Fusion 360 Custom Thread Utility

[MRWakefield]

Every time someone asked for a custom thread (or a standard that isn't included with F360) here in the forum, or I needed one myself, I would think about writing some kind of utility to make the whole process easier, and each time I would mull over whether it would be worth investing the time for such an occasional requirement.

Well, some months ago I bit the bullet and decided I'd finally write something. It's taken a few months on and off and although I really wrote it for my own use I thought I might as well share it. If you like it and feel the need to give something back then you can send me a Ko-Fi tip

It can take an existing Fusion thread file and convert it to CSV (which can be edited in your favourite spreadsheet program) and it will also open a CSV file (of the correct format!) and allow you to generate a new thread file. It has the ability to adjust the Major, Pitch, and Minor diameters by a given amount to compensate for 3D printing (an alternative to adding an offset to the faces of the thread) or for creating in-between sizes (such as a TR21x4 - used on Sodastream CO2 cylinder). I've written a basic 'Rough Guide' that's included with the app but hopefully most of it will be obvious enough.

The app also includes a form for manually entering thread data and a calculator for non-standard metric threads. This took a lot of time studying the ISO standard to get the code right for this so was very relieved to get this part working! Maybe one day, when I feel like diving in again I might take a look at adding other thread standards.

Here's a screenshot of the main Windows application window.

Anyway, I hope some of you find it useful. You can download an installer from my ko-fi page. Hopefully you won't have too many questions.

Edit: I was reminded by @HughesTooling to mention the ThreadKeeper program for syncing custom thread files. I highly recommend it for making life much easier!

EDIT: I'm in the process of porting I've now ported this over to MacOS as well. You'll find the MacOS version on my ko-fi page as well. Be aware that it hasn't been signed or notarised so you'll get the usual warnings about potential viruses 'n' stuff. If you're worried just run it through a virus scan. Anyway, I hope all you Mac users find it useful. Let me know if you have any issues and I'll try to iron them out.

 

 

[etfrench]

Restarting the app didn't change the results, but closing Excel did.

[MRWakefield]

Ah yes, that'll do it. The component I use opens the CSV as  a database file and requires exclusive access to it, so if any other application has an open handle on it my app throws this error. I'll look into checking for this and do something appropriate.

[MRWakefield]

I've added some error handling so that when it encounters a problem opening a CSV it displays a message. This should be better than the previous error which gave no indication of what might be wrong. You can download the latest version via the same link. If you have any problems just let me know and I'll try my best to sort them out.

[MRWakefield]

It might not be important (or some of my calculations are incorrect) but some of your figures don't agree with mine. The values that immediately come to my notice are the tapping drill sizes. The "rule of thumb" is to subtract the pitch from the OD and that gives you your tapping size. In your data the tapping drill sizes would equate to a pitch of 1.5mm.

I've found an online calculator which calculates arbitrary pitches which pretty much agrees with my calculator. You might find useful.

Anyway it's just an observation and might not be important in your case, in which case just ignore me 😉

[etfrench]

These were for 3d printing threads with 20 tpi at those specific diameters.  They match the threads on some ornamentally turned wooden boxes.

[MRWakefield]

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@etfrench wrote:

These were for 3d printing threads with 20 tpi at those specific diameters.  They match the threads on some ornamentally turned wooden boxes.

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Ok, so high precision not required and as long as they fit that's all you need!

[leo]

Hi, I like the idea and your program very much, unfortunately I get this error in the thread calculator as soon as I try to select a decimal number as a pitch.

[MRWakefield]

That's odd! It works for me:

I'm not sure what to suggest to be honest. The only thing that comes to mind is the regional settings of your OS. Your system isn't set up with a comma as a decimal separator is it?

Thanks for the screenshot btw.

[leo]

I am from germany, so the comma will probably be set as decimal operator, do you happen to know how to change this?

[leo]

I found the setting and changed the decimal operator to a dot now it works fine. Thanks a lot for the help and the great tool.

[MRWakefield]

I found some information here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/decimal-separator-changes-after-update-to-wind...

I'd be interested to know whether this fixes it for you. However it's not very friendly if you need to change your system settings to suit my program so I'll look into it.

Hope this helps.

[leo]

Yes this worked for me after changing to dot as decimal operator the thread calculator worked fine

[MRWakefield]

👍That's great but as I said, it's not very friendly. I think I've fixed it in the app so I'll be posting a new version in a few minutes. Hopefully it will also work for you and you can change your system settings back to how they should be.

EDIT:

Ok, it seems I haven't fixed it!!! I'll try again and do some more testing. I'll post an update when I've found a fix.

Right... It looks like it's fixed. I've tested it on my system with the OS decimal separator and thousands separator swapped (comma as decimal, point as grouping character). Let me know if it fixes it on your system.

[philipp_berndt]

@MRWakefield 

Have you given any thought to making this app open source? I am sure a lot of us could help with the development.

Have a nice day, and thanks for all the help! ❤

[MRWakefield]

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@philipp_berndt wrote:

@MRWakefield 

Have you given any thought to making this app open source? I am sure a lot of us could help with the development.

Have a nice day, and thanks for all the help! ❤

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To be honest, I haven't. I'm just an occasional coder and if someone who knew what they were doing looked at it I'd probably die of embarrassment!

Thanks, have a nice day too.

[leo]

Unfortunately i only had time to test the new version now. Now it works perfectly, even with my standard os settings. Thank you very much and really incredible support that you provide for your application.

[MRWakefield]

That's great, I'm pleased that fixed it. 👍😁

Thanks for your kind comments.

[HagenKern18530]

Thank you for putting this together, very helpful

[MRWakefield]

You're welcome! 😁 I've recently added a 'Custom' option to the thread calculator:

I've tested it and it seems to work but I really need to do more testing and maybe add some error checking into it before I update the public version.

[HagenKern18530]

THat would be helpful to have, to let me know when you are making that available. Thank you again.