Offset edge

[Anonymous]

Hi,

if I want to offset the edge of a cube I have no problems doing this after entering sketch mode but when the shape is irregular I cannot offset the edge because of the workplane constraint.

I have attached a screenshot and would like to ask if there is there a way to do what I want or is it more of a feature request?

Thanks

Craig

[Beyondforce]

I just want to clarify your question, you want to create an offset plan from the edge of the this shape?

[TheCADWhisperer]

I do not understand what you are attempting to do.

Can you post both files.

The file with the cube and offset to demonstrate your design intent.

And the file with the irregular shape that you cannot "offset".

[Anonymous]

Thanks to you both and sorry for not being clearer, I have attached an image from another CAD system that I use.

They call it offset edge along a face and it can be an extremely powerful function to have, the top edge in the attached image has been offset four times and then the two surfaces were created.

Can Fusion 360 explode edges so they can be manipulated?

[Beyondforce]

You can do the exact same thing in F360 very easily and more. If you'll attach the file, I'll show how to do that.

Ben.

[Anonymous]

Hi Ben, there is no file I was just experimenting, any irregular shape will do.

[Beyondforce]

Here you go:

Cheers / Ben
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[HughesTooling]

Here's another way.

Mark

[Anonymous]

Thanks to you both for your time but I was looking for a quick way such as exploding an edge and then moving it down, I guess Fusion 360 cannot explode edges.

The CAD system I created the example on is a very low end system and I need two clicks of the mouse to offset an edge along a face.

In the attached screenshot I used the Project to Surface function and used Along Vector which is quite quick but nowhere as fast as offsetting an edge.

Most CAD systems can explode edges with the click of a mouse; I find it strange that Fusion 360 cannot!

Craig

[Beyondforce]

@HughesTooling and I showed you 2 different ways of achieving the same goal and there are more ways you can do that.
Don't try to compare F360 to other CAD systems. F360 is a beast in it's own category. Maybe in your case, other programs can do this specific action faster, but as we showed you, F360 can do it as well in many ways and very simple.

If you need more help, please let us know 🙂

Cheers / Ben
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Did you find this reply helpful ? If so please use the Accept as Solution or Kudos button below.

Check out my YouTube channel: Fusion 360: Newbies+

[HughesTooling]

Out of curiosity when you say most what CAD systems are you talking about, direct modelers like Spaceclaim or mesh modelers. I've used several solid modelers and they don't have the ability, Rhino sort of can but you'd need to extract an isocurve so wouldn't really be any quicker.

A slightly quicker way in Fusion would be to use an offset plane but if you need to split more than a couple of times the sketch method would still be quicker. I've done another screencast to show the offset plane method and also to demonstrate that a sketch is way more powerful as you can rotate the cutting plane and even split with curves\splines.

Mark

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@Anonymous wrote:

....Most CAD systems can explode edges with the click of a mouse;

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Can you post a Screencast demonstrating this functionality in any CAD program?

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark, I think it would be safe to say that every modern CAD system has some form of direct modelling capability and thanks for the demo. There are many ways to do it, I created the trim on a guitar body in Fusion 360 last night, it went very well but exploding edges is very quick and efficient.

Hi TheCADWhisperer, I can point you directly to a CAD system that has this functionality and it is called Fusion 360, the program already does it as most do.

Imagine the trim around a guitar body and think how easy it would be to create the trim using an exploded edge/offset along a face tool?

You would offset the outer edge of the body inwards on the top face, then downwards along the side face, explode the edge you have just offset and then you have three splines that you can use to create the trim.

The attached image shows that Fusion 360 has the capability and does do it, but it has not been expanded upon. For example, we can select an edge of an object but as far as I know we cannot do anything with it?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks to Jeff this has been solved because Fusion 360 has the capability to explode any 3d edge, it’s basically down to terminology.

Include 3d geometry is what I was looking for and the process is as follows.

Select Include 3d geometry from Sketch menu.

Click on the edges you want to separate from the 3d model

Right click and choose Ok

Turn the body visibility off

Select the edges

Right click and choose Break link

Those edges can now be manipulated as needed, I created the trim on the object in the attached image using this method and I hope this helps others.