metal bodies as one, there are no individual features.  Because of this fact, you cannot mirror contour flanges in the model.  You can however mirror the contour flange sketches which will save you a lot of time.  The main purpose of this video is to demonstrate the most efficient way to create intermittent contour flanges along a sheet metal edge.  In the drawing below, you can see the eight intermittent contour flanges along the outside edge of the sheet metal part.  I will demonstrate the process on four of them.

Inventor Drawing Dimension Type

When you are working with some parts you will occasionally have one that, because it was derived or created from a surface, will not be aligned to any of the part origin planes.  The part below is an example of what I mean.

I actually had to work at it to create a part with this condition.  I hope this is a rare occurrence because it can be a real pain when it comes to doing a dimensional drawing.  The first thing you will face is getting an orthographic view looking directly at the part face.  The main reason for writing this article is to tell you about "True" and "Projected" dimensions but since I have to do it anyway, I will mention the process of creating a usable orthographic view.

When you place your base view in your drawing your first thought may be "What do I do now?"  Move your cursor close to the view cube and look of the small icon indicated by the red arrow.  Left click on it to display the view context menu.

From the context menu select "Custom View Orientation".

The Custom View tab will be displayed which contains all your Inventor model view orientation tools and a few more which you can use to square up your orthographic model view.  I will not go into all these tools but two of them are so useful I will mention them.  The "Look At" command will allow you to select any face of the model and square it up to your view.  The "Rotate at Angle" command will allow you to rotate the view to another angle since the View Cube is useless at this point.  Using these tools, I have oriented my model to the desired drawing orthographic view.  To return to the drawing and place this view, select the "Finish Custom View" command.

I now have my drawing view and I have placed my slot center lines and I am ready to start placing dimensions.  This brings me to the main reason I am writing this article.  

When you try to place a dimension from the top edge of the part to the top slot center line, you may have a problem, you cannot place the dimension.  The dimension will be placed on the part width every time.  If you dimension from the top edge to the top arc it will work correctly but you want the extension line gap to the center line.  The problem originated with the part orientation to the part origin.  The solution to this problem is to escape out of the dimension command, place your cursor over the drawing view and right click.  On the context menu, look for the "General Dimension Type" and change it from "True" to "Projected".

You can now continue with your dimensions without issue.  You may want to set it back to "True" when you are finished unless you have other "special" dimensions to place.