The learning curve is going to be similar on any CAD program. I use FreeCAD, because its what I learned first. Fusion is the better one to put your time into learning, but the concepts are the same.
The thing to focus on is learning how to sketch on a plane. For plasma cutting, it will generally always be on the X/Y plane. Basic shapes are pretty easy, once you understand the drawing tools to use for lines, circles, rectangles, arcs, etc. The hardest concept to get is “constraints”. Everything needs to be defined and achored to something, so it won’t move. Everything needs a defined length, width, diameter, radius, etc. It also needs a defined distance to a fixed object, like the center point of the X/Y plane or the X or Y axis. It can also be constrained to another sketch object, like the corner of a rectangle.
It’s a lot to learn, but once you understand the concept, it gets much easier. Find a Youtuber with a style of teaching that works for you and watch some videos, while you follow along on the computer.
I used tutorials from Product Designs Online. He has a series, Learn Fusion 360 for Beginners, which is presented clearly and in nice bite sized chunks. Forget about your projects and just learn the skills without trying to ‘make parts’. F360 is great but HUGE. Once you get the basics, you’ll be making parts, probably learning something new each time you do.
I like F360 because it is SOOOOOO easy to make assemblies where you design NEW parts to mate with existing ones. My process is to design (acquire) models for parts that I need to mate to and then build my new part around it.
Here is a simple example. I’m adding a BLDC Spindle to my CNC Router and needed to mount the parts on the frame. I was able to find most of the pieces online (GrabCad) and the rest were easy to make. I moved the existing parts around so that I could have one mounting board and one ‘panel’ for the display and speed control, shown with the blue arrows. Those were simple once I had the other pieces in place and could ‘Project’ the existing parts on to the new parts’ sketches.
Believe me, I felt exactly like you are feeling now. After spending the $$$ for the Hypertherm plasma cutter (that I simply could not use properly) and spending more $$$ for the plasma table and machine torch…
…well, let’s just say I was ready to curl up in a ball and start crying. I really had to give myself a “talking to” and said “You have learned stuff before. It is no different. You are just overwhelmed and you can do this.”
I watched a lot of videos on YouTube. PDO are exceptional. MTD Racing makes it look simple and made me relax. Mike Festiva took a lot of time to show you the nuts and bolts of the drawing environment. And we are very blessed to have several people on this forum that know Fusion 360 frontwards and backwards and they are willing to help. I think I would have thrown in the towel on Fusion 360 if not for TinWhisperer.
If you give an example of what you are trying to do, we could give you an idea of how we would do it. And, trust me, there are many ways to approach the design problems.
Please, please, please start out simple. Don’t try to make a Lamborghini on your first try.
All of us, that are helping on this forum, have had various struggles and have empathy for what you are going thru. That is why we are helping: sort of a ‘paying back’ for the help we received.
AND: “We are all still learning.” I can’t believe how much I don’t know about Fusion 360. I like your assessment of the percentage you know of Fusion 360.
I feel I know about 5% of Fusion 360 but I can usually make it do what I need to do.
Give us an example and we will try to show you how we would do it.
You need to make a body by extruding. Once you do your drawing. Press “e” for the hotkey to open the extrude dialog. Then you click on your drawing and you will see the circle now represents a “hole.”
When the mouse hovers over the drawing, the profile is showing itself. Left click and it will be selected:
To really see what is happening, you need to move it in 3D space. Hold down the [shift][middle mouse button], now move the mouse and you will see the arrow showing the extrusion. Pull on the arrow or type in a value for your extrusion, like “0.25”
Now you have a body with holes:
Edit: Now keep in mind, you do not have to make a ‘body’ to make the circle a hole. It will be cut out as a ‘hole’ when you go into the manufacturing space whether you see the 3D aspect of it in the design environment or not. But having a ‘body’ simplifies things in the Manufacturing environment so it is a good practice to start.
I will gloss over the tool library and pick a tool (you will want to watch a video on making tools). For this demonstration I am just trying to show you how quickly you can get to a gcode for FireControl.
Now I move to the 2nd tab of the tool path:
I hover over the body and click to select.
Click:
Now in my case, I am confident of all the other tabs having what I expect to get a successful gcode so I click “OK”. You will notice how the holes are cut on the inside and the body is cut on the outside. That is the beauty of using a ‘body’ in the manufacturing environment: Fusion will automatically know what is inside and outside cuts.
I go to post processing. Again, I am simplifying so don’t get bogged down in the detail yet:
By selecting:
Now the post processing screen pops up. I verify my numbers and that my post processor is correct. I press okay. And it generates the g-code (xxx.nc) file for FireControl. Ready to go to the plasma table.
This is a great video done by TinWhisperer. He goes thru things pretty fast but he gives you lots of information from start of design thru to Manufacturing. The more times you see this type of thing done, it seems to be easier to understand.
It may not actually answer your current questions/concerns but you will eventually want to know these things.
Note: I would have been overwhelmed with this video when I first started so if you are “overwhelmed” you are in good company. The information found in TinWhisperers videos, are hard to find anywhere else. Since he does plasma cutting, he understands how Fusion 360 will interact with the Langmuir CNC table.
I looked at fusion, tried it out for a bit, and then decided it was way more than i needed (or felt like trying to learn). I just need to do 2d parts 99% of the time, i switched to Qcad and didn’t look back. Very easy to learn, very inexpensive (free trial even), and works great for almost everything i need. For art stuff i use inkscape.
As a regular Fusion user this may sound bias. To generate the g-code (cut files) for your table you will need to use either Fusion or SheetCAM. SheetCAM is very easy to use, but will require a one time purchase to license it. Fusion, on the other hand, is capable of generating g-code even with the personal use license. (Read $0)
I agree with many of the above posts. A few videos / tutorials on Fusion will definitely easy your learning curve. Additionally, there are many of us here that are willing to help or point you in the right direction when trouble arises.
A couple of things I’d like to add to @ChelanJim detailed example.
Fusion is effectively designing in 3D. Plasma cutting is effectively 2D. The thickness of the designed part has no effect when cutting. Your tool settings (cut height, cut speed, pierce height, pierce delay) will be set based on your thicknes. And set in the Post Processing window. (Cutting 16ga from a 1/4" model is simple.) Creating different tools for different materials is fairly simple.
Origin point - The origin (read starting) point is defined in Fusion during the setup. I prefer to always set my origin to the lower, left corner. ThAt way i know my part will cut above and to the right of the location I have set as work zero. You may prefer one of the other corners, but Dry Running will save you headaches until you get the hang of it. (Note - Wherever you choose, choosing the same origin corner in your designs will allow expected results.)
Initial constraints - Fusion occasionally has issues with unconstrained sketches. Utilize the origin point, and dimension where possible. Not only will your sketches be more stable, making dimensional adjustments is esay!
And at any time you can change the work origin point in FireContol Before you cut if needed - you forgot to set it in F360, or your material dictates a different origin.
I feel your pain. I taught CAD for a few years and got pretty good with ACAD and fair with Inventor. F360 is WAY harder to learn and acts in some very weird ways. I no longer have access to free Autodesk products so I’ve been using NanoCAD for 2D design. But importing a DXF made in NanoCAD results in a sketch at a terribly wrong size. That is just one of the lousy aspects of F360. Not being able to scale a sketch (even though there is a menu item for that) and when you scale a body the sketch stays the original size. I could go on but that’s enough whining for now.
I worked thru the CADArtifex book. Kind of pricey but much worth it to me. The other was a gift. I have yet to work through it.
Tutorial in nature, walks you thru the process of creating a fully constrained sketch (fully constrained are easier to edit later), create and editing 3D models, assemblies, animations, and drawings. Touches on creating. STL files for 3D printing. Also covers the program interface, workspace, file management and such. Unfortunately they don’t cover sheet metal designs in terms of forming, bend factors, etc…
They are way more than you need for 2D parts. But you will be able to do anything you want with the table.
You’ll be able to make metal assemblies, furniture, or sketch a floorplan of your backyard.
