Fusion360, do you REALLY use it, or is it for noobs?

[KhaiE]

  I made the mistake of starting a fairly large contract for mechanical design with fusion360, and as an 8 year solidworks user I didn't have great expectations, but the software blew me away. for the first few weeks. now thrs a job to get done and fusion is failing miserably.

  now half way through a relatively small assembly, it takes 5-10 seconds just to exit a command, I get crashes if i try to execute a multi surface fillet, and all kinds of aggravating nonsense. it seems over the past few weeks fusion has been on a steady decline......anyone else see this or is it just me?

  Is anyone else currently relying on this software for their business or is this just an experimental/hobbyists program? I cant see a CAD software so fragile having any real value to any ones business..........thoughts????

[DANIEL.HUNTER428]

I feel you mate, i've been using Fusion to build some pretty big molds and I will say that it is doing the job pretty well but **** is it the most frustrating piece of crap to use. Hangs, crashes, mind of its own. If it really is the CAD platform of the future like it's touted to be, then there is a long, long, long way to go. Autocad R13 was more stable, that's my analogy where where Fusion is at!

Battle on. At least it is free.

[etfrench]

If all you want to do is complain, then you were successful.  If you want to find out why Fusion 360 is not working the way you expect it to, then post your file with exactly where the issue is occurring.

Slow response time can usually be traced to poor design practices.

[juanaviles · Accepted solution]

I'm not sure if this will help, but it did work wonders for me.  In "Preferences/Data Collection and Use" I unchecked everything.  I know this does not help Autodesk in collecting information, but it was killing my performance...a lot of lock-ups and crashes.  Now things are running pretty smoothly.  

[kb9ydn]

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@bravo1delta9 wrote:

  I made the mistake of starting a fairly large contract for mechanical design with fusion360, and as an 8 year solidworks user I didn't have great expectations, but the software blew me away. for the first few weeks. now thrs a job to get done and fusion is failing miserably.

  now half way through a relatively small assembly, it takes 5-10 seconds just to exit a command, I get crashes if i try to execute a multi surface fillet, and all kinds of aggravating nonsense. it seems over the past few weeks fusion has been on a steady decline......anyone else see this or is it just me?

  Is anyone else currently relying on this software for their business or is this just an experimental/hobbyists program? I cant see a CAD software so fragile having any real value to any ones business..........thoughts????

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It sounds like maybe the solver is getting bogged down for some reason.  My first guess is that you have some broken references somewhere.  Try doing a compute all <ctrl>+b and see if there are any yellow or red features in the timeline.  If yes then those need to be fixed.

And to answer the question; I use Fusion primarily for CAM, and then only when I need true 3D machining.  But there are plenty of people using Fusion professionally.

C|

[PhilProcarioJr]

@KhaiE

I use Fusion professionally everyday and for some very complex work.

[KhaiE]

 I know theres  a lot of die hard fusion geeks out there who get upset when the obvious is stated: Fusion is a weak, fragile toy. Its revolutionary in its approach, and impressive to say the least, but I'm not complaining when I state real issues that are obvious to most. 

 I also appreciate the fusion communities ability to answer simple questions without me having to share files that are under NDAs. Thanks 😉

[daniel_lyall]

@KhaiE At the moment there are a few little problems, combined they make fusion misbehave.

Antivirus

Cloud library

graphics card needs updated

The worse one not useing fusion the fusion way 

And another one they have not nailed down yet, This is a crashing problem I have and others. The top 3 where my biggest problems fixing them made fusion work a lot better.

[Fueler]

Daniel,

Made me think. I was doing some exceptions in my antivirus program due to it getting grumpy with another program.

Is there a 360 exe file or something else  I can add to the list?

[daniel_lyall]

I don't know I just removed The antivirus program and when't with the windows one It was a night and day day differences in how fusion was working.

You can get away with the windows one if you don't look at porn sights or other stuff.

[dstevenslv]

I think calling it a fragile, weak toy is a bit much though there are far more robust solutions.  A year ago I had high hopes but for what I do much of the time it's not up to the task.  I use it for open source designs, things I'll share with the community.  It's an awesome learning tool.  For the real life "day gig", it's not suitable due largely to functionality and I still rely on Solidworks and other tools.

It's great for designs that will use additive manufacturing.  The integration to a FDM slicer is good (though the default file naming is wonky).  I wish it worked as well (or in most cases, at all) for 2D sheet/plate bending and stamped designs.  Same with any tubing designs.  Things still need to be made using drawings in some cases and F360 has been pretty slow to implement basic drawing functionality.  

I have yet to issue an RFQ to a CM or even a prototype shop that will accept F360 source or even uses F360 in any meaningful way outside of the open source community.  It's sldprt, dxf, dwg for things that may need to be edited prior to production and iges or step for other 3D formats.  The workflow and nature of dealing with outside elements is cumbersome requiring storage and use in the cloud.  It seems to work better if I'm doing everything in house but once someone from outside needs to participate using non F360 tools it can become burdensome.   I find the sharing and branching/merging to look promising when compared to a traditional software based drawing vault.  It looks like it will give the same sorts of source control/revision that software engineering has had for the last couple of decades.

I'm sure some have great success with F360 in some instances.  For many of us though, it's not yet ready for wide implementation.

[daniel_lyall]

Are you willing to provide a model you think fusion is not the best tool for.

[dstevenslv]

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@daniel_lyall wrote:

Are you willing to provide a model you think fusion is not the best tool for.

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I gave specific examples in the post above.  Anything that needs to be 2D cut and bent or stamped for starters.  Also anything requiring tube fabrication.  Anything that needs to work with a CM or job shop that doesn't use F360, which is pretty much most everyone.  It's more than a single model, it a workflow and lack of functionality or suitability in many cases as well as interoperability with outside resources.

While your enthusiasm for F360 is admirable, it's not realistic for many that directly manufacture or are job shops to implement F360 in any meaningful way.  The user base of F360 is largely startups, small batch/boutique firms and hobbyists that primarily use it a a product design tool rather than an end to end manufacturing solution.  It's not caught on with the Fortune 500 level of manufacturing in any meaningful way and may never.     I don't think it's a bad tool, in fact quite the opposite it's a good tool for some situations.  The issue I see here on the forum many times is the defense of the tool for no reason other than to defend it regardless of the suitability of the tool for the task.  There is also the other side, realising that adopting the tool wasn't what one thought it would be and now they may be caught out in some respects.  Everyone needs to make their own decisions on which tools are best for which purpose.  Excessive boosterism (or negativity) does not offer a rational view of the capabilities or shortcomings of the tool.  Tool choice is a nuanced decision, it's not cut and dry.

[daniel_lyall]

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@dstevenslv wrote:

I gave specific examples in the post above.  Anything that needs to be 2D cut and bent or stamped for starters.  Also anything requiring tube fabrication.  Anything that needs to work with a CM or job shop that doesn't use F360, which is pretty much most everyone.  

Yep this is known not finished or implemented yet

It's more than a single model, it a workflow and lack of functionality or suitability in many cases as well as interoperability with outside resources.

not that I have ever found 

While your enthusiasm for F360 is admirable, Thanks

it's not realistic for many that directly manufacture or are job shops to implement F360 in any meaningful way.  The user base of F360 is largely startups, small batch/boutique firms and hobbyists that primarily use it a a product design tool rather than an end to end manufacturing solution.  

50/50

It's not caught on with the Fortune 500 level of manufacturing in any meaningful way and may never.     I don't think it's a bad tool, in fact quite the opposite it's a good tool for some situations.  

The issue I see here on the forum many times is the defense of the tool for no reason other than to defend it regardless of the suitability of the tool for the task.  

If this is from a EE the defenses that is, they may do what they are defending 

There is also the other side, realising that adopting the tool wasn't what one thought it would be and now they may be caught out in some respects.

yep

 Everyone needs to make their own decisions on which tools are best for which purpose.  Excessive boosterism (or negativity) does not offer a rational view of the capabilities or shortcomings of the tool.  Tool choice is a nuanced decision, it's not cut and dry.

Very much so

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I only defend what I know Fusion can do, If I don't know I don't say a thing in defenses, I will try to help some one do what they need.

But the Fusion team ADSK have given me a tool that has empowered me, I will always defend the Fusion Team and they know why.

Now to the question It is a challenge to you to show where you can not make A thing In a cost effective or useful way work in fusion, The out come more than likely is some one will put there hand up and say I can do that I will show you how, Yes make this a spear time thing (What ever that is) It's purely up to you to take the challenge

[O.Tan]

I won't call it for noobs and they're really some novel ideas that Fusion has, but at the moment, many things that a seasoned SW or Mechanical CAD users would require is still missing or not matured enough yet, that as much as I like Fusion, I can't recommend it to them.

[PhilProcarioJr]

@dstevenslv

"While your enthusiasm for F360 is admirable, it's not realistic for many that directly manufacture or are job shops to implement F360 in any meaningful way.  The user base of F360 is largely startups, small batch/boutique firms and hobbyists that primarily use it a a product design tool rather than an end to end manufacturing solution.  It's not caught on with the Fortune 500 level of manufacturing in any meaningful way and may never."

First let me say that Fusion does have it's problems and fully acknowledge that and although it may not be in wide use by large companies it is capable for a lot of them.

I design all the parts in the forge I work for and everything is made from Fusion including CNC machining of real dies that make real parts. As a matter of fact we have switched from Solidworks because there are a lot of things Solidworks can't do that Fusion can. I have designed parts that were manufactured for people all over the world using Fusion. 

So in short it's not a perfect CAD app but it is a capable one and I have proven this many times over, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.