• Fusion

About the types of joints in Fusion

Review the types of joints available in Fusion assemblies.


Tutorial resources

These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:


00:03

In Fusion, there are several available joint types that can be applied to an assembly.

00:08

Each of these types offers different degrees of freedom and includes specific options to refine joint behavior.

00:15

Open the Vise Fusion archive file.

00:19

Fusion uses joints to remove degrees of freedom from components.

00:24

When you select two components and then move them, they move and rotate together.

00:29

At this point, all degrees of freedom between the two components have been removed.

00:35

However, a joint enables you to specify the relationship between the two components.

00:40

By choosing a different joint type after the selection has been made,

00:44

you can release degrees of freedom to incorporate the type of motion that you need in your assembly.

00:50

In this assembly, there are multiple joints already placed.

00:54

In the Browser, expand the Joints folder, and then click its visibility icon to show the joints in the model.

01:01

Different icons represent different types of joint conditions.

01:06

In this case, you see three different types of joints applied:

01:09

rigid, revolute, and slider.

01:16

Begin placing a joint to understand the process.

01:20

On the Design workspace toolbar, Assemble group, click the Joint tool.

01:26

This opens the Joint dialog, where you can choose the position between each component and the type of joint to apply.

01:33

You do not have to select the type of joint you are placing before you start selecting components.

01:39

The dialog prompts you for the snap point for the first component.

01:43

As you place the pointer over the face of a component, you see multiple icons on that face:

01:49

Point icons indicate endpoints.

01:52

Triangles indicate the midpoint of an edge or arc.

01:56

The square icon shows the centroid of the face.

01:59

Crosses show the center of arcs or circles.

02:03

When you move to other faces, you see the same types of icons.

02:08

As you move to edges, based on the direction that you are coming from, as you near certain points,

02:13

you can get the joint origin to align to different faces at the same point.

02:18

For a simple example, on the floating block, select the midpoint of the bottom of the face.

02:24

In Fusion, once a component is selected, you cannot select it again, so it fades, as you see here.

02:31

Rotate the point of view to find another location on the assembly, and then choose another point on another component.

02:38

Select the midpoint to the bottom of the backstop face as the other component origin.

02:43

From here, you can change the joint type, but in this case, keep the Rigid joint.

02:48

The rigid joint keeps all degrees of freedom locked between each component.

02:54

To view the degrees of freedom offered by the other joint types, switch to the Motion tab and select each Type:

03:03

Revolute releases one rotational degree of freedom as an option.

03:07

As an option, you can choose the axis about which you want the degree of freedom.

03:12

Slider introduces one translational degree of freedom.

03:17

As with Revolute, you can choose which axis you want that degree of freedom to be along.

03:22

Cylindrical has one translational and one rotational degree of freedom.

03:28

Pin Slot also has one translational and one rotational degree of freedom, but the rotation is normal to the direction of the translation.

03:36

Planar offers two translational and one rotational degree of freedom.

03:42

Lastly, Ball offers no translational degrees of freedom, but three rotational degrees of freedom.

03:49

As you begin working on your own designs,

03:52

selecting the correct joint will become more natural, but these are concepts to keep in mind as you continue to work with joints.

Video transcript

00:03

In Fusion, there are several available joint types that can be applied to an assembly.

00:08

Each of these types offers different degrees of freedom and includes specific options to refine joint behavior.

00:15

Open the Vise Fusion archive file.

00:19

Fusion uses joints to remove degrees of freedom from components.

00:24

When you select two components and then move them, they move and rotate together.

00:29

At this point, all degrees of freedom between the two components have been removed.

00:35

However, a joint enables you to specify the relationship between the two components.

00:40

By choosing a different joint type after the selection has been made,

00:44

you can release degrees of freedom to incorporate the type of motion that you need in your assembly.

00:50

In this assembly, there are multiple joints already placed.

00:54

In the Browser, expand the Joints folder, and then click its visibility icon to show the joints in the model.

01:01

Different icons represent different types of joint conditions.

01:06

In this case, you see three different types of joints applied:

01:09

rigid, revolute, and slider.

01:16

Begin placing a joint to understand the process.

01:20

On the Design workspace toolbar, Assemble group, click the Joint tool.

01:26

This opens the Joint dialog, where you can choose the position between each component and the type of joint to apply.

01:33

You do not have to select the type of joint you are placing before you start selecting components.

01:39

The dialog prompts you for the snap point for the first component.

01:43

As you place the pointer over the face of a component, you see multiple icons on that face:

01:49

Point icons indicate endpoints.

01:52

Triangles indicate the midpoint of an edge or arc.

01:56

The square icon shows the centroid of the face.

01:59

Crosses show the center of arcs or circles.

02:03

When you move to other faces, you see the same types of icons.

02:08

As you move to edges, based on the direction that you are coming from, as you near certain points,

02:13

you can get the joint origin to align to different faces at the same point.

02:18

For a simple example, on the floating block, select the midpoint of the bottom of the face.

02:24

In Fusion, once a component is selected, you cannot select it again, so it fades, as you see here.

02:31

Rotate the point of view to find another location on the assembly, and then choose another point on another component.

02:38

Select the midpoint to the bottom of the backstop face as the other component origin.

02:43

From here, you can change the joint type, but in this case, keep the Rigid joint.

02:48

The rigid joint keeps all degrees of freedom locked between each component.

02:54

To view the degrees of freedom offered by the other joint types, switch to the Motion tab and select each Type:

03:03

Revolute releases one rotational degree of freedom as an option.

03:07

As an option, you can choose the axis about which you want the degree of freedom.

03:12

Slider introduces one translational degree of freedom.

03:17

As with Revolute, you can choose which axis you want that degree of freedom to be along.

03:22

Cylindrical has one translational and one rotational degree of freedom.

03:28

Pin Slot also has one translational and one rotational degree of freedom, but the rotation is normal to the direction of the translation.

03:36

Planar offers two translational and one rotational degree of freedom.

03:42

Lastly, Ball offers no translational degrees of freedom, but three rotational degrees of freedom.

03:49

As you begin working on your own designs,

03:52

selecting the correct joint will become more natural, but these are concepts to keep in mind as you continue to work with joints.

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