Add ribs and plastic supports

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Add ribs and plastic supports.

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In this video, we’ll use rib and web.

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In Fusion 360, we want to get started with the supplied data set, gear reduction housing - molded.

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We want to expand the Sketches folder and note that we have a few sketches, Web Sketch Rib1 and Rib2.

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Let's first take a look at Rib1 and Rib2.

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We're going to use these sketches to help create some additional features for this plastic molded version of our gear reduction housing.

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You'll notice as we look at them that we do have some reference geometry and in this case, we have this closed region.

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I'm going to get started by first going over to Create and we want to create a rib.

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First we need to select our curve.

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If we take a look at selecting just this angled line and we modify some of the values, for example, the depth option could be To Next or Depth.

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And then we modify some of these values.

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We can begin dragging these out and take a look at the result.

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You'll notice when it's set to To Next and we flip the direction,

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it's going to create a rib that goes all the way down to the rest of the solid body and it wraps around the cylinder.

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Let's go ahead and try to add another one.

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So we'll say, OK, we’ll repeat the process by going to Create and Rib, and we'll select the other geometry.

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We're going to set the thickness to 4 mm again and once again we'll flip the direction, noting that it is wrapping around that cylinder.

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So this is a great way for us to add these different types of supports by simply using a single line reference sketch.

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It has the intelligence to wrap itself around the curve geometry and it's automatically combined to the rest of the solid model.

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Let's take a look at another tool that can be helpful called web.

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We're going to go to a back view.

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We're going to go to Create and select Web.

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First we need to select the curve, going to select one of these edges and I'm going to enter a value of 4 mm.

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Notice how it automatically extends that sketch out in both directions.

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If I hold down the control or the command key and I make other selections, note that it's able to add multiple selections to this,

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and even we can grab the circular edge, noting that it's grabbing all of the rest of the geometry.

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However, when it intersects other solid geometry, we will need to have additional sketch entities in order to complete the rest of that web.

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So when we take a look at the results, this is a very quick way for us to have a sketch that isn't completely defined by surrounding geometry,

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and we allow the software to extend it out completely to the rest of the geometry.

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I do want to note that there is another tool that we can use.

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If we use extrude, we have an option called thin extrude.

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When we use thin extrude, we can select a single line.

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We can use a wall thickness value in this case, if we set this to 4 mm equal to what we were using before and we set it to center.

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Notice that it's creating a very similar option.

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However, when we're using extrude, we need to be mindful of the fact that it's not going to automatically extend to other solid geometry.

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So this could be a great option because it does open up the available option to set a draft or a taper angle.

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If we set the taper angle, this will allow us to create a tapered body.

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However, the rib and web tools do not allow us to apply that taper or draft during the creation.

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So if we need to draft on these features, we would need to come back, use Modify, select Draft and pick the areas that we want to draft.

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So again, the first thing that we need to do is select the pull direction and in our case, it's going to be the XZ plane.

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Then we need to select the faces that we wish to draft.

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In some cases you might need to hold down control or command to make multiple selections and work your way around the model.

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If you make the selections and there are any small gaps, you might potentially have an error.

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For example here we need to make sure that we select all the small areas all the way around and then we can apply draft.

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So once again, keep in mind that using tools like Rib and Web can be extremely helpful when we're creating plastic parts,

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and we need those additional structural features.

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However, we do need to be mindful of the fact that draft is not applied and we will still need to go back and use the draft tool,

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to make sure that we do have the appropriate amount of draft or taper on all the required features.

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From here let's make sure that we do save this design before moving on.