Remedial question about Fusion 360

I said those very words today in a tool shop !
:upside_down_face:

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Lol! What boats do you think you will be designing and cutting out on your GF? I am just starting to work on Gardner’s 19 foot semi dory. I plan to make a model with the GF before I make the full size boat.

No, I must stress this is my neice’s young son, not me. My idea of water is that you add it to whiskey, or wash with it. The idea of travel over nasty wet stuff that’s deeper than I am is a no no.
So, I suppose the question might be if he comes up with a pencil sketch, and I would like to make him a kit of suitable bits to encourage his development, is something like Fusion the way I should start to go ?
I’ve already got several lifetimes worth of work to fit in to my remaining years, but why not !
:upside_down_face:

I will be able to answer that in a couple months! So far, it seems easier to design a boat from scratch using Fusion 360 then to take offsets and replicate a design. Here is a YouTube video where the fellow designs a boat. The part where he makes the frames is stunningly amazing.

I was hoping to import all the offsets from a single CSV file, but the spine function ties all the points together in a crazy loop, so I am going to have to import a series of offsets for each line; sheer, 1st knuckle, 2nd knuckle, bottom.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixGnJjNPj18&t=642s

Here is an example. At my local favorite sushi spot, they have these big ugly Kirkland wrap boxes that are oft up on top of the bar (sushi places go through a ton of Saran Wrap).

I figured I could make something much prettier. So, given the dimensions of the box, I modeled something in F360, including modeling the tabs that connect the pieces together.

I certainly could have done this in a 2D program, but it was actually easier in 3D. In particular, I could design the tabs on one piece, then use the “subtract” function to effectively “subtract” the tabs of one piece from its mate, creating the mirror image tabs that fit together!

Also, because I parameterized the material thickness, I can easily change one # to switch between, say, 1/4" basswood and 1/16" ply.

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‘Sir, I begin to find your argument persuasive.’
:upside_down_face:

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Hey, if you have been around here much you know that I am not great with it but I am an enthusiastic evangelist for it.
Like any tool it will not do the work for you but it is very versatile once you get to know it.
There are tons of videos for all tastes on YouTube and there is even written tutorials in the matrix if you like. I can’t really speak to the quality of the writen tutorials as I wrote them. :scream:

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I had a feeling I’ve been here before. As far as my latest search goes, Fusion 30 wont run on my 32 bit laptop. So bit of a no-no before I start !
:upside_down_face:

I helped to dummy-proof Marks tutorials. I’ve failed at so many other F360 tutorials because steps were skipped and assumptions made. In short, I’m TERRIBLE at F360, but Mark’s tutorials made sense and I created my first F360 box with his instructions.

For me the issue with F360 is firmly sitting in the chair in front of the computer. The product looks to be quite powerful and will do MANY great things, you just need to put in the time to learn HOW to do those great things, I’ve currently have never had a project that I couldn’t do in Inkscape or Sketchup. BUT parameterizing aspects of the build is a huge advantage for F360.

Don’t be like me! LEARN F360 and you will be happier for it (or so they keep telling me :wink: )

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And with that sage advice, I’m going to go tackle the latest design again. (Just needed a kick in the pants.) :smile:

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Too bad I can’t give myself the same motivation!

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I have gone through some tutorials. it is an amazingly powerful program. you won’t regret the time @jules and everybody else. :slight_smile:

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I give some great motivational speeches if only I’d listen.

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I think you should try the free web program Joinery.

You upload SVG files and it automatically edits them to allow for six or eight different joint types.

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Oh that’s a good find - I’m going to link that. :sunglasses:

I did a slight tutorial on it here - Simple star shaped box - using new tools

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Awesome! Did you want that shifted to the Tips and Tricks section? (More folks will see it down the road.) :slightly_smiling_face:

If you think it would be helpful, the more the merrier.

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Okee-doke! Done! (And I tagged it with tutorial.) :grinning: