Workflow suggestion for multi body box

[Cave_Master]

I am fairly new to the Fusion 360 CADCAM environment.   I have been using it for a few months for some production cycles, making the same parts repeatedly.

Now as a side project I am going to build some boxes out of our scrap material.   I am creating the box now and it will likely contain 5 bodies that will need to be machined.

The way I have been machining everything so far involve linking the source file to a "job file" I have that contains our machine origins, fixtures, etc...   I could machine this box the same way but I would have to break the link in order to flatten all the bodies out to be machined.

Is there a way to set up a CAM job for all these pieces on one flat sheet while maintaining the parametric properties of the modeling environment?

I would like to make a few different prototypes of this and if possible prefer to do the least amount of CAM setup as possible.

Thanks for suggestions in advance

[Matthew-R]

@Cave_Master For the time being, to create flat patterns from multi-body files, here's a Youtube video about a Nesting Script for Fusion 360 that you might find useful.  Depending on your workflow, this could do the trick for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SY367qt3YQ

Nesting Script:

https://github.com/tapnair/NESTER

See the model here:

http://a360.co/1iMGgOm

[daniel_lyall · Accepted solution]

Yes copy past then move the part onto a pre drawin sketch of the size bit of stock you will be useing with points on it where each part is to go so you can orientate it then use point to point to move to the pre sketched point.

Doing it this way you have the original untouched and a set of moves and copy paste that can be deleted without breaking anything.

If the parts are components you can use move copy to do the same thing or you can just move to the pre sketched points then capture position, this way you can have the completed model and a nested model all in one what only takes moving the timeline to go from one to the other.

Yes at the moment it is a lot of work until they add nesting into fuson.

If you know the dimensions for all the parts of the box, you use that plus a gap for the tool to fit between each part for the layout sketch if a part is say 100 high by 200 wide you would offset in from the side by cutter width plus a bit of breathing room then the second point will be width plus 2X cutter width plus 2 mm put a point there and that would be the second part's position across the width the length would be the same, it's quick and easy if the sides are the same size and the scrape material you are useing is squire.

[Cave_Master]

I tried the nesting app a few months ago, to no avail.    I was pretty green with Fusion then, I know it a lot better now so at some point I will try it again.

[Cave_Master]

Thank you for the suggestion.   This method seems like it will work.

The first screenshot shows the box design.

The second screenshot shows all 6 components of the box coplanar to the stock solid (hidden).

All positions are captured so I should be able to post code, change the design, recalculate paths, and post more code.

Thanks for the help!