How do I create sheet metal parts in Fusion 360?

[Anonymous]

I'm new to Fusion 360 and can follow the tutorials pretty well, but they are all solid items.  I need to create bent sheet metal parts which also include cut-outs.  I have no idea where or how to start on this.

[Anonymous]

Originally sheetmetal was shown on the Fusion roadmap for mid year, but the latest has pushed it out:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-product-roadmap/fusion-360-roadmap-second-half-2015/ba-p/57...

Further out projects (Most likely 2016 😞

• Sheetmetal
• Surfacing Enhancements
• Integrated 2D Paint
• Integrated 3D Print environment

[promm]

Hello kweissenfels,

Currently Sheet Metal is in development for Fusion 360.  I am the product manager in charge of sheet metal and would like to share with you our plans.  Do you have anytime next week where I can go through workflows and get feedback?  Damincin, if you are interested as well please let me know a time that would work for you.

Cheers,

Mike Prom

mike.prom@autodesk.com

[Anonymous]

Don't know if my input helps but I would love to see a v-groove add-in for sheetmetal design and  eventually a tutorial on adding a flange to a mitered surface. I work solely in sheetmetal and extrusions and I find that Inventor's ability is not always predictable when it comes to adding say an end cap to a mitered edge. It is also difficult to control the cut face on the part designed when it goes to the flat pattern and I have to create a v-groove, countersink or engrave the part # on the un-painted side of the part. We convert our flat pattern into AutoCAD and then import it into AlphaCAM and it is tricky to control the face from one application to the next. (it flips it) It would be nice if there were and option to control the face.   

I can't tell you how much metal I have destroyed because of this.

Thank You,

dirtcat aka Tonya Sweeting

[joPTQS2]

Hey Mike,

I'm just brand new to Fusion 360 and I must admit, I'M IMPRESSED!! 

Just you being on this forum and looking for feed backs is saying a lot to me.

So, I'm all in to give you feed feedbacks on sheet metal features.

I'm a 10 years old SolidWorks user and I've played a gread deal with their sheet metal tools.

And since I kinda now your playing Agile, so my input won't get wasted. 🙂

Let me know how and I'll do my best help you.

Cheers.

[promm]

Hello @joPTQS2,

If you and anyone on this thread would be kind enough to talk the survey from the link below it would be greatly appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-9cM2NzRplU0yg_fG4l_IiOyXJPnpEOYpX9O8fY5jFU/viewform?c=0&w=1

Thank you,

Mike Prom

[yoshimitsuspeed]

I always see this discussed as sheetmetal as a complete workflow but would it not be possible to get basic flatten to 2D and 2D to DXF capability sooner?

I just signed up for this webinar "Create Soft Goods Flatt Patterns w/ Exact Flat & Fusion 360". Does anyone know anything about this?
I would way rather a quick step by step than needing to set time aside for the webinar.

[MichaelAubry]

Hi Yoshi,

I'll be doing the Exact Flat webinar on Thursday. We'll be showing examples like shoes and clothing.

The quick summary of what Exact Flat does is here: 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-differently/the-fusion-360-api-and-announcing-quot-exact-flat-...

A recording of the last webinar we did is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcXlSD6oOhQ

Best,

Mike

[Anonymous]

Hi promm,

Unfortunatly I missed out on this survey.  I am anxious to know more about sheet metal in Fusion (especially when it might be available, even if still in beta).  For the past 12 years I've used (and still do) Inventor at work, extensivly with sheet metal and am now trying to embrace Fusion for some other projects I have on the go.   It feels like my hands are tied without sheet metal tools.  Keep me posted!

[Anonymous]

I am interested as well on sheet metal functionalities
Unfortunately I see that thread has been started on 2015 and it's still not on production..

[Phil.E]

@Anonymous

Welcome to the Fusion community!

You are correct, we are not done developing sheet metal for Fusion. I'm currently also working on this project and happy to report we are making great progress. We should be able to release some of sheet metal this later this year (barring any unforeseen problems).

Thanks for your patience, looking forward to your eventual feedback on this feature!

[promm]

Happy to share the process that the sheet metal team has made.  Thank you Patrick for making the video.

[yoshimitsuspeed]

What about flatten, export in 2D and 2D drawings? Is that currently being worked on or even further out?

[promm]

The video is to show the progress that the team has made as we work towards our first release.  Features like unfold, fold, flatten and the ability to insert into drawing are all being worked on.  Make sure to notice that we use one "Flange" tool to create a face flange, contour flange, edge flange and miter flange.  I don't know about you, but its hard for me to contain my excitement!!!

Cheers,

Mike Prom

[yoshimitsuspeed]

I am happy progress is being made and don't mean to belittle that. It's just that for me and many other posts I have seen the ability to flatten modeled parts and get them cut and bent is one of the most important things. That alone would allow me to do almost everything I need, whereas actual sheet metal forming and creation is much lower on my priority list.

[nnabavi]

Hi Mike,

I was wondering if you know about the estimated release time for this feature? I can imagine all the amazing things that can be made using the Unfold functions.

I'm so impatient to start using it for creating designs made with Carbon Fiber and other sheet materials. Thanks.

Best regards,

Navid.

[promm]

@nnabavi,

The team is working on building out all of the flange functionality including but not limited to the rules, bend/corner reliefs and unfolding.  There are some dependencies on architecture for flattening that is also being worked on.  I will know more about the timeline in the next few weeks based off of the progress.

Regards,

Mike Prom

[MichaelAubry]

We're pretty excited about sheetmetal coming out too. We're hoping to have a preview out as soon as we can.  Can't commit to a date yet.
Best!
Mike

[fusion5GBH9]

Please can you advise a realistic time frame for the first release of sheet metal design. We are about to start a new project in the next month and need to decide what software to use on this job

[promm]

@fusion5GBH9,

The team is working on the ability to flatten models that were created with our flange tools.  Once this work, along with bending rule details and extensive testing is complete we will release sheet metal.   We will not have a solution released by the timeline for your project to start in the next month.  I hope you consider Fusion for a future project after we release.

Cheers,

Mike Prom