Bolted Connection for Fusion

[vaclav_prchlik]

Hi All,

Please let me take an advantage of this great forum to get feedback to an idea of doing a Bolted Connection tool for Fusion.

Here is a link to video that demonstrates the proposal: http://youtu.be/7ev8vtVPY3A. The idea is simple: provide one click solution for modeling productivity. Simple UI and workflow optimized for Designers. Quick geometry generation, but no BOM (Bill Of Material) data.

I’m leading a small development team in Autodesk that just joined the Fusion family to help to make it even more successful. There is nothing better than getting feedback directly from You – Fusion users. Please take a look at the video and let me know your opinions, suggestions and thoughts. I would really appreciate it.

(If that kind of direct communication between development and customer community would be interesting to you I may be setting up a blog here – we did also a proposal for Gear tool that would quickly produce gears with exact geometry ready for 3D printing and some other interesting stuff.)

Thanks for your time,

Vasek

[Helmi74]

How can i give 10 kudos at once? 🙂

What i am trying to say: Can i have this feature yesterday? 🙂

You already commented on my related idea and i think indeed that your feature covers a bigger part of what i was thinking about. Additionally of course it would be nice to have this for more than only screws (like for example gears you already named).

Regarding the communication: This is definitely interesting but why not make it a subforum instead of a blog. This could make it a more same-level-communication and would be more discussion friendly i think.

[vaclav_prchlik]

Thanks a lot for your feedback. It is very motivating for our development team.

Here is a link to video with proposal for Gear Tool (http://youtu.be/eKdTTE4j8so). Hopefully it is aligned with your expectations.

Re: Communication: Thanks for suggestion. Please bear with me as I'm pretty new in this community. I did not realize it is an option. My goal is to get as much as possible feedback. Wouldn't hiding it in a sub-forum decrease a chance that people will find it? Anyway, I'm going to seek for some guidance with my colleagues.

In an ideal case we would be building some micro-community around these proposals to fine tune it. It would be much better to make to proposal covering what you really need than what we think you need 

Thanks,

Vasek

[Oceanconcepts]

Maybe also inserts for plastics? 

[vaclav_prchlik]

Great tip! Thanks for a suggestion. I completely missed that – during my university years it was all about metal in mechanical engineering 

What about types of inserts? For nuts there is relatively limited set of topologies:

Please are there similar common types of inserts for plastics that you use?

Thanks,

Vasek

[thburn]

Hi,

personally I don't need this feature, but I think it could be helpful for others.

What I would prefer is a more stable and faster F360 especially in parametric mode where some tools are not available compared to direct modelling mode.
So I would prefer that autodesk should put 1st priority in a more stable and faster F360 instead adding new features.

But anyway new features are always welcome 😉

[Helmi74]

@thburn: as already stated above this is a separate team so it looks like they are developing new features independet to other teams (where surely some focus on stability which i agree is highly needed). This method of development offers great opportunities regarding innovation.

@vaclav: well "hiding" could also fit on this blog. I doubt that more than a small amount of people read here due to how the Fusion360 website currently is working. I have to remind myself to step in here every once in a while and tend to forget it.

I second Oceanconcepts request for plastic inserts but i think there are way many around. Personally i use these brass heat inserts a lot with self printed parts. They are shown here and compared to ultrasonic inserts http://www.designworldonline.com/heat-versus-ultrasonic-installation - the ones i have look similar to them but i don't think they are anyhow on a norm (don't know).

re gear feature: looks great - maybe there could be an option for different gear profiles later but this looks really great already.

[roambotics_scott]

We have work arounds for both in the meantime but I'm super excited about this and the gear tool 🙂

On the plastics front - I'd second that and specifically ask for reversable rivets.

[schneik-adsk]

Is there any interest in helicoils?

Here are some examples of brass threaded inserts for platics too.

[schneik-adsk]

Is there any interest in helicoils?

Here are some examples of brass threaded inserts for plastics too.

[AbdnAllHope]

Bolted connection is interesting but I think I would not use it that often (ever).

However I could use the gear tool yesterday.  I feel like it needs it's own IDEA Station entry.  We can make custom threads, so why not gears?

Still like some of the others posting in this thread, I would prefer stability and completed functionality, over parts libraries, and automatic nuts and bolts.

phil

[vaclav_prchlik]

Thanks for your feedback. There are a lot of options of possible tools for mechanical engineering type of modeling and calculations:

These tool would help to generate the right models and/or features:

• Shaft
• Bolted Connection
• Spur Gears
• Bevel Gears
• Worm Gears
• Involute Splines
• Parallel Splines
• Key Connection
• Disc Cam
• Linear Cam
• V-Belts
• Synchronous Belts
• Bearing
• Roller Chains
• Clevis Pin
• Joint Pin
• Secure Pin
• Cross Pin
• Radial Pin

And here is a list of possible calculators (these would not help with modeling, but they would guide designers to do the right decisions during a design process):

• Plain Bearing
• Plug and Groove Weld
• Butt Weld
• Spot Weld
• Filled Weld (Connection Plane Load) Weld
• Fillet Weld (Spatial Load) Weld
• Butt Solder Joint
• Bevel Solder Joint
• Lap Solder Joint
• Step Tube Solder Joint
• Step Solder Joint
• Separated Hub Joint
• Slotted Hub Joint
• Cone Joint
• Tolerance analysis
• Limits and Fits guiding tool
• Press Fit
• Power Screw
• Shoe Drum Brake
• Disc Brake
• Cone Brake
• Band Drum Brake

As you can see there is a lot of possible tools. I'm seeing it as a kind of Mechanical Engineering Handbook integrated into Fusion. Similar as with the book - almost nobody will use all of the tools. But IMHO a lot of people will find couple of tools pretty useful. Similar as in you case where you find a use for gears, but not for bolts.

I'm using IdeaStation to find if there is an interest and what would be a prioritization of such tools. Our team focus is to really address customer needs - IdeaStation is one way how to get guidance from you to make the right decisions about where to invest development resources. So I really appreciate your feedback.

Re: it's own IDEA Station entry: A while ago I checked with my colleague who is much more experienced in IdeaStation usage and in general with this type of communication and he suggested to stay as we are. But please let me check again.

I would be really interested in what kind of work are you doing in Fusion. I'm asking, because I see nuts and bolts all the way around me. Even in smooth looking iPhone there is a lot of bolts inside.

Thanks,

Vasek

[sickforska]

I think bolts and gears are the 2 I would use most, and I personally would like to see both added. There are a lot things I make that get 3D printed and bolted together, and being able to have a complete assembly in Fusion 360 would be really nice and help me ensure I get all the right pieces. 

The last time I used rhino for mac there was no way to make gears easily and it was really frustrating. I basically abandoned those projects and if there were some sophisticated methods of making gears like this I would finally be able to try them again.

[vaclav_prchlik]

Thanks for your support!

Please would you help me to clarify you workflow with gears? Do you plan to 3D print your gears? Or would order existing catalogue set of gears? Or do you plan to order it custom made set from local machine shop?

Thanks,
Vasek

[sickforska]

Mostly 3D printed or milled out of wood on a desktop mill, maybe lasercut from acrylic or wood. I was attempting to make some clock mechanisms, so I wasn't driving anything that required machined gears. Even if I were to order from a catalouge, I'm not sure how that would work. Are there standard gear sizes? Maybe it would be nice to allow users to set some parameters for the for the gear solving, like if they know the number of teeth of one of the gears or the preassure angle.

[vaclav_prchlik]

Got it. Thanks for clarification, Vasek

[sickforska]

You're welcome Vasek. Thanks for adding new features to Fusion360!

I found a video that demonstrates the type of motion I want to create. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfznnKUwywQ. The 3D printed assemblies in this video are the type of thing I'd like to be able to do. 

It would be really great if you could do some of the things they show in that software in fusion 360. It would be nice to be able to build an assembly of the automaton pieces, place some control points on the limbs, draw some curves on a sketch plane, and then have the gear feature solve an entire geared assembly to make the given points move along their assigned curves. There are some irregular gears in the galloping section of that video too, it would be sweet if your gear command could allow for those somehow. I'm not an expert in gears so I don't know if this is true, but I would think you could push and pull the profile of the gear after the power solution was found, and as long as the perimeter and number of teeth stay the same and the angle of each tooth is oriented to mesh with it's driven gear it should work. I guess you if you can make a cam on the same shaft as a circular gear you might not need this ability, but in some cases where your gears need to be on the same plane (or if you have limited space inside of your gearbox) it would be handy. 

Also, is it possible to move these gear posts to a new thread. There are a decent amount of them now and I think the gear function deserves it's own feature request since it really isn't the same as the bolted connections feature.

[vaclav_prchlik]

That is really cool! I'm afraid that it is behind the current scope of Gear generator. We are currently thinking about one pair of gears.

However I believe Autodesk owns a technology for definition of mechanisms (similar as in the video). There may be a Tech Preview or something. I will find out and follow up.

Re: another thread - there is a list of a lot of generators/calculators above in this thread. I agree that the name of the topic is not current anymore. I'm not sure if to create a separate one for gears - or rename this thread to something more general.

Thanks,
Vasek

[WSEast]

For me, these would be must have features... They would be very useful for machine design and I would be very happy if they were introduced to the Fusion toolset

[roambotics_scott]

Gears are the biggest for me, followed shortly by bolts / rivets.