fusion 360 Vs solid works (on an engineering basis)

[Anonymous]

Apologies if this topic has been covered many times before (which i suspect it has)

I am new to fusion 360 and the forum, so again apologies if this is the 100th time you have seen the question. 

I know the basic differences between the 2 softwares, but was wondering if anyone can help with a more in depth view. 

I am an engineer, and as such would be be drawn to solid works. Where it is easy to input gears, pullies, linear actuators etc... Also the ability to draw using "I" beam and various hollow section tube is a huge bonus. Which are the materials i would be using most. (if this is possible in fusion 360 please let me know) the obvious downside to solid works in the ridiculous costs involved in the initial purchase and the annual subscription. 

To put things into perspective, i won't be drawing huge oil rigs, with 1000's of assemblies. I would probably only be using solid works to 10% of its capacity. I will mainly be drawing small assemblies, which i will then turn into cutting lists and ship out to get laser cut.

The huge plus is fusion 360, is the low cost. and i prefer the interface and personally think its a little easier to get your head around the basic commands and tools than solid works  

So i guess my question is. Can fusion 360 fulfil these criteria? 

Any help or advice is much appreciated!! Im sorry if this is the wrong part of the forum to post this question.

[Anonymous]

Hi! I'm ans engineer as well. It is a learning curve going from one software to another. I personally have used Solidworks, Catia, Inventor, and a little NX. All of these differ quite a bit from each other and from Fusion 360. When I'm at work I use Solidworks, but cant afford that for home use. Price to performance, I think Fusion 360 can't be beat.

I don't think that Fusion 360 has the features you asked about yet. There are features I miss too like sheet metal functions. Remember that Fusion 360 is relatively new, so the features that you want that are not supported yet may be in development. Put in a suggestion and hopefully they will get a developer on it. 

[PhilProcarioJr]

@Anonymous

I am also an engineer that uses both Fusion and Solidworks and here is the best advice I can give you.

Open Fusion and do a small project that covers all your needs and if you find features that you have to have but are not in Fusion then get Solidworks.

Personally I hate using Solidworks anymore (I've used it everyday for over 10 years) and almost, key word being "almost" exclusively use Fusion, but I would not ever bet my livelihood on a piece of software that can not do what I need it to do. Fusion is newer software and the dev team works very hard to bring us the tools we need, but software development is a long and hard process and there is no guarantee when "Said" features will make it into the program.

The best advice anyone can give you is an honest objective view...if You are happy with the current feature set of Fusion then I say by all means jump onboard, but if your not go with the software that can do what you need. 

There are things you mentioned that are not implemented into Fusion yet, some have work arounds and others may require a free piece of software and a few that you will not find.

Just my 2 cents.

[Anonymous]

thank you for all your responses.

Im in a tricky situation, as I don't have huge experience with either solid works or fusion. So, will be pretty much be starting out as a beginner with either. So i guess I'm trying to work out which software is best for me. And more importantly which is best to invest my time in. As i can't really offered the time to go down one route, and then realise that its not the ideal software and then have to start all over again.

like i said, i not going to be drawing huge oil refineries. It will mainly be small rigs, made from hollow section and laser cut plates. with the occasionally pulley, ram and gear thrown in. 

The huge plus with fusion, is that i think it maybe easier to pick up and obviously much cheaper.

The initial and annual costs are a big factor with solid works. But i know they have a very well structured course that you can go on (for 4/5 days i think, which will give you a very good grounding. 

[PhilProcarioJr]

@Anonymous

The thing about Fusion is you will get up and running fast and you have the community to really help you out. The problem is if you need to do something that's not possible in Fusion your stuck. On the plus side we can usually help you find a work around.

Based on what your saying I think Fusion will work for you. The amount of time you will invest in Fusion is well worth it's weight in gold testing it out opposed to the cost of Solidworks.

It's free to try out and honestly you should be able to tell if it will work for you by the end of the weekend with our help. 

[Anonymous]

i like the sound of your last comment "with our help" lol

[PhilProcarioJr]

@Anonymous

Fusion is by far one of the easiest CAD programs to learn, but the real value is the great community of people that will show you how to get your work done and will share examples and take a look at your files if you need it. You won't find a better community of helpful people. If you have a problem just ask and one of us will put you on the right path to get your work done.

[TrippyLighting]

I cannot add much to what @PhilProcarioJr then than that's what my recommendation would have been.

With Fusion 30 you can simply download and have at it 😉

[daniel_lyall]

@Anonymous there are a few 3 axis shops out there that use fusion only some do 4 axis stuff at times, and they seem to be fine. look up NYCCNC

this community is a professional forum there are no trolls or A holes that will give stupid answers or treat your question like you are stupid.

and anyone that has Autodesk expert elite next to there name has that for a reason and they are vetted before they are give that title. and you can rely on them to get you sorted.

I realy on them a lot for simple questions and conformations of how to do something.

[O.Tan]

In terms of modelling ability, pretty much any CAD software will be able to model the same part, it's just how long it'll take and how easy/hard for the user.

SW will probably have more "automation" features whereas in Fusion, you'll have to do it manually as some of those features isn't there yet.

[kb9ydn]

I use Solidworks for modelling and Fusion mostly for CAM.  Since you're just starting out I would say go with Fusion first.  It's cheaper (free even) and even though it's not as fully featured (yet) many of the basic modelling concepts will transfer over to Solidworks and other CAD programs as well.  So if you find out later that Fusion doesn't have everything you need, your time won't really be wasted.

The reason I use Solidworks for modelling is partly because it's what I'm used to, but also because most of our customers use it and we need to be able to share models.

C|

[TMC.Engineering]

Just wanted to echo what everyone else said.  I am very satisfied with fusion as a product.  but the community can't be beat.  

while some of the wizards are not in fusion like you might be use to, there is a very nice feature to insert McMaster Carr parts and Parts4Cad parts.  so you can add lots of off the shelf parts with little effort.

As far as learning new software goes just try not to get caught up in the "this is how the other software does it" thinking.  new ways aren't bad, just new.

And be sure to...

1. follow Rule #1

2. create screencasts to illistrate questions

3. share your model if possible.

[Anonymous]

I guess for me it's not a massive problem that you can't import Rams. As I can always block it out with a rectangle and a shaft through the middle. And even add minimum and maximum limits to it. Just to simulate a ram.

The sheet metal aspect would be good. But I gather that's something that is being worked on as we speak.

And I prob wouldn't use the stress calculations/simulation that solid works has that much. So wouldn't miss it.

So all in all. I think I'm going to go with fusion for a variety of reason. Which are all mentioned above.

My next questions is: which mouse do you prefer to use?

I'm on a Mac, and have heard some people just use the track pad. I have a friend that swears by the 3D connextion mouse. And another that hates the 3D mouse and uses a 5 button gaming mouse.

Now I know everyone will say, it's a personal choice. And you're correct. Would just be interested to see what the general concenses was

[O.Tan]

You can use a normal or 3 button mice, though I prefer to use 3D Mice as it allows you to change views much more quicker and comfortable. Word of warning, you'll need time to practice using 3D Mice, it'll feel weird at first but once you're used to it, it'll be second nature

Omar Tan

[Jonathan.Landeros]

I've used Inventor since about 2000, and Mechanical Desktop before that (who remembers MDT!). 

At home, I'm using Fusion for all my small projects, and for the fun of it. 

It's a program I enjoy using, learning and watching grow. 

I second the sheet metal environment (on the way!), and I'm looking forward to improvements in the drawing.

But Fusion 360 is a great program, very little support required.

But even with all that "fanboy gushing", it's got to do what you need.  I still use Inventor at work, why?  Fusion can't quite do what I need at work yet, mostly in the drawing arena.

I'd agree that trying it on a small project, or duplicating critical functions for your work would be a good way to test out Fusion.

Good luck!

[madkat7]

At this time, Fusion is considerably more basic than other more well established packages. I have been using Solidworks since it's inception so my comparisons are between it and Fusion 360. All told, 360 is an incredible value and for someone who is just getting started it can't be beat for price and functionality.

Remember, these are my opinions / observations. YMMV

	SolidWorks	Fusion	Winner
Fasteners	The toolbox is hard to beat. It's easy to add most standard fasteners to any assembly.	McMaster Carr import is an option, or you can model your own. Considerably more time consuming and difficult in Fusion.	Solidworks
Hole Wizard	Comprehensive options for holes of any variety and purpose. Relatively easy to use.	Hole wizard is ok in Fusion. It takes 2 features, one to make a hole, and another to specify the hole with threads and bores. Would be easier with a 1 step process.	Solidworks
Sheet Metal	Sheet metal mode makes design of sheetmetal parts easy and mostly intuitive.	Modeling functionality only. No current sheetmetal specific features.	Solidworks
Weldments	As in sheet metal, the weldment functionality has saved me quite a bit of time and effort.	Basic modeling only. No current weldment specific features.	Solidworks
Surfacing	Solidworks surfacing is a nightmare. It often takes a lot of trial and error to get the desired results.	Fusion surfacing is very nice. This is the primary reason I use fusion. It makes surfacing work a lot faster and more intuitive.	Fusion 360
3D Sketching	Solidworks has mature and useful 3D sketching tools.	3D sketching is possible, but it's finnicky at besty and difficult to use. Seems to rely on pre-existing geometry.	Solidworks
Drawings	Solidworks has mature and full-featured drawing functionality.	Drawing is relatively new in Fusion, but it is getting better all the time.	Solidworks
3D Sculpting	Solidworks can only have this functionality with an expensive add on.		Fusion 360
Animation	Solidworks has comprehensive, but quirky animation tools.	Fusions animation tools are easy to use and quite fun. I really enjoy them. I prefer using this for animations over SW.	Fusion 360
Simulation	Solidworks simulation tools are only fully available in the premium versions of the products. They are difficult to use and can be frustrating to someone who doesn't often use simulation.	Fusions tools are much easier to use and faster to get results. They possibly may not be as accurate, but I prefer the ease of use.	Fusion 360
CAM	Solidworks can only have this functionality with an expensive add on.	The built in CAM seems well rounded and is continually being improved.	Fusion 360
Rendering	I've rendered with Photoview 360, which is OK. The new bunkspeed based renderer is a pain to use and is slow compared to Keyshot.	I haven't messed with this too much, but the result's I've seen aremt bad. I still think Keyshot is easier and faster.	undecided
Model Information	Solidworks models can be queried extensively for mass, moment, CoG etc.	This functionality is slowly appearing in Fusion, but isn't too the level of Solidworks yet.	Solidworks
Assemblies	Solidworks assemblies are fantastic until there is a problem. Issues can be somewhat difficult to fix in large assemblies with a bunch of references. Takes a lot of experience to understand and navigate.	I quite like the way Fusion 360 works with assemblies. There are a lot of options and it feels less constrained than Solidworks. I prefer it.	Fusion 360
Assembly Mates	Solidworks has a lot of tried and true mate options for most anything you would need.	Fusion does it differently, and I've had some growing pains using their mates, but the results are generally good.	Tie
Patterns	Solidworks has 8 different pattern tools available. Linear, Circular, Mirror, Path, Sketch, Table, Fill, Variable. They all work well.	Fusion has 4 pattern tools available. Rectangular, Circle, Mirror, Path. They work fine.	Solidworks
Chain Pattern	This is a fantastic feature for chains and mechanical belts.	Fusion requires you to build a pattern from all instances. Analogous function is not present	Solidworks
Construction Geometry	Solidworks makes it easy to create construction geometry where and how you need it.	Fusions options are a bit more limited, but still useful.	Solidworks
Stability	Solidworks 2016 was a PoS from a stability standpoint. All 4 workstations in our office had similar problems with like features crashing the program.	Fusion 360 has had generally good stability. I crash once every couple of days.	Fusion 360
Software Cost	6K initial cost for a premium license, then around 20 percent, per license, per year for maintenance.	I just picket up 2 years for 80 bucks. UBELIEVEABLE. More core functionality for that too.	Fusion 360
Support	Solidworks fobs off support to regional VAR's. They are sometimes difficult to get hold of and often don't "get" the problem you are having.	The fusion community and youtube videos are great. I prefer being able to look an issue up myself.	Fusion 360

[Anonymous]

I'm a long time SolidWorks user who is in the process of learning the in's and outs of Fusion 360.

There are many normal "editing" features in F360 that arre much easier than Swx. I just experienced one today. I had a multi part step file that I got from a contractor that was incorrectly scaled.  In F360 it was trivial to scale the the entire assy by 25.4.  In SWx I had to open each part and apply a scale to each one. This was a major pain and time consumer.

Saying that, I would be hard pressed to use F360 for long term production work. Lack of configurations, no meta data for BoM creation, etc. make F360 a tool very useful for small one off projects but extremely difficult for a large scale, multi-person development.

For a small scale entity, such as a one person entrepreneur, F360 is a no brainer due to the costing. Swx is going to start at $5,300 up front and cost you $1,300 a year in maintenance.  The pricing structure of F360 is quite attractive. 

It's a difficult decision, but if it were me, I would start with F360 and move to Swx later if I needed, and could afford the capability.

BTW, madcat7's table is 'da bomb!

Chris

Good luck.