topic Pipes not being generated in Fusion Support Forum

Pipes not being generated

autocadFH8KR — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 17:45:48 GMT

I am trying to create a body, comprised of pipes to create a net design around an object in my kitchen. I originally planned to follow the advice from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpWXSI44n7E - which predated the latest mesh improvements.

My design is a little simpler than the example, being a cylindic shape with paralel, 90-degree top and bottom, with no fillet. I'm fine until I get to the part about creating the pipes. Fusion360 refuses to create a pipe when all edges from the side are selected. Getting this error but I don't see a problem: " There was a problem combining geometry together. If attempting a Join/Cut/Intersect, try to ensure that the bodies have a clear overlap (problems can occur where faces and edges are nearly coincident).

So I have tried to create this a few lines at a time, but I keep running into the problem cited above. See screencast. Model is attached.

Can you help me identify where I've gone wrong and how I might go about fixing it?

Fusion360 Version 2.0.11415

Re: Pipes not being generated

HughesTooling — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 18:54:17 GMT

In the YouTube video they use a T Spline pipe not a pipe in the solid work space. Fusion and other CAD programs will have problems combining surfaces that are near tangent to each other. Combining lots of cylinders is definitely going to be a problem. The T Splines pipe will let you select a network with intersections so should work.

Mark

Re: Pipes not being generated

HughesTooling — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 19:02:52 GMT

Just noticed in the YouTube video they are working in direct mode with no timeline. You are working with the timeline so you'll need to create a form feature before you can access forms.

In the form workspace you can select all the mesh edges like this. Probably best to experiment a bit then watch the video again.

Re: Pipes not being generated

autocadFH8KR — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 21:00:53 GMT

Thank you very much, @HughesTooling - You identified my issue! Thanks!

I don't know why I cannot get the above to display correctly. Trying again... There is an error at 34:34 in the video, and I cannot seem to resolve it with this version at my experience level.

This was resolved in the video by using a Boundary Fill and the T-Spline to create a new solid. But with the new enhancements, it seems I'm between a rock and a hard place. I cannot save the T-Spline, so cannot use it in Boundary fill, which appears to be only in the "Solid" toolset menu. Am I trying to do something no longer possible? As a relative newbie - or at least by no means a power user - I have no idea where to go from here. Ideas? More magic? 🙂

Re: Pipes not being generated

HughesTooling — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 18:43:53 GMT

OK looks like this will only work with history disabled. Delete everything in the timeline back to the same point I have in the image below, then right click the top folder in the browser and Do Not capture Design History.

Then follow the instructions in the video and it should work using boundary fill.

Here's what I got using your design.

Mark

Re: Pipes not being generated

autocadFH8KR — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 13:51:53 GMT

Genius! Thank you so much!!!

As it turns out, if I had ignored the recent mesh-related changes and followed the tutorial verbatim, I would not have had these questions. Thank you also for being diplomatic enough not to tell me so. 🙂 In my (weak) defense, I didn't realize that the Do Not Capture Design History stuff seems almost universally the same as the prior versions. My bad.

Again, thank you so much! You got me past the issues, and I've learned much along the way.