Hi,
I have stepped through your design and found a great many issues that are probably compounding and causing
fusion to balk and fail. Each one is relatively minor but collectively this design is very shakey.
You need to seriously rethink your workflow on how you go about doing things and you need to do a lot more
planning before you start designing that would make your job much easier.
Two things that sticks out in the file are that you are moving things all over the place and you only have ONE joint
in the entire design. Each move causes fusion to recalculate and most of them I cannot see any actual reason for
making the move.
Another thing that sticks out is that you start to do something and then go off and do something else without
finishing it and then come back to it. This shuttling back and forth is also not good workflow. You could be achieving
the same result using the timeline and get a much tidier finish.
Stepping through the timeline.
New file, create a component, sketch and extrude. Good.
Create an assembly and a component to work on. Sketch. - Why do you now go back and fillet the desktop? If you
forgot then fine, use the timeline to go back and fillet then move it forward again.
Back to upper leg, extrude and fillet. Ok.
Why create two new components? Create one and work on it. If it is a filler then move the timeline back and create it
then work on the second one.
Sketch, extrude, fillet. All good.
Why are you now moving it into space somewhere? Especially since I know you will move it more than once. If it
is in the way then simply hide it with the visibility Eye in the browser tree.
Why have you now gone back to the Upper leg and extruded it? Why not do it before when you were working on it?
Why didn't you move the timeline back to do it? Why is your sketch so complicated?
The sketch you used is way more complicated then it needs to be. A sketch should only do one or two things and be
simple. Use more simple sketches and project only what you need between sketches.
Extrude cut the Centre Leg Shoe then back to Upper Leg. Use the timeline if you forget stuff to go back and fix it.
try to keep everything together.
You create the Upper Leg, spear it through the Lower Leg then MOVE it! WHY?
If you are using Build in Place workflow then you should already have the top of this assembly in the correct place
and it should be grounded. You then add three more parts to it. Are these really all made of a single piece of material
or are they separate parts that should be joined together? You should not have to move this stuff at all, you should
be building off of the top part using the faces of the top part to extrude from the correct distance. If these are then
separate parts that should be joined then turn them into components and then join them with As Built Joints so that
they are a single assembly. Instead of spearing them through the part at the bottom now is the time you should
turn the visibility of this part on and use a normal rigid joint to join it to the bottom of this new assembly. Instead
you move the bottom part, make a few modifications to the assembly them move the bottom part AGAIN.
Your new sketch probably would have been easier if you used Project Body from the assembly you just built and used
the face of the part to modify as your sketch plane.
You now create a new series of parts - shouldn't these be separate components with joints?
Why is the sketch for the slot in the Top component? You are working on this new assembly you have just created.
If it relates to these two assemblies that are already part of another sub-assembly then keep the sketches either
all together in the top component OR together with the assembly or sub-assembly they relate to.
There is no reason to introduce a McM-Carr component now. If it is actually useful for design then maybe but this
component has a lot of detail that will cause fusion to do calculations when it isn't really necessary. These kind of
things are when you need them or at the end to finish the design.
Why did you copy paste? This component is just hanging in space and is not associated with anything. If you want
it in the design then import it and immediately put it in place with a Joint.
And then you MOVE it! Why didn't you put it in the correct place the first time?
You have brought these knobs in and then continue modelling around them. Use the timeline to group all this stuff
together. You are cludging up the timeline which makes it very hard to follow and probably making the underlying
calculations fusion is making very disjointed.
Now - here it is - The ONLY joint in your design. And then you move components again. Place them ONCE with joints
and turn visibility on and off if they are in the way.
Why are you manipulating components with the Top component activated? Again, it cludges up the timeline. You
should be doing this stuff with the local assembly activated unless it affects the whole Top assembly.
I don't understand the Top level sketch to make a local feature, create a surface to make a cut and then extrude it?
You then seem to have made a copy of what you have just done?
You end up with the warning flag on the move. The following warnings are almost certainly related to this.
Do NOT keep going with a design if you have warning flags - Fix them when they happen before they become
unfixable.
Your design overall isn't bad but your workflow needs serious attention. Planning is one of the most important
things when designing. Fusion gives you a very powerful tool with the timeline to help you fix errors and changes
and stay organised.
Tips for next time.
Try to create one thing at a time and finish it. If you can't, use the timeline to go back to it where possible to keep
things nice and organised.
Learn the difference between bodies, components, assemblies and sub-assemblies. Learn what they are all for and
when you should use them.
Use either or both of the Design and Join or the Design In Place methods. Joints hold things together, otherwise
your parts just float in space. Do not Move anything unless you have to.
Use the visibility on the browser tree if you cannot see stuff.
Keep sketches very simple and do one or two things. Use sketches to create bodies and the tools to model them.
Keep track of which component is active and what you have to do. Keep stuff together in the timeline as much as
possible.
I would also recommend you go back through the tutorials in the documentation and especially learn about the
timeline and all of the joints. There are some good self paced learning videos.
On YouTube there is both an AutoDesk and a Fusion Channel. While some of these videos are a bit high level there are
also some very good beginner videos that take you through good workflow. There is one where they model a pencil
sharpener that is a series of videos that is good but there are also others.
Please do not take my critique of your design the wrong way. I thought by stepping through it and raising issues
might be a good way for you to think about what you had done and what others might have done. I am also a learner
and I regularly do the tutorials and read the forums. I make mistakes and also ask for help. In the end it is all about
learning new skills and being better at them.
Overall I cannot specifically see where you have gone wrong. I think it is a series of smaller things that have
compounded into the end result. It may not be fixable on its own and a redraw might be the answer. Don't be
discouraged by this. Redraws to fix some problems are not uncommon and a redraw is often much quicker because
you have already done the hard work and have a good idea of what to do. Doing it again but cleaner often fixes
underlying problems.
Cheers
Andrew
