I think its really funny: Fusion is from autodesk, which was the king of 2D CAD. But for some reason, Fusion 2D drawings suck compared to Solidworks!
I know most people just look at their fusion sketches to build their bikes. I know it works, but I think there are a few reasons to go through the exercise of creating 2D drawings:
- Create drawings for your workflow: How you create a sketch in the 3D file is rarely going to be the same dimension you need to fabricate the bike. Creating construction drawings allow you to call out the exact dimension you need in your process.
- Catch design mistakes: When I started using the 3D workflow, we (NMW) made a few costly mistakes. Since then I made a rule: we don’t order parts until I completed the 2D drawings. Since then we haven’t had any big oopsie. The drawings offer a second pass over the design and give you a quick sanity check before you invest 10-20hrs on building the frame.
- Reduce construction mistakes: It’s really easy to accidentally move a sketch or change a dimension in the 3D file. The drawing is much easier to read and checkpoints your design
- Notes to future you: If I go look at my 3D CAD from 3mo ago, I will have no idea what I did, why I did it, and what we actually built. The drawings are an easy way to take notes and visualize what you actually built.
- Communicate with others: I always have my design reviewed and signed off by someone else. You can send the design to your friends, client, peers, etc…
It takes ~20hrs to learn the framebuilding specific drawing workflow. Once you’ve learned it, it only 20-30min to create the 2D drawings (tutorial). That small investment of time upfront will save you way more time down the line! Once you create 2D drawings, you can’t go back!
Here are three examples of SS and CS drawings to show the differences:
BikeCAD:
Fusion 3D file:
Fusion Drawings:
