Sorry to bring this back to the very basics, but where would you suggest starting for somebody with zero experience with Fusion 360/3D CAD? I’m relatively autonomous working with RattleCAD and BikeCAD but obviously 3D is a different game.
About a year ago I started some random Fusion 360 tutorial series on Youtube during a covid isolation but I didn’t feel like I understood much of it after a week. Of course I know it will take much more than a week to be proficient with Fusion 360, but I’m wondering if there are series better suited for bike-related stuff (frames, handlebars, jigs, etc.)? Anybody know of one?
Daniel’s bike tutorial is by far the most helpful thing I’ve done, and I’ve tried quite a few other tutorials. I started in the same place as you. I jumped in and started designing super basic fixtures and simple dropouts, but didn’t feel like I had any real understanding.
His tutorial taught me about good workflow habits, and how to use tools like revolve to get the shapes I wanted. I would start with the tutorial and work from there.
Had a quick look at Daniel’s tutorials, and I got lost pretty quickly lol. I can just go slower and rewind, the stuff I had learn is pretty far in my memory but it might come back as I start playing with it.
Watching is not enough, make sure you are clicking along, even if it seems trivial
You will learn the most from just struggling with buttons and interfaces
When learning CAD, don’t worry about the “right way” of doing things, just get it done, even if it’s ugly. Find a better workflow next time. Even with thousands of hours of CAD, I find better ways of doing things all the time.
I think you learn the most when you are struggling with a project that has ties to a real-world project. Here are two bike-specific exercises I am using to help people learn CAD:
If you can CAD those two parts from the drawings, you have the foundations of modeling parts. From there the full bike tutorials I created should be more meaningful:
I think the best way to learn to is pick a simple project to work on. For instance, you can design your own rear IS brake mount for whatever dropouts you prefer to use. This is an easy project because it’s basically a 2d object with a simple extrude to make it the proper thickness at the end.
@Daniel_Y has a nice write-up on how to design one.
For my workflow, I model the dimple to call out where to dimple the tube IRL. Doing a fancier sweep or surface modeling would look better, but functionally does not help my drawing.
3D scanners are getting much cheaper and have more than enough accuracy for frame building. I think someone could easily scan a library of chainstays.
I like to make the dimples using surfacing, or just creating a loft with a sketch in the middle. It’s not actually accurate, but I like how it looks when doing a render.
Thanks for the replies. @Daniel_Y Your method is how I am currently doing it. I was hoping to make some tooling to dimple things repeatably in my hydraulic press, hence adding more surfacing/smoothing. @Spencermon I’ll have to try lofting it. I have no clue how to even use the surfacing tools in fusion yet. The best I can come up with is doing the cut out method and adding some fillets to the edges.
I’ve been trying to figure this out but haven’t had any luck on Autdodesk’s site. Is there a way to save parameters to use with multiple designs? It would be nice to be able to start a new design and already have my parameters available instead of having to input them every time.
Maybe I’m missing the explanation somewhere so forgive me if this is an easy answer I should be able to find.
I think your best bet is to create a “template” file, then copy it every time you want to make a new one.
There are 3D party apps that allow you to import a .CSV with all your parameters. I personally have not used this app, but this is a common workflow in other CAD packages.
Is there someone who can make me a cad file that I can use for my local send cut send?
I’d like to make double/triple plate fork crown?
I can make the drawing on paper but not in cad. My computer is to old to even run the free cad program.
And possibly the offset in the drawing,
Thanks
Does it involve bending, or just flat plates? Flat is pretty easy because the fork blades are just holes. Curved plates will require an elliptical shape that will need to be hand-finished to miter to the tube.
Either way, you can post a hand drawing here, and I can help you out, or if you prefer, send it via direct message.
