This is so useful. Fusion 360 must be one of the most underrated CAD programs available - technical drawings, realistic visuals and it talks to a CNC router!
Thanks Patrick, that really cleared up a few things for me, I'm a total noob ploughing my way through tutorials before my machine arrives. This one's certainly going on my saved list.
This was awesome. First time I found a flat pack tutorial that didn't just stop after joining all the pieces to the sheet of ply. Thank you sooooo much!
One question, on the sides, why put those tabs all the way through? Just more strength? Seems like it could have been more aesthetically pleasing to go 80% or something to hide the shelf support on the sides.
Hi I am building a CNC router and just learning how to use Fusion 360 for home DIY projects. This was a great video covering the whole process from design to making the parts. Many thanks for a very helpful video
This is fantastic! As far as I know you are the only one who has done a wood working video like this, from CAD to CAM to CNC! Thank you very much for doing this. Subscribed!!!
Patrick - this was an amazing tutorial, one of the best I have seen that combines the whole workflow of covering in detail design to manufacturing. It is also one of the very few that deals with wood and CNC routers vs metal milling. Simply superb! I actually watched this twice now, first time to take it all in and make some notes, and a second time following along and creating the design myself. I learnt a ton and I think there is a big appetite out there for Fusion 360 CNC router related tutorials. One question, prior to laying out the components flat on the stock for CAM, is there a best practice way of keeping a copy of the components assembled in the completed bookcase form to be used for later tweaking?
+Mark Slatem Good point. I thought about first making a copy of the parts and then laying only the copies flat. In the end I decided it was easier to work with the model with out having a duplicates. To see the assembled model I just roll the time line back.
Building my first CNC at the moment. Been using Fusion 360 for a few years now and have seen a lot of videos on it. This has been one of the best instructional videos I have seen. Very well paced, presented and a lot of good to know fundamentals.
This is an excellent tutorial showing the entire flow from sketching to cam - I learned a lot of new techniques. Thanks for taking the time to make the video.
Thank you for the tutorial, the defines and mirroring are tricks I will try and use myself. One thing you forgot to mention and perhaps if you had turned on the wood look for the blank piece it would have jarred your memory, but some of the pieces, the bottom shelf is really the one that stands out, has the grain going the wrong way. Not a big deal if you are gong to seal and paint or veneer over, but it stands out if you are going to stain and varnish.
ahhh man I know, when i made this i was very "green" it kills me now when I look at it and see the grain direction. I keep thinking about redoing it just because. Such a newby move.
I wish you did an entire Fusion 360 tutorial program. I would pay for it. This video was great, especially the beginning. I wish I could watch 20 beginner videos from you.
nicely done! i especially appreciated the section where the pieces are laid out in CAM - select on model. you've got a gift for presenting a pretty complicated topic to an audience with a wide range of skills. i've been learning fusion on our shopbot Max for six months - this was really helpful.
Watched this like 4 times, great tutorial, wondering how the tabs fit into the pockets with no clearance defined? I guess I need to experiment and figure it out for myself. Thanks for posting.
Ha yah that was my question when I first saw this technique. My inner mechanical engineer tolerance stack alarm was going crazy. But then I realized its plywood and not aluminum haha. Even thickness varies quite a bit in a single sheet. I found that if you have a good measurement of ply thickness (which changes with each new sheet...) designing to flush gives a nice fit. At worst a little tap with a rubber mallet gives a satisfying press fit. I think if I was using a hard wood I might design in a very small tolerance, but haven't experimented much with that.
That is a good point. It would be good to do a sample part first with one press joint to get the tolerance correct. Also modeling the tabs slightly long and sanding flush after assembly is a good safeguard against slight variations in plywood thickness
awesome video, real parts, real production, not some stupid lame thing that doesn't ever get used or built. Even the music at the end was great. Thank You!
I would like to echo what others have said. The little details like how to manipulate the arrows on the axis indicator. Priceless! I. will be referencing this video again.
As promised, I'm referencing this video again....a year later. Still valuable info only now I'm listening for different things. In this case, it is doing the cut layout and dog bones. Have you found a method that allows the designer to do the cut layout for the CAM, while preserving the assembled view?
sbirdranch hey yes actually. Basically you just make a copy of everything then lay the copies flat. Been meaning to make a follow up video. I recently updated the nesting script as well and performs much better. I tried to put the copy thing in the script but couldn't quite get it to work.
Fascinating. This will help me visualise all the steps I need to create CNC files for my machine. Although its much smaller, I should be able to make a miniature bookcase by just scaling the parameters. But I have to say that Shopbot is fantastic.
This was an amazing tutorial. I am going to be acquiring a CNC router in the near future and will be using it mainly to build a bunch of expanded PVC racks. Not having any experience with Fusion or CNC this really gave some good insights on the design side of things. Fingers crossed when the time comes I can nail down the CNC side of things properly. Thanks a ton
I REALLY appreciate the parameters tip. I am a programmer and always use variables when I can. I see people hardcode things too often and it drives me crazy to hunt and replace values. I will now fully embrace the Parameters concept in my drawings. Very good tutorial. I subscribed to your channel keep up the great work.
This has been absolutely critical for me to understand how to lay out interlocking parts. So many little things i had not understood have been explained clearly here. Thank you so much for this. I know this is an old video, but i would love to know if you're doing anything else like this. I've just built an MPCNC and have it reliable enough i'm ready to start making some chips.
I haven't done anything else recently. I have been meaning to though. I have a few other videos on my channel you can check out in the meantime though.
Patrick Rainsberry thanks for the heads up! I've also been looking at NYcnc videos as well, but they're a bit over my head. I do have a question about the heights tab under the cam section. I don't fully understand what autodesk is trying to tell me with the different layer heights. I set it up the way that makes most sense, with no offsets, I'm afraid of crashing my shiny new carbide bit.
This was really helpful! There were a lot of new concepts like combining to cut slots and using joints to layout components on stock. Like others, I followed it step by step the second time. Thanks for putting in the time to create this. I'm definitely subscribing and look forward to more.
Fantastic overview video! I really wish I had seen this long ago before I learned some of these concepts bit by bit. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.
Wow. I started programming with featurecam before I learned 3D modeling on fusion. I have been going using both while programming our new router and fusions 2D cam seems way easier. This is going to save me so much time.
Amazing tutorial, Autodesk need to include this on their, tutorials library. Need to ask you , if the parts fit ok without pocket tolerance ? Thank you again for your work ( to uploaded such complete tutorial).
Ha thanks man, could have done that, but the intent of the video was really to just show how the software works as opposed to optimizing for manufacture. Good feedback though.
great video. just try to keep in mind grain directions when laying out your bodies on the stock, if possible. ( the top and middle shelf the wood grain is one direction but the bottom shelf the grain of the wood goes opposite direction)
+Billy T Dude that is a really good point. Thats what happens when you have a software guy trying to make something "real." Just looked at this in my office and now it totally bothers me, even though i never noticed before. HAHAHAHA.
This is the best tutorial I see how to go from design to CNC. Wish there where more. One Question I can't ground my Stock the "Ground" Option does not show when I right click my Stock body? Do you have an idea why this may be happening?
+Patrick Rainsberry I am 66 years old mechanical engineer and hobbist woodworker with a great CNC machine, I am only a simple programming hack and have never learned any complex CAD CAM in my previous profession. I've attempted to learn Fusion 360 (and sketch-up before Fusion 360) Many times and watched a lot of videos with very little progress. I made more progress with this one video than in many hours prior to this. The "Parameter" tip was a huge epiphany for me. So as a NUB thank you for a simple project that covers many basics and has given me the confidence that I can learn this. I have a few basic questions . 1. I'm using the current version of Fusion 360 and can't quite figure out how you jump from manipulating the model to orbiting the model and back to selecting objects again. ( the video where you extend the shelf to the object. see time 9:05 ) 2. I accidentally made 3 objects in one body. Is there a way to move an object to a new body? 2a. Since the shelfs are multiples should the shelf be created as a component? 3. For some reason sometime when I was working with sketches, suddenly all my "Bodies" disappeared in the left browser tree and could only get them back when I did multiple undo's. AM I accidentally deleting the bodies or am I removing them from the tree and they will reappear when I select a different action / Command?
Thanks! 1 - If you hold down shift and middle mouse button you can rotate the model. Scroll wheel zooms. 2 - Yes, right click the body and select 'create component' 3 - I think what you are seeing is that when you go 'back in time' to edit the sketch you are editing a feature that was created before the bodies. Look at the timeline at the bottom of the screen. When you edit things in Fusion that happen in the 'past' those other features are hidden from view. After you edit the sketch then those features will rebuild. Hope that makes sense.
+evolutionxone yah i wish i had recorded that part. I'll tell you this one was pretty simple. I used polymer brads in a nail gun and just shot them about every 18" right around the perimeter. I think i had a little lift up in the center and should have putt a few out there in known waste spots i think.
Gracias por este video, era justamente lo que estaba buscando. Me siento muy contenta de que hayas subido el material para compartirlo. Muchas gracias :D
Great tutorial! One thing I noticed: You didn't consider "veneer direction", or wood grain direction when you laid out the parts, so some parts will look different than your rendering. Question: I'm considering using a bit called "Lapped Miter Joint Router Bit" (or this kind of profile) for making Plywood boxes; What is the easiest way to apply this profile on all four edges of a plywood part? And would you use this router bit or would you use a combination of bits?
Yah, i made this when I was really new to woodworking. I wish I had considered grain direction. For your other question that is probably beyond my level of knowledge for woodworking.
Great video Patrick. For this and any other woodworking joinery project, how do you tolerance the mating parts? Exact sizing of mortise and tenon would seem to be a problem come assembly time. Thanks!
Actually with ply wood I do zero tolerance. Plywood is forgiving enough that it makes for a tight press fit. Sometimes a couple hits with a rubber mallet, but it hasn’t yet been a problem
Very nice tidy project/tutorial; it is the goto reference I provide to folks who ask me about CAD/CAM; the design of the lessons are superb. I use Fusion 360 (over Mastercam) and am getting used to the parameter table for all 3D work but just one question at the end if I change a parameter how can I get a view of the finished assembled project (with different parameter) to show my wife when it appears that the ultimate assembled project is flat items (sort of nested) ready for CAM;likely obvious answer but not on first or second thought by me) thanks in advance
Yes we are working on a better solution for that actually. In the mean time there is something you can do. At the bottom of the screen is the time line. All of those icons represent the features used for creation of the model. At the end there is a little vertical bar. You can drag that bar back in the timeline before all the move commands that laid it flat, and you will be able to see it all put together. Let me know if that makes sense
+Patrick Rainsberry Sadly it is the "horrible" solution that I could not bring myself to contemplate ;-) The challenge in any such method is to find it in a complex project "bookmarks" would be one way... Regards and Thanks again
Very nice video and nice design, but why did you cut the pockets all the way through instead of stopping 1 ply from the edge? By not cutting through that last ply I think the end product would have had more of a fine furniture look. (as fine as you can get with plywood)
Yep totally. I left them with a blind depth on top for that look. I actually kind of like the un-refined look of putting the pockets all the way through. I visited a few places (including shopbot HQ) and saw that style all over the place and just kind of like the look. Could easily modify this design to be all blind depth pockets especially if you were using nicer wood.
It's obvious that grain direction wasn't an issue for you but if it had been is there a way of getting Fusion to respect that and lay the parts out accordingly? Thanks for the video BTW
Absolutely brilliantly, thank you so much! After a nightshift last night, I have my first mini shelf made on a home made CNC. QQ: I designed the shelf in 12mm ply, then found an 8mm piece of ply in the workshop and decided to use this instead (as I said, I made a mini version of this shelf, about 1ft wide only). Everything resized properly in Fusion, but the dogbones ended up as drilled holes in their original position. I suppose that's the way it is or is there a clever trick to have them move to the new corners automatically?
+Marc Hanbuerger Well..... It should automatically work if it was a native Fusion feature. But since the dogbones are created with this script often times they don't quite update correctly. It is best to simply delete the folder from the tree and then recreate them if you see that problem unfortunately.
I know I'm late to the party, but how would you add in the 'tol" to the pockets? I can sort of think of a few ways but there is always a better way. So, I'm talking about editing the cut after a cut I guess. :) Thanks and thank you for the video.
Patrick, a great video. Thanks! I followed the video creating the design and I had one issue, looking for clarification on one of your responses, and a query on alternatives The issue I had was on the first sketch. When setting the dimension for the middle shelf position relative to the bottom an error popup occurs stating "geometry is over constrained". Everything I did in the sketch creation duplicated your video. I can't determine why? The clarification I wanted was about keeping a view of both the assembled project and the CAM layout. You said you made a duplicate copy first. True? It amazes and frustrates me that there isn't a way (at least that I can determine) to keep multiple views of the design together, assembled or disassembled, different visibility setting or cutaways to expose assembly details, etc. I've used Sketchup for years for my wood working which had something called Scenes which did this. I moved to Fusion 360 when I bought a CNC and have been nothing but impressed with how well things are integrated but hoped I would discover this capability. Also Nester is great and I'm so glad you educated us on it's function in a real world example. Do you or any of your followers aware of an AddIn which takes a built piece of furniture plus a list of boards or panels and produces a layout automatically? Such a plugin existed in Sketch (Cutmap) and I found it invaluable. Thanks again and thanks in advance for responses or pointers!
I have been thinking about trying to do something similar but haven't gotten to it yet unfortunately. I think this is something that you will see put directly into the product at some point as it is also very important for Sheetmetal nesting, but of course i can't make any promises. As far as the sketch goes it is sometimes possible that when you are sketching some constraints are created automatically. Sometimes it is things you didn't intend, like for example a midpoint ofa line not jsut coincident to the line. The power of these parametric constraints is that it will allow you to make these few dimensions drive the entire design but at the same time it comes with the challenge of learning the nuances of under defined / over defined situations in sketches. Trust me the initial learning curve will be something you can get past after a short time then you will really be able to reap the rewards. This is also something i have been wanting to spend more time on.
You nailed it. There was a midpoint applied during the creation of the shelf. On the subject of multiple views, assembled or disassembled, it occurred to me that this already exists in the timeline. All that is needed is the ability to create selectable labels within Fusion to easily identify the view you wanted and conveniently move between them. Thanks again for your help and encouragement.
It was nice that you put this together however now that the layout has changed you didn't discribe the tools that you were selecting so we dont know what you selected to do what you did.
When dimensioning joints like this isn't a tolerance to be applied in order to have a smooth fit? (IE a 0.75" leg in a 0.75" hole is going to be extremely tight no?) Edit BTW Oups great job !
Amazing video, thank you. I come from AutoCAD background, 2d drafting, and this is my first jump into CAD/CAM software. I've always detailed with the mantra "If I'm detailing the same thing twice, I'm wasting time". Which brings me to the tab creation: Is there not a way to create one tab and simply copy/paste to all other locations? I've been tinkering around with it but it's tough for my brain to leave AutoCAD mode after 12 years.
So there is but it would be a little trickier to get all the parameter stuff working that way. It's also a little more complicated to explain. Essentially you would make a 3D tab and copy it everywhere, then use a combine to add it together
Kind of a late comment but just saw this tut, exceptional and fantastic, thank you!! Have a curious question, for the tabs and holes, in essence mortise and tenons, didn't see any settings to compensate for the fit, usually there is about 0.003/5 offset for the fitting and room for glue, in other words, the tabs should be 0.003/5 (depending on type of wood) smaller. Does boolean results compensate for that?
Great question. SO when i did this i was really worried about that. I was thinking about taking the all the faces of the holes and offsetting them by like .003-.005 but i didn't as this was my first time doing anything like this i figured id just give it a try. 2 things: the shopbot was VERY accurate and really got it nailed since i used a very accurate wood thickness to begin with. Second, woodworking is very forgiving. I think .005 in wood is like a swift hot of a rubber mallet. SO in the end i got super tight fits with very little effort to press them in place. Others may find different results, but i have so far had great results modeling to flush. Which is something i would never do for something like injection molded or CNC'd parts.
Thank you for your comment, I don't see much of a problem working with plywood, but I do a lot of hardwood projects, inclined to offset faces at least 0.003", as you said a hit with the mallet works on plywood because of its nature, compresses very easy. Thank you for a great tutorial!
Fantastic video thanks for sharing. One question though...would it be possible to make ALL the mortises blind so you don't have the plys in the plywood showing out the sides? I HATE the edges of plywood.
Nice tutorial, but missing two things. One, there is no design for screw placements, necessary for keeping the stock down on the shopbot when milling ( though I understand you can use the hole feature to add those to the stock drawing). Secondly, i'm disliking that I loose the 3D assembly when moving all the parts to the stock. My guess that it could could be solved by creating a mirror of the entire design, before putting the parts down on the stock. Or is there a more elegant solution? :)
Yes i think making a copy is the best way. Been thinking about making a video showing the simplest way of doing this. When i did it on the ShopBot i used nylon brad nailer to hold it down. Could easily add screw placements though.
Great job! Question: Do you use Fusion 360 on a Mac and control the ShopBot on a PC? Could you use Parallels to run the ShopBot software on the Mac? ShopBot says they will have a Mac version 3rd or 4th quarter this year... should I wait and see? Thanks
Patrick thank you for a great tutorial. Have you figured out how to do rabbits for a blind dado where you do not want to leave the radius from the tool on the 3 outside corners? in other software I would reference an oversized sketch and the plane. I cannot see it with Fusion 360.
+Jamie Bogdanovich Hey I think understand the question, basically you want the tool to come out past the part? You can adjust the "Tool Containment" on the geometry tab. You can set it to tool extends past geometry. I just did that for an open slot on a part last night. Let me know if that works for you.
+Patrick Rainsberry Thanks for the response, I played around with it today and found you can place an oversized sketch on the plane of the bottom of the rabbit and use that as your selection.
I understand dogboning when using a purely 2d design, but with a fully 3d capable cad/cam software, why don't you just add fillets to the corners of your 'tab' corners that are a little more than the radius of your cutting tool? So both the slot and the tab have corners that are rounded to match your cutting tool? Seems like the finished product would look a lot nicer without the gaps that dogbones create. I don't think I have seen this done yet, I am wondering if there is a reason I am missing. EDIT: I guess you would have to make fillets on both sides if the tab was 4 sided and not along an edge. Random thought aside, thanks a lot for these videos, they are super helpful in getting used to fusion 360. I am liking it a lot, coming from 123d Design. So much nicer (123d design bogs down horribly when rendering sketches on my machine)
+Alluvian cool thanks for the feedback. Yah thats the reason. Would be total over kill to try and do the out of plane filleting on the router i think. Although worth a try? I have actually come to like the look of the dog-bone, kind of a cool industrial look. The other option is to make all the pockets blind like i did in the top so you don't really see it.
Nice tutorial, thank you very much. Question about the doggone, is that something you import, that is what takes most of my time, but I don't find it on my fusion. Thanks again!
just lay everything out and then when you define the stock for your different CAM operations just pick the appropriate for each piece of stock. You can lay them all out at once, just move them around to the way you want.
This tutorial has been excellent. I have one question about depth of the pockets. I'm wondering if there is a way to set the extra clearance to a parameter so that it's easy to experiment with finding the right amount in later milling operations. Or perhaps there's a way to add that parameter to the CAM portion?
+Evan You could apply the extra depth as a parameter like the other ones i set at the beginning. Currently you can not use parameters in the CAM workspace from the design workspace.
+Patrick Rainsberry Do you have a suggestion on how to do that since the pockets were created with the cut function? Thinking this out, if the tabs stick out a certain amount, then are used as a tool to cut another body, then the dimension of the tabs are changed (perhaps by changing a parameter), do the cuts in the other body change as well?
+Evan yes they do. The entire model builds as a series of operations in its history. So if something earlier changes and something downstream references it then it will change as well. The bar at the bottom of the screen with all those icons shows you the history of all the features you've created. Also though if what you wanted to play with was the gap which i believe i add by moving the face after the pocket is cut out. You could apply a move to deepen the pocket and use a different parameter to drive that operation later in the model's history. If this is the first time you've used a history based modeler don't worry it starts to make sense. Just try some simple models where one feature builds on the last. Then go back and change the earlier feature and see how the update propagates.
+Patrick Rainsberry That's kind of a bummer. I thought I had found a quick way to adjust the gaps. But that kind of behavior (preserving a cut depth) would, I suppose, break the parametric propagation paradigm. It sounds like I have to go through and select all the pockets in order to apply a move command to add this gap parameter. That could be tedious. Thanks for all the help & the great videos!
great tutorial, subscribed! :-) One question though, when joining the pieces to the plywood-plane, why do you select the bottom faces and then choose "flip" in the join dialog? Couldnt you join the piece's top face to the plane's top face?
oh, is it because of the blind holes? in that case, couldnt you flip the entire plane after positioning the pieces? It seems like doing it your way could result in a mirrored piece if you forget to select the flip-option on one of maybe dozens of parts (in a bigger build for example)
+Felix Dietz yes because of the holes. One thing you will learn is there are many ways to do things to get the same result and you kind of choose the best for that situation. You are right that way would work
This is one of the most informative videos I've looked at.
Thank you,
Roland
This is so useful. Fusion 360 must be one of the most underrated CAD programs available - technical drawings, realistic visuals and it talks to a CNC router!
Patrick, what can I say that has not already been said. Simply a superb tutorial! Clear, concise, complete. Thanks very much.
Thanks! Much appreciated!
Thanks Patrick, that really cleared up a few things for me, I'm a total noob ploughing my way through tutorials before my machine arrives. This one's certainly going on my saved list.
Patrick, I like how you created so many parts from one sketch. Dig the Parameter table. Nice work, great video
This was awesome. First time I found a flat pack tutorial that didn't just stop after joining all the pieces to the sheet of ply. Thank you sooooo much!
One question, on the sides, why put those tabs all the way through? Just more strength? Seems like it could have been more aesthetically pleasing to go 80% or something to hide the shelf support on the sides.
This video is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for putting this together!
Hi I am building a CNC router and just learning how to use Fusion 360 for home DIY projects. This was a great video covering the whole process from design to making the parts. Many thanks for a very helpful video
I'm a new Fusion 360 user and this video is by far one of the best I've watched for helping me get started. Thanks for doing it!
Just what I needed to get started with Fusion 360 and CNC. Thanks!
This is fantastic! As far as I know you are the only one who has done a wood working video like this, from CAD to CAM to CNC! Thank you very much for doing this.
Subscribed!!!
+Clayton Spangenberg thanks man really appreciate the support. Been loving it.
+Patrick Rainsberry please keep them coming!
Patrick - this was an amazing tutorial, one of the best I have seen that combines the whole workflow of covering in detail design to manufacturing. It is also one of the very few that deals with wood and CNC routers vs metal milling. Simply superb!
I actually watched this twice now, first time to take it all in and make some notes, and a second time following along and creating the design myself. I learnt a ton and I think there is a big appetite out there for Fusion 360 CNC router related tutorials. One question, prior to laying out the components flat on the stock for CAM, is there a best practice way of keeping a copy of the components assembled in the completed bookcase form to be used for later tweaking?
+Mark Slatem Good point. I thought about first making a copy of the parts and then laying only the copies flat. In the end I decided it was easier to work with the model with out having a duplicates. To see the assembled model I just roll the time line back.
Building my first CNC at the moment. Been using Fusion 360 for a few years now and have seen a lot of videos on it. This has been one of the best instructional videos I have seen. Very well paced, presented and a lot of good to know fundamentals.
thanks!
This is an excellent tutorial showing the entire flow from sketching to cam - I learned a lot of new techniques. Thanks for taking the time to make the video.
From beginning to end, you showed the whole process in great detail! Wow! Awesome video.
Thank you for the tutorial, the defines and mirroring are tricks I will try and use myself. One thing you forgot to mention and perhaps if you had turned on the wood look for the blank piece it would have jarred your memory, but some of the pieces, the bottom shelf is really the one that stands out, has the grain going the wrong way. Not a big deal if you are gong to seal and paint or veneer over, but it stands out if you are going to stain and varnish.
ahhh man I know, when i made this i was very "green" it kills me now when I look at it and see the grain direction. I keep thinking about redoing it just because. Such a newby move.
Thanks Patrick. That is the best demo for Fusion 360. Next I am going to watch it again and follow along and do the steps.
This has been a huge help for me learning Fusion360 and setting up my CNC. Great job and thank you!
I wish you did an entire Fusion 360 tutorial program. I would pay for it. This video was great, especially the beginning. I wish I could watch 20 beginner videos from you.
thanks man!!!
nicely done! i especially appreciated the section where the pieces are laid out in CAM - select on model. you've got a gift for presenting a pretty complicated topic to an audience with a wide range of skills. i've been learning fusion on our shopbot Max for six months - this was really helpful.
Outstanding Patrick! This is a great video of how to use Fusion 360 in a wood shop. The step by step explanation is excellent.
I really like this video, the fact that you cover everything from start to a finished product was great!
Holy moly - so many little bits in bobs in this tutorial helped me out!
Thank you and really well done (I know - this is 3 years old at this point)!
Best tutorial I've seen for Fusion 360. I learned so much. Thanks Patrick.
Watched this like 4 times, great tutorial, wondering how the tabs fit into the pockets with no clearance defined? I guess I need to experiment and figure it out for myself. Thanks for posting.
Ha yah that was my question when I first saw this technique. My inner mechanical engineer tolerance stack alarm was going crazy. But then I realized its plywood and not aluminum haha. Even thickness varies quite a bit in a single sheet. I found that if you have a good measurement of ply thickness (which changes with each new sheet...) designing to flush gives a nice fit. At worst a little tap with a rubber mallet gives a satisfying press fit. I think if I was using a hard wood I might design in a very small tolerance, but haven't experimented much with that.
That is a good point. It would be good to do a sample part first with one press joint to get the tolerance correct. Also modeling the tabs slightly long and sanding flush after assembly is a good safeguard against slight variations in plywood thickness
@@bd9494 tried this with 1/2” plywood and joints fit great.
I've been struggling to find a tutorial that goes end to end using plywood, but this was great. Thanks!
awesome video, real parts, real production, not some stupid lame thing that doesn't ever get used or built. Even the music at the end was great. Thank You!
A whole production process from scratch ... Amazing Tutorial ...
Excellent video! I'm so glad you showed the machine making the cuts at the end. I would have been disappointed if you hadn't!
I would like to echo what others have said. The little details like how to manipulate the arrows on the axis indicator. Priceless! I. will be referencing this video again.
+sbirdranch thanks man!
As promised, I'm referencing this video again....a year later. Still valuable info only now I'm listening for different things. In this case, it is doing the cut layout and dog bones.
Have you found a method that allows the designer to do the cut layout for the CAM, while preserving the assembled view?
sbirdranch hey yes actually. Basically you just make a copy of everything then lay the copies flat. Been meaning to make a follow up video. I recently updated the nesting script as well and performs much better. I tried to put the copy thing in the script but couldn't quite get it to work.
I hadn't seen the layout add in. I'll give that a try. Thanks.
Fascinating. This will help me visualise all the steps I need to create CNC files for my machine. Although its much smaller, I should be able to make a miniature bookcase by just scaling the parameters. But I have to say that Shopbot is fantastic.
Patrick, great video, am just completing my very first F360 Design, so now know how to sort out the layout and tool-paths, many thanks.
That's awesome video. Now going to try myself your method of object creation. Thank you!
Awesome video Patrick, superb explanation of all steps from CAD to CAM. Thanks!
This was an amazing tutorial. I am going to be acquiring a CNC router in the near future and will be using it mainly to build a bunch of expanded PVC racks. Not having any experience with Fusion or CNC this really gave some good insights on the design side of things. Fingers crossed when the time comes I can nail down the CNC side of things properly.
Thanks a ton
I REALLY appreciate the parameters tip. I am a programmer and always use variables when I can. I see people hardcode things too often and it drives me crazy to hunt and replace values. I will now fully embrace the Parameters concept in my drawings. Very good tutorial. I subscribed to your channel keep up the great work.
Thanks man! Appreciate the feedback. If you like that style, you'll love this: ua-cam.com/video/dwWDpQSrz7o/v-deo.html
This has been absolutely critical for me to understand how to lay out interlocking parts. So many little things i had not understood have been explained clearly here. Thank you so much for this. I know this is an old video, but i would love to know if you're doing anything else like this. I've just built an MPCNC and have it reliable enough i'm ready to start making some chips.
I haven't done anything else recently. I have been meaning to though. I have a few other videos on my channel you can check out in the meantime though.
Patrick Rainsberry thanks for the heads up! I've also been looking at NYcnc videos as well, but they're a bit over my head.
I do have a question about the heights tab under the cam section. I don't fully understand what autodesk is trying to tell me with the different layer heights. I set it up the way that makes most sense, with no offsets, I'm afraid of crashing my shiny new carbide bit.
Thanks for a brilliant video! It answered so many questions for me. You even showed the (almost) final product!
Great vid!
This was really helpful! There were a lot of new concepts like combining to cut slots and using joints to layout components on stock. Like others, I followed it step by step the second time. Thanks for putting in the time to create this. I'm definitely subscribing and look forward to more.
Great job. really very thorough. easy to understand. possibly the best tutorial i have ever watched. you went through the entire process.
This is excellent, thanks for taking the time to produce this video.
Fantastic overview video! I really wish I had seen this long ago before I learned some of these concepts bit by bit. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.
Muchas gracias, ha sido de mucha ayuda para los que estamos icorporando el software fusion 360. Saludos desde Entre Ríos Argentina.
This was such a great help, exactly the kind of tutorial I've been looking for. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, i learn a lot more from this, love the work flow, your aproach too some different things will make life easier for me. Thanks again
Great video this was exactly what I was looking for, to learn how to lay a 3D sketch down on stock for milling.ThanksGlen
This was amazing. Thank you so much. I feel so much more confident in Fusion 360. Better than their tutorials! :)
Excellent tutorial. I referred back to it several times. Thank you!
Thanks!!
I have been following this tutorial and am finding it very helpful...Thank you.
As said by Mark, this sis an amazing tutorial, very complete! I must watch a second time, this will be with pleasure. many thanks!
Super, super helpful. Thanks for taking the time to put this together!
So many questions answered. Great video. Thank you very much.
Wow. I started programming with featurecam before I learned 3D modeling on fusion. I have been going using both while programming our new router and fusions 2D cam seems way easier. This is going to save me so much time.
Totally Awesome, dude! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Amazing tutorial, Autodesk need to include this on their, tutorials library. Need to ask you , if the parts fit ok without pocket tolerance ? Thank you again for your work ( to uploaded such complete tutorial).
Another great video. I don't understand why you didn't spend more time nesting the parts better and save a lot of material.
Ha thanks man, could have done that, but the intent of the video was really to just show how the software works as opposed to optimizing for manufacture. Good feedback though.
great video. just try to keep in mind grain directions when laying out your bodies on the stock, if possible. ( the top and middle shelf the wood grain is one direction but the bottom shelf the grain of the wood goes opposite direction)
+Billy T Dude that is a really good point. Thats what happens when you have a software guy trying to make something "real." Just looked at this in my office and now it totally bothers me, even though i never noticed before. HAHAHAHA.
oops sorry , my bad. Thats what happens when your an old shop teacher... lol. i love your Cad work.
not for strength only looks
Great job on this video. I watched entire video which is a compliment.
This is the best tutorial I see how to go from design to CNC. Wish there where more. One Question I can't ground my Stock the "Ground" Option does not show when I right click my Stock body? Do you have an idea why this may be happening?
Patrick is a LEGEND!
A really helpful and complete tutorial. Thank you.
Subscribed obviously.
+Patrick Rainsberry I am 66 years old mechanical engineer and hobbist woodworker with a great CNC machine, I am only a simple programming hack and have never learned any complex CAD CAM in my previous profession. I've attempted to learn Fusion 360 (and sketch-up before Fusion 360) Many times and watched a lot of videos with very little progress. I made more progress with this one video than in many hours prior to this. The "Parameter" tip was a huge epiphany for me. So as a NUB thank you for a simple project that covers many basics and has given me the confidence that I can learn this. I have a few basic questions .
1. I'm using the current version of Fusion 360 and can't quite figure out how you jump from manipulating the model to orbiting the model and back to selecting objects again. ( the video where you extend the shelf to the object. see time 9:05 )
2. I accidentally made 3 objects in one body. Is there a way to move an object to a new body?
2a. Since the shelfs are multiples should the shelf be created as a component?
3. For some reason sometime when I was working with sketches, suddenly all my "Bodies" disappeared in the left browser tree and could only get them back when I did multiple undo's. AM I accidentally deleting the bodies or am I removing them from the tree and they will reappear when I select a different action / Command?
Thanks!
1 - If you hold down shift and middle mouse button you can rotate the model. Scroll wheel zooms.
2 - Yes, right click the body and select 'create component'
3 - I think what you are seeing is that when you go 'back in time' to edit the sketch you are editing a feature that was created before the bodies. Look at the timeline at the bottom of the screen. When you edit things in Fusion that happen in the 'past' those other features are hidden from view. After you edit the sketch then those features will rebuild. Hope that makes sense.
Thank you for taking the time to answer these newbee questions.
unreal video! thank you for taking the time to do this!
Thanks man!
Thank you for sharing the nice tutorial for beginners.
Thank you for sharing this. It was so helpful!
Great video. Wish it had instructions for fixturing and physical machine setup.
+evolutionxone yah i wish i had recorded that part. I'll tell you this one was pretty simple. I used polymer brads in a nail gun and just shot them about every 18" right around the perimeter. I think i had a little lift up in the center and should have putt a few out there in known waste spots i think.
Gracias por este video, era justamente lo que estaba buscando. Me siento muy contenta de que hayas subido el material para compartirlo. Muchas gracias :D
Great tutorial!
One thing I noticed: You didn't consider "veneer direction", or wood grain direction when you laid out the parts, so some parts will look different than your rendering.
Question: I'm considering using a bit called "Lapped Miter Joint Router Bit" (or this kind of profile) for making Plywood boxes; What is the easiest way to apply this profile on all four edges of a plywood part? And would you use this router bit or would you use a combination of bits?
Yah, i made this when I was really new to woodworking. I wish I had considered grain direction. For your other question that is probably beyond my level of knowledge for woodworking.
Just great tutorial. This what i've looking for
Excellent tutorial sir, thanks for posting.
great video, i needed this to start getting thing correct in my own head, thanks
Thank you so much... This video was very complete, and I learnt a lot!!
Great video Patrick. For this and any other woodworking joinery project, how do you tolerance the mating parts? Exact sizing of mortise and tenon would seem to be a problem come assembly time. Thanks!
Actually with ply wood I do zero tolerance. Plywood is forgiving enough that it makes for a tight press fit. Sometimes a couple hits with a rubber mallet, but it hasn’t yet been a problem
Very nice tidy project/tutorial; it is the goto reference I provide to folks who ask me about CAD/CAM; the design of the lessons are superb.
I use Fusion 360 (over Mastercam) and am getting used to the parameter table for all 3D work but just one question
at the end if I change a parameter how can I get a view of the finished assembled project (with different parameter) to show my wife when it appears that the ultimate assembled project is flat items (sort of nested) ready for CAM;likely obvious answer but not on first or second thought by me)
thanks in advance
Yes we are working on a better solution for that actually.
In the mean time there is something you can do.
At the bottom of the screen is the time line. All of those icons represent the features used for creation of the model. At the end there is a little vertical bar. You can drag that bar back in the timeline before all the move commands that laid it flat, and you will be able to see it all put together.
Let me know if that makes sense
+Patrick Rainsberry Sadly it is the "horrible" solution that I could not bring myself to contemplate ;-)
The challenge in any such method is to find it in a complex project "bookmarks" would be one way...
Regards and Thanks again
I have a little project I've been working on to simply the process a little bit. Stay tuned
Fantastic tutorial, thank you for posting!
Very nice video and nice design, but why did you cut the pockets all the way through instead of stopping 1 ply from the edge?
By not cutting through that last ply I think the end product would have had more of a fine furniture look. (as fine as you can get with plywood)
Yep totally. I left them with a blind depth on top for that look. I actually kind of like the un-refined look of putting the pockets all the way through. I visited a few places (including shopbot HQ) and saw that style all over the place and just kind of like the look.
Could easily modify this design to be all blind depth pockets especially if you were using nicer wood.
It's obvious that grain direction wasn't an issue for you but if it had been is there a way of getting Fusion to respect that and lay the parts out accordingly? Thanks for the video BTW
Absolutely brilliantly, thank you so much! After a nightshift last night, I have my first mini shelf made on a home made CNC.
QQ: I designed the shelf in 12mm ply, then found an 8mm piece of ply in the workshop and decided to use this instead (as I said, I made a mini version of this shelf, about 1ft wide only). Everything resized properly in Fusion, but the dogbones ended up as drilled holes in their original position. I suppose that's the way it is or is there a clever trick to have them move to the new corners automatically?
+Marc Hanbuerger Well..... It should automatically work if it was a native Fusion feature. But since the dogbones are created with this script often times they don't quite update correctly. It is best to simply delete the folder from the tree and then recreate them if you see that problem unfortunately.
+Patrick Rainsberry ok, thanks!
Hey Patrick, how do you handle tolerances of the tabs and pockets?
I know I'm late to the party, but how would you add in the 'tol" to the pockets? I can sort of think of a few ways but there is always a better way. So, I'm talking about editing the cut after a cut I guess. :) Thanks and thank you for the video.
Patrick, a great video. Thanks! I followed the video creating the design and I had one issue, looking for clarification on one of your responses, and a query on alternatives
The issue I had was on the first sketch. When setting the dimension for the middle shelf position relative to the bottom an error popup occurs stating "geometry is over constrained". Everything I did in the sketch creation duplicated your video. I can't determine why?
The clarification I wanted was about keeping a view of both the assembled project and the CAM layout. You said you made a duplicate copy first. True?
It amazes and frustrates me that there isn't a way (at least that I can determine) to keep multiple views of the design together, assembled or disassembled, different visibility setting or cutaways to expose assembly details, etc. I've used Sketchup for years for my wood working which had something called Scenes which did this. I moved to Fusion 360 when I bought a CNC and have been nothing but impressed with how well things are integrated but hoped I would discover this capability. Also Nester is great and I'm so glad you educated us on it's function in a real world example. Do you or any of your followers aware of an AddIn which takes a built piece of furniture plus a list of boards or panels and produces a layout automatically? Such a plugin existed in Sketch (Cutmap) and I found it invaluable.
Thanks again and thanks in advance for responses or pointers!
I have been thinking about trying to do something similar but haven't gotten to it yet unfortunately. I think this is something that you will see put directly into the product at some point as it is also very important for Sheetmetal nesting, but of course i can't make any promises.
As far as the sketch goes it is sometimes possible that when you are sketching some constraints are created automatically. Sometimes it is things you didn't intend, like for example a midpoint ofa line not jsut coincident to the line. The power of these parametric constraints is that it will allow you to make these few dimensions drive the entire design but at the same time it comes with the challenge of learning the nuances of under defined / over defined situations in sketches. Trust me the initial learning curve will be something you can get past after a short time then you will really be able to reap the rewards. This is also something i have been wanting to spend more time on.
You nailed it. There was a midpoint applied during the creation of the shelf. On the subject of multiple views, assembled or disassembled, it occurred to me that this already exists in the timeline. All that is needed is the ability to create selectable labels within Fusion to easily identify the view you wanted and conveniently move between them. Thanks again for your help and encouragement.
Ha good guess! Thanks for the feedback. Best of luck!
It was nice that you put this together however now that the layout has changed you didn't discribe the tools that you were selecting so we dont know what you selected to do what you did.
Very thorough tut. Thanks!
this helped me a lot so i hit like on this tutorial and subscribed the channel.
Thanks!
When dimensioning joints like this isn't a tolerance to be applied in order to have a smooth fit? (IE a 0.75" leg in a 0.75" hole is going to be extremely tight no?)
Edit
BTW Oups great job !
Amazing video, thank you. I come from AutoCAD background, 2d drafting, and this is my first jump into CAD/CAM software. I've always detailed with the mantra "If I'm detailing the same thing twice, I'm wasting time". Which brings me to the tab creation: Is there not a way to create one tab and simply copy/paste to all other locations? I've been tinkering around with it but it's tough for my brain to leave AutoCAD mode after 12 years.
So there is but it would be a little trickier to get all the parameter stuff working that way.
It's also a little more complicated to explain. Essentially you would make a 3D tab and copy it everywhere, then use a combine to add it together
Thank you so much! Really clear and helpful! Now I can start using my newly built wooden cnc machine :)
This is such a good video, thank you so much! Have used it a couple of times for reference already :)
Kind of a late comment but just saw this tut, exceptional and fantastic, thank you!! Have a curious question, for the tabs and holes, in essence mortise and tenons, didn't see any settings to compensate for the fit, usually there is about 0.003/5 offset for the fitting and room for glue, in other words, the tabs should be 0.003/5 (depending on type of wood) smaller. Does boolean results compensate for that?
Great question. SO when i did this i was really worried about that. I was thinking about taking the all the faces of the holes and offsetting them by like .003-.005 but i didn't as this was my first time doing anything like this i figured id just give it a try. 2 things: the shopbot was VERY accurate and really got it nailed since i used a very accurate wood thickness to begin with. Second, woodworking is very forgiving. I think .005 in wood is like a swift hot of a rubber mallet. SO in the end i got super tight fits with very little effort to press them in place. Others may find different results, but i have so far had great results modeling to flush. Which is something i would never do for something like injection molded or CNC'd parts.
Thank you for your comment, I don't see much of a problem working with plywood, but I do a lot of hardwood projects, inclined to offset faces at least 0.003", as you said a hit with the mallet works on plywood because of its nature, compresses very easy. Thank you for a great tutorial!
Fantastic video thanks for sharing. One question though...would it be possible to make ALL the mortises blind so you don't have the plys in the plywood showing out the sides? I HATE the edges of plywood.
Of course! 😀👍👍
I actually kind of like the unfinished look but you could easily do them all like the ones in the top
AWESOME!!!
Amazing video. Well put together. Keep up the great work
Nice tutorial, but missing two things.
One, there is no design for screw placements, necessary for keeping the stock down on the shopbot when milling ( though I understand you can use the hole feature to add those to the stock drawing).
Secondly, i'm disliking that I loose the 3D assembly when moving all the parts to the stock. My guess that it could could be solved by creating a mirror of the entire design, before putting the parts down on the stock. Or is there a more elegant solution?
:)
Yes i think making a copy is the best way. Been thinking about making a video showing the simplest way of doing this.
When i did it on the ShopBot i used nylon brad nailer to hold it down. Could easily add screw placements though.
Great job! Question: Do you use Fusion 360 on a Mac and control the ShopBot on a PC? Could you use Parallels to run the ShopBot software on the Mac? ShopBot says they will have a Mac version 3rd or 4th quarter this year... should I wait and see? Thanks
Patrick thank you for a great tutorial. Have you figured out how to do rabbits for a blind dado where you do not want to leave the radius from the tool on the 3 outside corners? in other software I would reference an oversized sketch and the plane. I cannot see it with Fusion 360.
+Jamie Bogdanovich Hey I think understand the question, basically you want the tool to come out past the part? You can adjust the "Tool Containment" on the geometry tab. You can set it to tool extends past geometry. I just did that for an open slot on a part last night.
Let me know if that works for you.
+Patrick Rainsberry Thanks for the response, I played around with it today and found you can place an oversized sketch on the plane of the bottom of the rabbit and use that as your selection.
I understand dogboning when using a purely 2d design, but with a fully 3d capable cad/cam software, why don't you just add fillets to the corners of your 'tab' corners that are a little more than the radius of your cutting tool? So both the slot and the tab have corners that are rounded to match your cutting tool? Seems like the finished product would look a lot nicer without the gaps that dogbones create. I don't think I have seen this done yet, I am wondering if there is a reason I am missing. EDIT: I guess you would have to make fillets on both sides if the tab was 4 sided and not along an edge.
Random thought aside, thanks a lot for these videos, they are super helpful in getting used to fusion 360. I am liking it a lot, coming from 123d Design. So much nicer (123d design bogs down horribly when rendering sketches on my machine)
+Alluvian cool thanks for the feedback. Yah thats the reason. Would be total over kill to try and do the out of plane filleting on the router i think. Although worth a try?
I have actually come to like the look of the dog-bone, kind of a cool industrial look. The other option is to make all the pockets blind like i did in the top so you don't really see it.
+Patrick Rainsberry Yeah, I like the idea of the blind pockets, but it all depends on application of course.
Nice tutorial, thank you very much. Question about the doggone, is that something you import, that is what takes most of my time, but I don't find it on my fusion. Thanks again!
C bejarano cobo They are called dog bones because they sort of look like a bone shape. All they are is a circle slightly bigger than the cutter.
You can download an addin here:
github.com/tapnair/Dogbone
This will give you the ability to create them relatively automatically.
Pratrick, great tutorial I've got a cabinet that doesn't fit on one sheet of plywood how do I go about jointing my components to more than one sheet
just lay everything out and then when you define the stock for your different CAM operations just pick the appropriate for each piece of stock. You can lay them all out at once, just move them around to the way you want.
This tutorial has been excellent. I have one question about depth of the pockets. I'm wondering if there is a way to set the extra clearance to a parameter so that it's easy to experiment with finding the right amount in later milling operations. Or perhaps there's a way to add that parameter to the CAM portion?
+Evan You could apply the extra depth as a parameter like the other ones i set at the beginning. Currently you can not use parameters in the CAM workspace from the design workspace.
+Patrick Rainsberry Do you have a suggestion on how to do that since the pockets were created with the cut function? Thinking this out, if the tabs stick out a certain amount, then are used as a tool to cut another body, then the dimension of the tabs are changed (perhaps by changing a parameter), do the cuts in the other body change as well?
+Evan yes they do. The entire model builds as a series of operations in its history. So if something earlier changes and something downstream references it then it will change as well. The bar at the bottom of the screen with all those icons shows you the history of all the features you've created.
Also though if what you wanted to play with was the gap which i believe i add by moving the face after the pocket is cut out. You could apply a move to deepen the pocket and use a different parameter to drive that operation later in the model's history.
If this is the first time you've used a history based modeler don't worry it starts to make sense. Just try some simple models where one feature builds on the last. Then go back and change the earlier feature and see how the update propagates.
+Patrick Rainsberry That's kind of a bummer. I thought I had found a quick way to adjust the gaps. But that kind of behavior (preserving a cut depth) would, I suppose, break the parametric propagation paradigm. It sounds like I have to go through and select all the pockets in order to apply a move command to add this gap parameter. That could be tedious. Thanks for all the help & the great videos!
Awesome bro !! btw, How long is the cnc proccess? Because u faster the video, hard for me to calculate the time
great tutorial, subscribed! :-) One question though, when joining the pieces to the plywood-plane, why do you select the bottom faces and then choose "flip" in the join dialog? Couldnt you join the piece's top face to the plane's top face?
oh, is it because of the blind holes? in that case, couldnt you flip the entire plane after positioning the pieces? It seems like doing it your way could result in a mirrored piece if you forget to select the flip-option on one of maybe dozens of parts (in a bigger build for example)
+Felix Dietz yes because of the holes. One thing you will learn is there are many ways to do things to get the same result and you kind of choose the best for that situation. You are right that way would work