& Construction
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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Transcript
00:02
Explore manufacturing methods.
00:05
In this video, we'll set a Generative Design manufacturing method and will identify some manufacturing options.
00:13
In Fusion 360, we want to carry on with our Generative Design geometry setup.
00:18
At this point, we've defined pretty much everything in Generative Design. With the exception of our manufacturing methods.
00:25
Even though there are some set by default, notice that we still have a pre-check warning.
00:29
It's telling us that our geometry might be too large to be 3D Printed.
00:34
So let's go into our manufacturing methods and see what we have available.
00:39
Very first at the top, we have cost estimation.
00:42
If we include cost estimation, it's important to note that not all of the manufacturing methods and not all of the materials will be included.
00:51
Only those materials that had the small calculator icon will be used for cost estimation and only in the manufacturing methods that are supported.
00:59
We will leave cost estimation turned on, for example, but just note that it is not universally supported for all the materials.
01:07
Next, the first method that is automatically selected is called unrestricted.
01:11
This allows the software to explore all of the outcome geometry, and it's going to exclude any manufacturing restrictions.
01:19
This is great to use in the prototyping process,
01:22
and especially if you're going to be using the Generative Design outcome as a basis for another design.
01:29
If we're going to take this outcome and we're going to base our own design on it,
01:33
then this would be the best option to use because it doesn't have any manufacturing restrictions
01:38
But it's also important to note that even though you are creating a Generative Design with unrestricted,
01:44
that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't manufacture it.
01:47
It just means that it will not be supporting any of the other criteria or constraints from the manufacturing method.
01:54
Next is additive, and when we have additive, what we're doing is we're looking at several different factors in the build process.
02:02
With additive, it's looking at things like the overhang angle, it's going to be looking at minimum thickness values,
02:08
and the direction or the orientation that it's being printed.
02:12
So if you're designing a part that's going to be printed on a desktop machine using fused filament, for example.
02:19
There are specific overhang angles that you can support without needing additional material.
02:24
There are also certain orientations that you might want to include based on the way that your design is set up in Fusion 360.
02:31
For example, our frame is not really a good candidate for 3D Printing.
02:36
However, the positive and negative X directions,
02:39
would be ideal based on the orientation of the different mounting points for the frame and the suspension.
02:47
But note that again, it's problematic, and this is really not a good fit for additive.
02:51
So I'm going to deselect it because that will just increase the calculation time if I include it.
02:57
Next, we have milling and when we get to milling,
02:60
there are three different options that we can have for our configurations, 2.5 axis or 3 axis and a 5 axis.
03:08
When we look at these various options and we compare them to unrestricted, for example,
03:13
the unrestrictive can have overhangs and inclusions in places where the tool just can't get to.
03:19
When we look at 2.5 axis, we have restrictions on the manufacturing method and the fact that the tool can only access certain areas,
03:28
and it's not going to be blending geometry between different heights, in this case, in the y direction.
03:34
When we look at 3-axis, it will give us more organic and smooth geometry,
03:38
and it needs to make sure that the toolpath can access the specific geometry from various areas,
03:44
but when we get to 5-axis, this is more unrestricted.
03:48
The 5-axis methodology is really looking at the tool size and the shoulder length and the head diameter of the machine,
03:55
to really see how close it can get into the parts that are being machined.
04:00
The frame example again is not really a good example for milling because it's a very large and complex piece.
04:08
Certain aspects of motorcycle frames are machine, but those are generally welded together or they're used in other manufacturing methods.
04:17
We have a 2-axis cutting option, and this is very similar to 2.5-axis milling,
04:22
with the exception that we have no available options to create any different depth cuts.
04:38
This is going to assume that you're using a water jet or a laser machine and that it's working off of a flat plate or piece of material.
04:45
So again, 2-axis cutting doesn't work for our example, and it would be excluded and it would produce a problem.
04:52
The last option we have is die casting.
04:55
Die casting has some similar restrictions to additive.
04:59
It's looking at a build orientation but instead of doing a build orientation with overhangs,
05:05
what it's really looking at is draft and the ejection direction.
05:10
So die casting can be an extremely valuable tool.
05:14
But for our example, again it doesn't really work for the frame. We're really looking at more of a conceptual model.
05:20
So the unrestricted method works best.
05:24
Having said that, there is nothing that is excluding or restricting us from selecting some of these methods with the exception of 2-axis Cutting.
05:32
We could include Milling in 5-axis, and we could include Additive but it would just increase the amount of time it takes to calculate our parts.
05:40
And because we ended up just using Unrestricted,
05:44
I'm going to deselect cost estimation as it's really not going to be an effective metric for us,
05:48
because we're not looking or worrying about manufacturing methods at this point in the design.
05:54
So once we select Okay, let's take a look at our precheck to see if we still have any problems.
05:60
It's simply telling us the study geometry is too large to be 3D Printed,
06:04
and it might affect its ability to be estimated in terms of its manufacturing costs.
06:09
Again, it's not a problem because in our manufacturing methods, we’re not looking at Cost Estimation or Additive.
06:15
So it's really just a note based on the size of our geometry.
06:19
With all that said, we really have no other options or things that we need to set in order to solve our study.
06:26
But before we go any further, let's make sure that we do save the design before we move on.
Video transcript
00:02
Explore manufacturing methods.
00:05
In this video, we'll set a Generative Design manufacturing method and will identify some manufacturing options.
00:13
In Fusion 360, we want to carry on with our Generative Design geometry setup.
00:18
At this point, we've defined pretty much everything in Generative Design. With the exception of our manufacturing methods.
00:25
Even though there are some set by default, notice that we still have a pre-check warning.
00:29
It's telling us that our geometry might be too large to be 3D Printed.
00:34
So let's go into our manufacturing methods and see what we have available.
00:39
Very first at the top, we have cost estimation.
00:42
If we include cost estimation, it's important to note that not all of the manufacturing methods and not all of the materials will be included.
00:51
Only those materials that had the small calculator icon will be used for cost estimation and only in the manufacturing methods that are supported.
00:59
We will leave cost estimation turned on, for example, but just note that it is not universally supported for all the materials.
01:07
Next, the first method that is automatically selected is called unrestricted.
01:11
This allows the software to explore all of the outcome geometry, and it's going to exclude any manufacturing restrictions.
01:19
This is great to use in the prototyping process,
01:22
and especially if you're going to be using the Generative Design outcome as a basis for another design.
01:29
If we're going to take this outcome and we're going to base our own design on it,
01:33
then this would be the best option to use because it doesn't have any manufacturing restrictions
01:38
But it's also important to note that even though you are creating a Generative Design with unrestricted,
01:44
that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't manufacture it.
01:47
It just means that it will not be supporting any of the other criteria or constraints from the manufacturing method.
01:54
Next is additive, and when we have additive, what we're doing is we're looking at several different factors in the build process.
02:02
With additive, it's looking at things like the overhang angle, it's going to be looking at minimum thickness values,
02:08
and the direction or the orientation that it's being printed.
02:12
So if you're designing a part that's going to be printed on a desktop machine using fused filament, for example.
02:19
There are specific overhang angles that you can support without needing additional material.
02:24
There are also certain orientations that you might want to include based on the way that your design is set up in Fusion 360.
02:31
For example, our frame is not really a good candidate for 3D Printing.
02:36
However, the positive and negative X directions,
02:39
would be ideal based on the orientation of the different mounting points for the frame and the suspension.
02:47
But note that again, it's problematic, and this is really not a good fit for additive.
02:51
So I'm going to deselect it because that will just increase the calculation time if I include it.
02:57
Next, we have milling and when we get to milling,
02:60
there are three different options that we can have for our configurations, 2.5 axis or 3 axis and a 5 axis.
03:08
When we look at these various options and we compare them to unrestricted, for example,
03:13
the unrestrictive can have overhangs and inclusions in places where the tool just can't get to.
03:19
When we look at 2.5 axis, we have restrictions on the manufacturing method and the fact that the tool can only access certain areas,
03:28
and it's not going to be blending geometry between different heights, in this case, in the y direction.
03:34
When we look at 3-axis, it will give us more organic and smooth geometry,
03:38
and it needs to make sure that the toolpath can access the specific geometry from various areas,
03:44
but when we get to 5-axis, this is more unrestricted.
03:48
The 5-axis methodology is really looking at the tool size and the shoulder length and the head diameter of the machine,
03:55
to really see how close it can get into the parts that are being machined.
04:00
The frame example again is not really a good example for milling because it's a very large and complex piece.
04:08
Certain aspects of motorcycle frames are machine, but those are generally welded together or they're used in other manufacturing methods.
04:17
We have a 2-axis cutting option, and this is very similar to 2.5-axis milling,
04:22
with the exception that we have no available options to create any different depth cuts.
04:38
This is going to assume that you're using a water jet or a laser machine and that it's working off of a flat plate or piece of material.
04:45
So again, 2-axis cutting doesn't work for our example, and it would be excluded and it would produce a problem.
04:52
The last option we have is die casting.
04:55
Die casting has some similar restrictions to additive.
04:59
It's looking at a build orientation but instead of doing a build orientation with overhangs,
05:05
what it's really looking at is draft and the ejection direction.
05:10
So die casting can be an extremely valuable tool.
05:14
But for our example, again it doesn't really work for the frame. We're really looking at more of a conceptual model.
05:20
So the unrestricted method works best.
05:24
Having said that, there is nothing that is excluding or restricting us from selecting some of these methods with the exception of 2-axis Cutting.
05:32
We could include Milling in 5-axis, and we could include Additive but it would just increase the amount of time it takes to calculate our parts.
05:40
And because we ended up just using Unrestricted,
05:44
I'm going to deselect cost estimation as it's really not going to be an effective metric for us,
05:48
because we're not looking or worrying about manufacturing methods at this point in the design.
05:54
So once we select Okay, let's take a look at our precheck to see if we still have any problems.
05:60
It's simply telling us the study geometry is too large to be 3D Printed,
06:04
and it might affect its ability to be estimated in terms of its manufacturing costs.
06:09
Again, it's not a problem because in our manufacturing methods, we’re not looking at Cost Estimation or Additive.
06:15
So it's really just a note based on the size of our geometry.
06:19
With all that said, we really have no other options or things that we need to set in order to solve our study.
06:26
But before we go any further, let's make sure that we do save the design before we move on.
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