I'm missing a "Normal" constraint

[mroek]

Sometimes I want to connect a line to a curved entity (circle/arc/spline), and I want this line to be normal to the curved entity at the point of coincidence.

To achieve this in Fusion, I first have to create a construction line that is tangent to the curve, and then set my line to be perpendicular to this construction line. This of course works, but it makes my sketch more messy. Having a direct normal constraint would be much better, and my previous CAD system (Onshape) has this. I guess many others too.

I didn't find any request for this in Ideastation either, but I may have missed it. Am I the only one that would like to have this constraint?

[PhilProcarioJr]

@mroek

If you add it to the ideastation and provide a link here I will vote for it.

[mroek]

Done! Now go voting!  🙂

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/ideastation-request-a-feature-or/add-a-quot-normal-quot-constraint-fo...

[PhilProcarioJr]

@mroek

Done +1

[HughesTooling]

For a circle or arc you can add a coincident constraint, just select the arc centre then the line. Only works between a line and arc though.

Mark

[PhilProcarioJr]

@HughesTooling

The thing is though this functionality would be very easy to implement because the required data is already there. The curvature combs prove this and I too would like to see it to keep sketches clean. Fusion's current way of dealing with sketches adds so much un-needed clutter. For simple designs it's fine but for complex work it hurts my head to even look over sketches.

It would be very nice if you could just add a perpendicular constraint between the line and the spline. Then as the spline is manipulated the line would update based on the normal at the intersection. I can see many uses for this beyond the obvious. For one thing this could set the stage for being able to bend objects, compression springs and pocket deflection, flexible designs like suspension bridges, civil engineering of transportation like roads and railroads...etc The new possibilities would be endless and would add a ton of value to Fusion's portfolio.

[HughesTooling]

I not against the idea it was my first request on the ideastation Here, but as it's still not implemented I thought I'd let @mroek know the workaround. As for splines, Fusion really needs a tangent and perpendicular constraint just drawing a rectangle around a part made from splines to find the centre is not possible.

Mark

[PhilProcarioJr]

@HughesTooling

Maybe after they get more people hired to work on the sketch engine this could happen....it really is something that is needed for a lot of reasons.

[mroek]

@HughesTooling

Thanks for letting me know. I wasn't aware of that workaround. And item 1 in your submitted idea is the same as mine, I just didn't find it. I guess it might be because I thought that "perpendicular" wasn't really applicable to arcs, I thought that the correct terminology was "normal" in that case.