Computer-Aided-Design (CAD)
Parametric
Week two's lesson is about using Fusion 360 to create a handphone stand using parametric. Parametric modeling is a modeling process with the ability to change the shape of model geometry when dimension value is modified. This toll will come in handy for our laser cutting assignment, Since material are usually not accurately produced, the thickness of material varies.
Handphone stand
1. Add parameters
Parameters added here will be used to construct the handphone stand. It is easier to edit parameters more efficiently rather than selecting one by one.
2. Create sketch
3. Create a rectangle using parametric
I created a rectangle using width-thickness*2 x height parameters.
4. Create slot tab
I used a center rectangle to create a rectangle with a dimension of thickness*2 x slot, and placed right in the middle, so that the two ends will have equal length.
5. Trim unwanted lines
6. Create construction line
7. Create another slot tab
Using the mirror function, I created a slot tab opposite the tab that is created previously.
8. Create sketch for other pieces
Repeated the steps from steps 3-7 with their parametric measurements respectively. The holes in the pieces all uses the same functions (center rectangle, mirror)
This is how the laser cutting pieces will look like before assembling them together.
9. Align the pieces
You can find align function Under "solid" tab -> "modify" tab. This function is to put the pieces together. When I put the pieces together, I noticed that the pieces were overlapping each other.
10. Edit sketch
I went back to the sketch that I want to edit. In this case, I am editing my first piece to a smaller width. The width is now width-thickness*3.
11. Check
After editing, I will make sure that everything is fitted nicely.
Final product
Reflection
This lesson is very fun and interesting to play around with the software. Ideation and designing is not that easy, but Fusion360 make it seems effortless. The prototype design I came up with is a handphone stand that can charge and amplify sound. I would like to make a handphone stand more than just holding a handphone. I struggle coming out with a dimension with this product. When I align the pieces together, the dimensions are not correct. With the parametric modelling Fusion360 provides, it saves me a lot of time to edit the dimensions correctly. Other than editing the design into the correct dimension, parametric also allow us to easily fix laser cutting precision error by adjusting the dimension to compensate its error.
References:
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Creating an assembly in Fusion 360. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1p7Sn1eMmE [Accessed 5 Nov. 2021].