Congratulations to Silvio Lavandeira, the Model of the Month winner for June!  He has created a beautifully detailed compound bow. Read below about how he came up with this idea and what his future design plans are.

About Me     

My name is Silvio Lavandeira. I was born in Brazil and later settled in London where I studied Design Engineering (CAD) for my degree, focusing on 3D skills.

Through academic accomplishments and previous work experience, I have developed strong manufacturing and design skills. I also have broad range of knowledge in concept design and technical surface modelling, specializing in Autodesk Alias, Autodesk Inventor, and Solidworks. I have also recently begun to explore the capabilities of Fusion 360.

Following a few years of professional experience, I decided to become a design consultant, working for small companies and individuals, executing cross-functional collaboration, and an emphasis on delivering a consistently high standard service. I am currently dedicated to the field of education, working as Associated Lecturer in a University in London. I also support Autodesk as an active member of the Autodesk Student Expert Community as well as Autodesk Elite Expert.

In a few words, I am 3D CAD/CAS Evangelist, with a background in design and prototyping, who considers himself a mind blowing design engineer who is creative and extremely original, always looking for a great design challenge, and a bike enthusiast and beer lover.

I started using Fusion about 3 months ago, as I was intrigued to better understand the software as I see it is continuously undergoing development. I was certainly impressed with its capabilities and simplicity, as well the support from Fusion team. I am really into reverse engineering and the T-spline functionality is a superb tool! I also find the PULL feature simply jaw-dropping as it allows for me to simply re-compose the scan data (3D mesh) into a feasible model. In my opinion, this has put fusion 360 ahead of the game. Sometimes it does not provide a perfect model, but it still provides me with a great headset on my future model.       

About the Design

I have recently begun practicing archery and was fascinated by the design of these devices. In my free time, I just sat at home looking at the bow over and over and became so intrigued by the look and feel of the device. I then decided to re-produce the Compound Bow in Fusion 360 and now, further dedicated for Design for Autodesk.

I designed the bow as practice to include as part of my 3D design portfolio and to enhance my design and rendering skills.  I modelled it accurately with all details and parts, so it can easily be manufactured.

The overall project took about 4 weeks to complete. This includes troubleshooting and days I did not have much time to work on it, all-in-all approaching 30 modelling hours. The model contains over 40 parts excluding the standard bit like bolts, washers, ball bearings and so on.   

I will say, having experience with other software tools such as Inventor and Solidworks, my experience with Fusion 360 has not been much different. I find Fusion very easy to get started with and a greate fit for those who are just starting to use a 3D CAD package.

What next?

As a bike enthusiast, I recently started a new project using Fusion 360 with my inspiration coming from Stacy Kohut’s four-cross downhill wheelchair. It is an extremely interesting middle term project. Follow me on the Fusion Gallery and as soon its ready you will be the first to be notified about!