For @garin_gardiner or anyone else that wants to help.
Two questions on Fusion 360.
First, by the time I am fairly far into a design, the browser looks like hell, sketches everywhere, bodies throughout… is there a best practice to avoid this and once done, can I do anything to clean up the browser?
Second, I really need help putting new stuff on a curve. For instance, how would I go about putting hexagons all over a cylinder and then extruding them?
thanx
Do you want hexagonal holes on the cylinder or hexagonal bars running the length of the cylinder ID, OD, or both or bars through the cylinder?
let’s say for this example, raised hexagons in all directions. Like checkering but with a geometric shape other than a diamond.
so yes a few of my items have been a MESS like you describe. and I end up organizing them but because of the initial mess they keep some relationships that are unexpected.
I am trying to be more mindful when I now create. so I will create a component, activate a component and then create new sketch from inside of that. this way stuff doesn’t end up in the root. I am also naming everything as I go. I am also to use copy paste for things to keep a relationship and copy paste new for things that I don’t want to have a relationship with
That does seem to be the way to avoid a hot mess in the browser, name things early, if something is going to be parametric, make it that way from the start.
It would be nice to be able to clean it up though once you have made a mess.
you can do post clean up but I have found some things to become un predictable like suddenly I have a duplicate or if I delete something it deletes something else that was not the intended target
Agh, doesn’t sound worth it. Guess I just need to plan before and get less mess in the first place.
Exactly like this.
So are you going to blackmail me for how you do such sorcery?
LOL, Mmmmm, It’s a real bodge and I’m trying to work out how to best describe the process, I hope this makes sense …
Start with a “solid” cylinder of the right size. Sketch one row the pattern you want to one side and extrude through the cylinder. Rotate the cylinder by an amount suitable to your pattern, I used 30° above, and extrude the pattern again.
Once you have filled the surface of the cylinder with the pattern sketch a circle using one of the ends as the plane, make the circle diameter equal to the cylinder plus the wanted height of the pattern. Draw another circle outside the first such that it is wider than the extruded pattern. Extrude this second circle away from the cylinder for a couple of millimeters, now extrude the first circle through the new body to create a hollow cylinder. Now extrude the face of this cylinder such that it removes the excess extruded pattern and leaving it with a curved surface.
Last but not least, draw another circle on the end of the solid cylinder and extrude it through to create a “hollow” cylinder.
As I said, I hope this makes sense, I can do it again and take screen shots if my explanation is incomprehensible.
OMG, this would be a great time for a screen cast! I’ll try to work it out from the words but I can’t promise I’ll get it.
Ether way, thanx so much for the effort.
I have never used Fusion and am just doing this quickly in a tool I know, so take this with a grain of salt.
If I were going to model that I would extrude the hexagons and then copy/rotate them around their center
copy and rotate them along the axis you want your cylinder on
draw your cylinder
Draw a nested cylinder as a “tool”
And subtract the tool from your hexagons
This will almost certainly work in Fusion360 and is some great thinking as if I do a little math beforehand the basic concept will work with so many shapes. This should work with other base shapes as well as long as I can work out the point to rotate and extrude from. The whole extrude from the back and then cut with a tool will work on so many things that where trying to give me fits trying to extrude to a irregular surface.
Now quit wasting time with me and get back to beta testing! 
No, really, thanx
Holy smokes, what an elegant solution!
Right?
I’ve played long enough to confirm that this method rocks and I suck at fusion 360.
I’d like to see what you come up with. I’m no expert at 360, indeed, I’ve hardly scratched the surface, but I manage to muddle my way through somehow. @jkopel’s solution is, I suspect, the right way to go about it. I think you may need to do a final “sweep cut” to put a radius on the surface features, hexagons in this case.
I’ve just finished following my own instructions and would, if doing them again, change the the order of operations somewhat. That, and, as you say, do the calculations beforehand to make sure everything fits.
That is awesome, like I said I really suck at Fusion 360 but with each session I learned one or two things.
When I get something useful from this technique I will post it even if it’s several weeks from now.
