Parametric Box with Finger Joints - Fusion 360 file

It’s weird how some people get the .f3d extension on the file when they download it, but other people don’t. On my Mac it did end up with the right extension.

But… Fusion360 is kind of dumb and can’t open files directly. It claims the .f3d extension, but doesn’t tell the operating system that it can open them.

Here it is declaring that the “.f3d” extension is for a “Fusion 3D Design” file and specifying an icon for it to use:

But nowhere does it say “… and I own that filetype so please give it to me to open” which it would do by declaring its “document role” as “editor” for the type.

So the operating system knows what to call the file and what icon to use, but it won’t try to give the file to F360 to open it. So when you double-click the file the operating system just gives up and tries to open it in TextEdit, which then complains because it doesn’t see something that it knows how to deal with.

Autodesk probably should fix that.

Also, they should fix their website so that the Download button has a “save to my F360 cloud workspace” (or whatever they call it) option.

Edit:
Oh, and I just checked, and it turns out F360 can open the file just fine if you force it to. Here’s how I did so via the command line:

$ open -a Fusion360 /Users/tim/Downloads/Test\ Box.f3d

F360 opened it right up in a new tab.

So all Autodesk has to do is to set the document role correctly for the filetype and it would open these files when you double-click them. sigh I suppose I need to go figure out where to report bugs to Autodesk. They could quite literally fix this in 30 seconds.

Edit:
Ok, I emailed a bug report to Autodesk. Hopefully they edit the Info.plist file so double-clicking .f3d files on the Mac opens them in F360.

And if anyone from Autodesk happens to be reading this, here’s what needs to be added to F360’s Info.plist file to fix the bug:

<key>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key>
<array>
        <dict>
                <key>LSItemContentTypes</key>
                <array>
                        <string>com.autodesk.forge.f3d</string>
                </array>
                <key>CFBundleTypeIconFile</key>
                <string>f3d.icns</string>
                <key>CFBundleTypeName</key>
                <string>Fusion 3D Design</string>
                <key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
                <string>Editor</string>
        </dict>
</array>
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AutoDesk doesnt see this as anything that needs fixing. They want everybody to upload their content into the “cloud”.

In this case they need to add the “copy to my cloud storage” option to the Download button on their website.

It imports. Yah!

Now I just have to figure out how the heck this is made.

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It still goes into the cloud, it’s just means you don’t use the upload button and hunt for it, but rather double click and it auto-uploads…

Way simpler way to accomplish this (for any file), just use the “Get Info” on a file in the finder. Now you may not have Fusion available as a choice (I didn’t) so select “Other” and on the open dialog, you need to navigate to your ACTUAL fusion application. Annoyingly they bury it under 2 aliases:

So, if you right click on the Fusion icon on the dock, select Options->show in finder. Now do get info on the document, and drag the fusion icon on the open dialog from the get-info on the document, you now have Fusion as a choice. If you then press Change All, the OS will forever remember all .f3d files as belonging to Fusion on open…

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The simplest thing would be for Autodesk to spend 30 seconds fixing their broken app. :slight_smile:

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The two halves of that phrase are NEVER compatible. Autodesk never does anything the simple way…

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AMEN to that!

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I’m so delighted to have this as a resource! I’ve learned a few CAD packages over the years but I’ve been eyeing F360…

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A question and a comment.

First the question, I see you saved kerf in the parameters but I don’t see it used. Am I missing where it is used or did it not make it into the model?
Okay, another question, could you run us through your workflow? it is obvious that yours is a bit different than mine and if yours works better…

The statement, I am defiantly not an F360 expert but I do think that long term you’ll be happier if you make one body one component. It opens up certain permissions and capabilitys that working in bodys don’t give you.

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Kerf is not actually in the model but it is used for calculating the “halfkerf” user parameter which is used to generate the laser paths. It’s a little bit of duplication, the user could just as easily enter half the kerf width into a single parameter, but this way just takes that math step out of it.

Once you have your sizing and material thicknesses adjusted, go into the Drawing workspace and F360 will automatically start a “Base View”. Just click somewhere on the page to position it. From there you can add projected views. You’ll need two “End” views, two “Side” views, and two “Bottom/Top” views to make a complete box. Then on the left side of the screen you’ll see an option tree for each view where you can turn parts of the model on or off. Example, in a “Side View” you want to hide the “End” and “Bottom/Top” bodies so you can isolate just the “Side View”

Setting up the drawing might take you more time, at least at first, than your workflow of projecting sketches and exporting DXF files, but the Drawing is dynamically linked to the Model. If you change the model, the drawing updates. Then you click on the “Output” icon and select the PDF file option and it’s ready for laser or adding artwork in AI, Inkscape, etc. It makes iterations of the design really fast once the grunt stuff is taken care of. I had hoped that the Shared download link could have included the drawing I set up as well but no such luck.

Yeah, I’m new to F360 workflow options. That Component/Body organization thing frustrated me to no end. I’m used to Geomagic Design or Pro-Engineer/Creo where each feature (body) just lives on its own in the timeline, and for something like this box, you would have a separate part file for each face, then a separate file for the assembly of those faces into a box. F360 puts all that into one file, one interface, and it threw me a little bit! LOL.

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Thanks for this. It’ll definitely be a big help to me!

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Inventor (2009 IIR) was this way.
Considering historical prices for a single seat license of an Autodesk product, F360 for free blows me away.

Fusion is very powerful, and I any precieved shortcomings I can easily forgive for the price! :sunglasses:

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So from the well you do it in normal material A I will do it in crazy material B posts:

So somebody has got to do something equally funky on the GF…

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Yes, it almost makes you wonder what the plan is at the core of it all. Even the commercial subscription cost is peanuts compared to subscriptions of their other software.

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Make everybody depend on it, then jack the price 1,000%.
(garsh I hope not)

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Seems that establishing it as a go-to because of its power and price could work for them. Popularity in the market is worth a great deal.

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I have an updated version of the model online. This one has a plane that slices right through it to make Top and Bottom “halves” of the box, for those that may want a hinged box top!

This is still fully parametric, by the way. Including the plane that slices the box apart. You can change the angle, size, location of the slice just by editing the dimensions for the sketch, or you can completely change the shape of the sketch if you like, make it curved, zig-zagged, or make it like an interlocking puzzle piece!

This is a new link because the original design is still maintained. http://a360.co/2noMyKF

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@mpipes, so I downloaded the parametric box and imported it into Fusion. I set my parameters and everything looked great until I checked the Laser_Path. It appears the side wall is not compiling properly. Am I doing something wrong? Everything else seems to be working perfectly.!