topic Re: Circle flat pattern error in Fusion Support Forum

Circle flat pattern error

chance_hogelie — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 20:23:58 GMT

Having an odd issue taking a circle into a flat pattern. I attached a screencast of what problem occurs. Create the drawing, flange it into sheet metal, flat pattern the chosen face then the program chooses the vertical circumference face instead of the diameter face. I tried it a few different ways and it keeps persisting in doing this. Possible bug? The majority of my work on fusion is sheet metal so I would like to address this problem.

https://autode.sk/3Kx45cO

Thanks

Chance

Betreff: Circle flat pattern error

g-andresen — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:03:23 GMT

Hi,

What are you waiting for?
What should come out of a flat disc?

günther

Betreff: Circle flat pattern error

chance_hogelie — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:12:04 GMT

This is what the DXF file looks like, it is taking a DXF of the wrong and unselected side of the model

See picture attached

Re: Circle flat pattern error

jhackney1972 — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:47:21 GMT

Your Fusion 360 is probably setup with a Z-Axis Up configuration (default) so you are modeling your sheet metal component on X-Z plane which will cause the flat pattern to be created on edge to your view. Create you sheet metal initial sketch on the X-Y plane and you will get expected results.

Re: Circle flat pattern error

chance_hogelie — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:52:07 GMT

That does fix it but seems like the wrong solution, regardless of where the model is drawn in the environment and on whatever plane the selected face should be the selected flat pattern that goes to dxf. This honestly seems like a bug to me personally

Re: Circle flat pattern error

jhackney1972 — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:57:31 GMT

The application has to work on some rules and just because you do not agree with those rules, it is not a bug. The X-Z plane is basically modeling a model hanging on the wall, the X-Y plane is modeling one lying on the floor or base surface.

Edit: Also, do not use the Quick Reply icon, it addresses your post to yourself. Use the Reply icon, on the Forum post of the person you are addressing instead.

Re: Circle flat pattern error

chance_hogelie — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 22:05:35 GMT

But yet when I draw just a rectangle sheet metal object it will go to the selected flat pattern no matter what plane or axis I'm doing it on. This is only occurring when I do a circular object which makes this look like a bug.

Re: Circle flat pattern error

HughesTooling — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 09:23:26 GMT

Why do you want a flat pattern of something that's already flat. Does this still happen if you have something more complicated with bends added.

Mark

Re: Circle flat pattern error

HughesTooling — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 09:31:54 GMT

Just doing a simple test adding a flat to the circle and it works correctly so it looks like the problem is only caused when you have a flat circular part. I guess having just one surface edge is the problem and not something most people would ever come across because what's the point of creating a flat pattern of a flat part. Yes probably a bug but doubt there would be a rush to fix something like this. @Phil.E What do you think?

Here's what I get by just adding one flat.

Re: Circle flat pattern error

chance_hogelie — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 12:46:33 GMT

This problem occurred in a bigger project of multiple parts, I re built just the circle for demonstration purposes. I use the flat pattern function for all of sheet metal work since my parts always go to DXF then off to cnc for cutting. Just faster way of doing it I find. All im trying to achieve here is pointing out a oddity that i haven't seen yet with the sheet metal portion, is there a work around? Yes there is, reorientation or rework of a certain part just for dxf export file purposes just adds another step. Adding the small flat section to the circle is interesting though, could make it small enough that cnc could barely notice it though.

Re: Circle flat pattern error

HughesTooling — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 13:08:30 GMT

Was the more complicated part also flat with no straight edges?

@chance_hogelie wrote:

is there a work around? Yes there is, reorientation or rework of a certain part just for dxf export file purposes just adds another step. Adding the small flat section to the circle is interesting though, could make it small enough that cnc could barely notice it though.

An easier workaround would be just create a sketch on the face of the finished part and project the face into the sketch then export the sketch using Save As DXF. Note. Be careful if you have autoproject enabled as it will automatically project the face so no need to project again.

Mark

Re: Circle flat pattern error

HughesTooling — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 13:13:02 GMT

@chance_hogelie wrote:

Adding the small flat section to the circle is interesting though, could make it small enough that cnc could barely notice it though.

I experimented a bit with this and it doesn't seem to matter where the flat is, inside a hole, outside or just a square hole and the pattern is created correctly.

Any of the flats below give a good flat pattern!

Re: Circle flat pattern error

chance_hogelie — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 13:30:35 GMT

Uh, interesting ill definitely keep that in mind! Yeah, it was just one component of a project, was actually a friend's project, and it got me really curious about it since it had happened to me in the past. I have seen the DXF option a few times in different areas of fusion but I'm most familiar with the flat pattern portion of it which is where I always use it, ill keep that in mind for stubborn or weird instances such as this

Re: Circle flat pattern error

Phil.E — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 18:10:47 GMT

Thanks everyone. This is definitely a bug, but also what I would call a corner case.

Typically more effort is given for flat pattern workflows that require flattening to create patterns, but as @chance_hogelie points out, this is narrow thinking because flat pattern export = flat pattern export when it's your daily workflow. Especially if 99% of what you do has bends, and then this "corner case" comes along and breaks your daily workflow. This makes it a higher priority case.

I'll log this as a bug and ask the sheet metal team to take a look. It is entirely dependent on the Z axis. No matter what the default "up" axis is, with designs like this the flat pattern will default to Z up exclusively. Just looks like a case that wasn't anticipated or caught yet.

Re: Circle flat pattern error

Phil.E — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 18:19:04 GMT

Logged as FUS-104899. The reason for this is the flat pattern logic will default to Z up when there are no model edges that can give the flat pattern coordinate system a direction. Hence, adding a flat will get around it. (pardon the pun)

Re: Circle flat pattern error

chance_hogelie — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 04:15:38 GMT

Thanks for clarifying! Appreciate the help in solving this!

Re: Circle flat pattern error

jdshulerVFM52 — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 13:56:42 GMT

This is a bug, for sure. I have this issue and it is not so easy to just change the sketch plane when that sketch is used by multiple components with constraints, relative dimensions, and other dependencies. To fix this issue, I will have to fix multiple errors caused by recreating the part. Lots of time lost. Fix this issue, please.

Re: Circle flat pattern error

Phil.E — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 20:38:01 GMT

Hi again.

The latest Fusion updates (since November 19) should have the fix for this issue in it. Can you please give it a try and let me know how it goes?

Update can be activated from the help menu.