How to change the plane of a 2D import?

Anonymous · ‎12-01-2015

Hi,

I'm very new (1st sketch!) to Fusion 360.

I have createsd a pulley as a 2d drawing in Gearotic and I have imported the file as a DXF. When I do so, the pulley is sitting vertically so that if I want to extrude it or pull it, it wouls happen in the Y axis and not the Z axis. I would like to move the pulley to be flat so that if I extrude or pull, the object gets larger in the Z direction.

I tried to select all and do a copy. Then I deleted the gear and tried to paste it into the appropriate plane and it didnt work, there was nothing in the clipboard.

Can someone lend a hand? Thanks, Tom

NicolasXu · ‎12-01-2015

Hi Tom,

If you want to rotate the sketch, we may use the "Redefine Sketch Plane" and select the appropriate plane. If you just want to rotate the extruded solid, we can use the "Move" command under the Modify group on the Ribbon. Is it something you are looking for?

Best Regards,

Nicolas Xu
Sr. SQA Eng.
Fusion 360 Quality Assurance Team
Autodesk, Inc.

HughesTooling · ‎12-02-2015

You might want to set you default orientation to Z up, I think the imports will come in correct then.

Mark

Mark Hughes
Owner, Hughes Tooling
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2015

Hi The default import plane suggestion doesn't change anything.

The suggestion to "Redefine sketch plane..." doesn't exist in that menu! I am right clicking Sketches - Main ...and all other items are there but not "Redefine sketch plane"

Thanks

HughesTooling · ‎12-02-2015

The default plane will not change any existing files and I'm not sure how it will effect an import, is the DXF drawn in the correct plane before import. Can you attach the DXF file to this thread.

Thanks Mark.

Mark Hughes
Owner, Hughes Tooling
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2015

A bit of an update. Creating a new sketch and placing only a rectangle on it allows me to see the menu item "Redefine sketch plane". However, importing a drawing based on DXF does not show this menu item.
So, what next?

HughesTooling · ‎12-02-2015

2 thoughts 1 the dxf is drawn in the XZ or YZ plane so the import is correct, what you could do is insert the dxf into a new design. When the DXF is inserted you get the option to rotate it. Idea 2 now you've changed the default to Z up try uploading again to see if a new upload will use Z up.

Mark

Mark Hughes
Owner, Hughes Tooling
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2015

Hi,

The DXF is drawn in the default plane in the Gearotic application. The pulley has 90 teeth so the file is huge (700kb). Is that ok? Thanks

HughesTooling · ‎12-02-2015

Give it a go or add it to a zip file and attach. I think the limit is about 5mb by the way.

Thanks Mark

Mark Hughes
Owner, Hughes Tooling
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2015

ok, so I can insert the DXF into a new design..,.I'll try that. At the moment, it's in my data and I either double click it or drag it into the design. So I guess this is different.

Here is a link to the file: http://va2fsq.com/wp-content/uploads/Pulley-XL.zip

Thanks!

HughesTooling · ‎12-02-2015

I've just uploaded your file and it's orientation is correct for me. In this image the blue axis is Z.

I've attached the f3d file, to open go to the file menu and choose New Design From File. Also if you changed you default to Z up try uploading the DXF again through the data panel.

Also attached is a parametric pulley I designed a while ago, to edit From the modify menu pick Change Parameters and change the number of teeth.

Mark

Mark Hughes
Owner, Hughes Tooling
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2015

Hi,

I guess I am not explaining my self quite right especially because I am so new to this.

When I follow the Fusion tutorials, to create a new sketch, it suggests the following:

1) Select Sketch, create sketch

2) You then click on a face of the cube that ends up being the top view (as shown in the upper right corner of fusion) and then start your sketch.

3) Now if I want a circle, I then just draw it and I see the whole circle as viewed from the top.

Now, when I import the gear, to see the full gear, I need to select "Front". In other words it is now standing up instead of lying down.

Well maybe this is OK, but what happens where I then import that into my cam program? Is it going to try and machine the gear in this orientation?

Like I said, I am very new to this.

Thanks for your help!

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2015

Hi The timing pulley looks perfectly right. If I click on Top then I see the whole gear. So that's good. Is that a XL profile?

Thanks

HughesTooling · ‎12-02-2015

If you click on the Front view on the cube then right click you can change the orientation of the view cube.

Mark

Mark Hughes
Owner, Hughes Tooling
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

HughesTooling · ‎12-02-2015

@Anonymous wrote:

Hi The timing pulley looks perfectly right. If I click on Top then I see the whole gear. So that's good. Is that a XL profile?

Thanks

It is supposed to be I got the specs here, it looks a bit different to yours when I change the parameter to 90 teeth, the diameters are correct though. Are you going to machine the pulley?

One warning when changing the parameters, sometime the sketch will go crazy and it will mess the profile, I've reported the problem as a bug. If it does go wrong try undo and make the change in 2 goes, like first 70 teeth then 100.

Mark

Mark Hughes
Owner, Hughes Tooling
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2015

Hi
Thanks for this! Now all is well.
I do plan on machining the pulley using a shapeoko3 mill.
I'm learning all of this as I go, and its a lot to digest at once!
Again, many thanks

HughesTooling · ‎12-02-2015

Here's an updated parametric pulley, it looks like the one in the DXF had a bit more clearance.

It matches a lot closer now. Your profile is pink and the Fusion pulley black.

Mark

Mark Hughes
Owner, Hughes Tooling
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2015

Hi
I'm out at the moment but I'll check it out tonight.
Thanks!

HughesTooling · ‎12-02-2015

I'm not sure how well the DXF will work because the arcs are made up of short lines and the complete profile is over 7000 segments!

If you're going to mill this you'll need a small cutter, you'll just about get away will a Ø1mm as there is some clearance.

Mark

Mark Hughes
Owner, Hughes Tooling
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

Anonymous · ‎12-02-2015

That works!

So much for the tutorials and autodesk support who show menus that don't exist, lol...

So I should use a 1mm end mill? Will that work for a depth of .25"?

Community

How to change the plane of a 2D import?

How to change the plane of a 2D import?

How to change the plane of a 2D import?