When selecting an unconstrained profile to be extruded or revolved, it’s way too easy to bump something out of its intended location.

This is especially important in Fusion 360, since it’s possible to jog sketch elements around without first opening the sketch for edit. You should not be able to drag a line or curve out of place. I think the best sketches have no more detail than needed to support their associated operation, are fully constrained, and clearly express the design intent.Ībove all, do get in the habit of fully constraining your sketch every time you edit. When helping folks out with Fusion, I see a lot of messy sketches. I’ve chosen dimensions that define the features that I may want to alter later: the overall width of the tabletop and the width of the corner faces. Note also that I’ve managed to fully constrain the sketch using just two dimensions (and a lot of other constraints). Since this tabletop is symmetrical about its center, this may come in handy later. Note that I’ve deliberately put the sketch origin in the middle of the tabletop.

The sooner you adopt habits like these, the faster you’ll become productive with Fusion.įirst sketch the tabletop on the horizontal plane which is X/Y in my configuration. I think it will be worthwhile reading anyway. This is not a tutorial for complete newcomers: I gloss over the keystrokes and mundane details. You may follow along and recreate it, or merely inspect my design linked below. Since this loft must follow a curved path, we’ll need either centerline or guide rails, and a bit of planning to make it come out right. The legs look like a job for Fusion 360’s Loft tool. Imagine four angry Cobras swallowing the corners of the tabletop! The legs emerge from the corners of the table, bend downward, and transition to a circular section at the feet. The project is an end table with legs that gracefully descend from a simple square top. Chelsea has given me permission to share them with you here. As I was looking it over, I found that it also illustrated a few ‘best practices’ I’ve cultivated that I think make my designs easier to edit and maintain. I was unable to give a quick answer, so later I practiced a bit by making an approximate copy of the design she was working on.

On Monday, Chelsea came to me with a question about Fusion 360’s loft tool.

Fusion 360 3d sketch