Having difficulty thickening a complex surface to create a solid object

[dknellN7U3L]

Hello everyone,

First and foremost, I would like to preface that I am quite new to fusion 360 and 3D design altogether so I am sure that the way I went about creating this piece could have been done much better by someone with more experience and knowledge. That being said, after some struggling, I finally arrived at my target shape, dimensions and aesthetics.

My challenge is that I am unable to thicken the body to create a solid. I've read a few answers, but due to my inexperience, I am uncertain as how to proceed rectifying the issues. Please see the attached screenshots and file for review.

I appreciate all insight and advice that you are able to offer!

thank you,

Devin

[davebYYPCU]

To the inside / outside?

To what thickness?

Will check file later.

[dknellN7U3L]

I'd like the spoon bowl to thicken to the outside 1.5mm. The handle will need to be thicker, but I'll cross that bridge later. Thanks for taking a look.

[Warmingup1953]

You've got your geometry pretty close but some errors will defy thickening. Perhaps utilise what you have as a reference and swap to Solid Modelling?

[dknellN7U3L]

Thank you! I realize this is a broad subject that can't be easily answered on a forum. Could you please suggest the correct path to begin solid modeling this?

[TrippyLighting]

I think starting with surface modeling is perfectly fine for this mode, but I'd clean up the workflow some.

For example if you are only lofting one half, there is no good reason to mirror the entire first sketch. It is complex enough without the mirroring 😉

That will make it easier to fully define it.

Other than that, I am not entirely sure what you are trying to achieve with this 4-sided loft, as I assume you want to fill the entire boundary. 

The sweep you are trying to fill that void with creates overlapping surfaces that you somehow manage to stitch, but which effectively prevent you from thickening!

You could have just lofted into a point. It's not ideal, but often works fine.

There is tangency missing at least at one transition in the spoon profile.

Again, develop sound sketching skills. 

[dknellN7U3L]

thanks for all the advice. How would I transition from a surface to solid modeling?

[TrippyLighting]

Thickening is the way to go for this model, and it usually works fine if the lofts are OK 😉

The lofts usually rely on sketches being OK, so that is an area I would focus on. Simple, "clean," fully constrained, and dimensioned sketches. 

[dknellN7U3L · Accepted solution]

Thanks everyone. I went back and started over to make sure the sketches were super dialed in. My biggest mistake was not using the intersect tool and projections to ensure perfect alignment. Everything went well afterwards. I am now exploring how I could have made this more efficiently as I am sure I went through a lot of unnecessary hoops to arrive at the final shape.