Cannot export cad file with threads

[Anonymous]

Hello!

I am very frustrated that I cannot export a working cad file for Xometry to machine. 

I have exported in step and sat with no changes to the file output losing the threads every time. The f3d extension cannot be used by xometry, I did not know that fusion was screwing up my export and now I have useless unthreaded parts from xometry. 

Why is this so difficult for fusion360 to get correctly, this is an extremely basic function for cad software?

[jhackney1972 · Accepted solution]

I do not know about Xometry application but for a simple STEP file, threads can be exported perfectly.  You must make sure to check the Model Threads option.  I created a STEP file using this method and opened it in Autodesk Inventor and the threads came across perfectly.  Screencast to show the process.

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

I know it had worked in the past, I guess the software does not default to exporting all of the features. 

Why wouldn't exporting all features be standard protocol? 

[jhackney1972]

Exporting everything "you put in the model" is default.  You had put "cosmetic" threads, just bitmap images, in the model, the threads were not cut until you checked the "model threads" check box as I showed in the video.  Fusion 360 is only able to export what the true model has for features.

[jeff_strater]

Fusion will always export everything that is in the model.  You just did not include thread geometry when you made the model,  You cannot expect Fusion to export geometry that you did not create.

[Anonymous]

Thank you and I now understand the information about the "modeled" thread checkbox. What I don't understand is the benefit of why threads would be displayed in the workspace but omitted from an export. I have never come across software that did not have export settings for cross format exports. When you are using Photoshop or Adobe premiere or final cut pro or audio post-production software / PDF / Microsoft word / solidworks / ms paint- even printing a document established software standards have an options menu for things that could affect the final output file of your product.

So if I am seeing threads displayed in my model workspace and then I export; what I don't understand is why an option that would disable a displayed feature would not be presented at time of export? No popup message to warn me displayed features would be omitted? The displayed features were not greyed out or highlighted, there was no output preview or other way to inform me that it would be missing. 

I have projects where the time between thread creation and export may be 10 hours apart, remembering whether or not a box was checked early in a design file is not really practical. 

I didn't know that the "modeled" checkbox would affect an export when I made the threads- I could see the threads modeled in my workspace. At a glance I thought that maybe this "modeled" had something to do with the rendering workspace not output for manufacture so I went right past it. 

I am new to manufacturing (but not software and design) and trying to understand the value of exporting files without threads displayed in the design workspace. All I can think of is internal threads for flat sheet that will be laser cut and tapped later when exporting a dxf. 

Any insights are appreciated, I'm not a luddite (I've held MCSE certs and programmed C+ / html / btc mining / python etc). 

[Anonymous]

"You cannot expect Fusion to export geometry that you did not create."

The geometry was clearly displayed in my workspace, i was looking at a threaded part when i exported the file

[TheCADWhisperer · Accepted solution]

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@Anonymous wrote:
The geometry was clearly displayed in my workspace, i was looking at a threaded part when i exported the file

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Can you Attach your file here (or at least a screenshot).

I will make very significant wager that the geometry was clearly NOT displayed, did not look like a threaded part.

Zoom in on those "threads".

Do they really look like threads to you?

Thread geometry is in the form of a helix and has "peaks" and "valleys".

All MCAD programs use Cosmetic bitmap representation by default as helical thread geometry is computationally expensive.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

See the attachments in my first post. 

I've spent at least a couple hundred hours in fusion360, I know how to create threads on my models. 

[Anonymous]

This is what displayed after adding the external threads

[Anonymous]

That part was smooth before i went into thread / external / metric ISO DIN M68 x 2

[Anonymous]

Yes i agree the thread depth is not shown 100%, I didnt check the "modeled" box, so I didnt expect them to be fully modeled, they were shown after threading op, not before it was a smooth part. 

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've spent at least a couple hundred hours in fusion360...

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Ah, so you are new.  @jhackney1972 spends a couple hundred hours/month 2 weeks in Fusion 360 for the last 5 yrs.

😄

[Anonymous]

Yes im but a babe. Loving it overall, the support community is great and lots of information easily accessible. I have yet to find an issue I couldn't resolve, just started in the CAM workspace on a 4th axis job, now trying to get rotary table movement (adding an addl op with gcodes to position the rotary, im green on G code).