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Thinking about trying it, Fusion 360 opinions

plastikdreams

Diamond
Joined
May 31, 2011
Location
upstate nj
Currently I use alibre design and masterCAM X2 for cad/cam work. I keep hearing about fusion 360, and it appears to be free for "enthusiasts"...I am entertaining downloading it and kicking the tires but before I waste my time I'd like to hear some opinions on it.

Also, how do post processors work...are they available for anything or is there a select few?
 
Currently I use alibre design and masterCAM X2 for cad/cam work. I keep hearing about fusion 360, and it appears to be free for "enthusiasts"...I am entertaining downloading it and kicking the tires but before I waste my time I'd like to hear some opinions on it.

Also, how do post processors work...are they available for anything or is there a select few?

Fusion 360 is going to whip the pants of Alibre and a 10 year old seat of MasterCAM.
 
Fusion 360 is going to whip the pants of Alibre and a 10 year old seat of MasterCAM.

Yeah I know alibre is a "bit" basic lol and I've used upto x4 masterCAM. I'm always down to try new stuff.

Does it do wire edm? I have access to about 15 mits machines I tend to stick to the fa20-s advance machines though.
 
I'm always getting in parts my customers want me to reproduce, but they're parts and not drawings. Of I'm making a fixture or tooling for the shop, and need an actual drawing to work from.
Quite often I'll measure the parts and create a model in
Alibre, then break out the 2D drawing. As you may know, Alibre has the option to "include part dimensions" which IMO is very handy, and I use it all the time, many times modifying things to suit as well.

So people are telling me to go check out F360, how great it is, etc. Just a couple weeks ago I watched several videos on 2D drawings in F360 and (as far as I can tell) there is no function for bringing in any dimensions when creating a 2D drawing. Looks to me like you have to manually re-dimension the 2D drawing, and that doesn't look to handy either.
That is super disappointing! Seems like a no-brainer to include such basic function.
I guess F360 is another 3D program that really doesn't address any need for creating 2D drawings. So what....doesn't anybody work with actual paper 2D drawings anymore??
So then I was told to check out Draftsight for more 2D functionality.
 
I'm always getting in parts my customers want me to reproduce, but they're parts and not drawings. Of I'm making a fixture or tooling for the shop, and need an actual drawing to work from.
Quite often I'll measure the parts and create a model in
Alibre, then break out the 2D drawing. As you may know, Alibre has the option to "include part dimensions" which IMO is very handy, and I use it all the time, many times modifying things to suit as well.

So people are telling me to go check out F360, how great it is, etc. Just a couple weeks ago I watched several videos on 2D drawings in F360 and (as far as I can tell) there is no function for bringing in any dimensions when creating a 2D drawing. Looks to me like you have to manually re-dimension the 2D drawing, and that doesn't look to handy either.
That is super disappointing! Seems like a no-brainer to include such basic function.
I guess F360 is another 3D program that really doesn't address any need for creating 2D drawings. So what....doesn't anybody work with actual paper 2D drawings anymore??
So then I was told to check out Draftsight for more 2D functionality.

I have been transitioning to Fusion 360 from Geomagic Alibre. Drawings has been the major drawback but it is getting better. March 10 they just had a major improvement for drawings. I am using it for programming one of our mills also.
 
Fusion is the software I switched to from my old cad/cam system. It was last updated in 2001 and was a wireframe modeler, just so you know I may not know what I am talking about. Fusion does have different ways of doing things. If you do things the Fusion way I expect you will really like it, if you try to do it the way you are used to you will probably hate it. It has taken me awhile to learn it but now after over 3 years I really like Fusion. It is far from perfect but has come a real long way since I started, and for the price nothing compares.

There are quite a few posts and small edits are pretty easy plus you can get help on the two forums they have for simple edits. If you want more than something someone on a forum will do for free you have to do it yourself or find a reseller to do it. Autodesk no longer does much to help with this anymore. I am still trying to figure out how to edit the post processor to post the code the way I like it vs the way Fusion likes it. They are Javascript and I am trying to learn it, but all the information I have found pertains to use in websites, not post processors. If you like one line worth of code spread over 5 lines and two or three separate moves then you will be happy with the way Fusion likes to post code. If not it feels like beating your head against a concrete wall trying to condense the code and get all the axis to position at the same time.

If you are going to download it then take the time to learn it before deciding you don't like it. Myigetit.com has what was the best training material for the beginer when I was learning, well worth checking out to see if it is still free. I have not spent much time looking at what Autodesk has available since it has only become available after I needed it.
 
works fairly well at its pricepoint

aggravating that there is no damn manual. I don't want to go to the forums for a simple question, and a book frequently explains the concepts you need to know so you don't have to ask questions, but there is no manual

It is pretty obvious there is a post processor editor they are not giving us. again, a manual on how to edit would be nice. I hacked and slashed a standard PP to get what I wanted. had to watch a tedious youtube video to learn that much. USers can read, you know!

At least you can edit PPs


It actually writes pretty compact code for me.

It is not parametric like solidworks so changing things is not just changing a dimension
 
I have been transitioning to Fusion 360 from Geomagic Alibre. Drawings has been the major drawback but it is getting better. March 10 they just had a major improvement for drawings. I am using it for programming one of our mills also.

And just what does that major improvement consist of ??
Please elaborate.
I am also not at all fond of the "cloud".....


It is not parametric like solidworks so changing things is not just changing a dimension

REALLY??
I thought that was the whole point of modern CAD software.
 
excellent, this is exactly the info i am looking for! alibre can be kinda clunky but its easy as hell to use. I have the basic version so i cant really export 3D to many files but hey it was 99 bucks for lifetime use. 2d wise i just export to a dxp and load it into masterCAM. if I need to program something 3d I just draw it in masterCAM. its an old seat of masterCAM but it still spits out what I want it to, granted I have to edit the g-code to work on some machines but thats not a big deal at all. For instance, my wire post processors are all for like agie and sodick, so I program in the generic mill mode, post the code then copy and paste to a program I have from the mits...works perfectly.

mainly I was wondering if its a fairly simple transition to fusion360, kinda like from alibre to solidworks. sounds like thats not really the case though.
 
The cost of 3d software is not the price of buying it. Its in the library of parts, templates, posts etc. that you create. At my last job they had one user working with SolidEdge and were unhappy with the results they got from an investment of $10,000 in software over 5 years. When I told my boss that the one engineer using it had over $100,000 in labor invested in the parts library he was shocked. But I convinced him that the way to make that investment pay was to get more seats so it could be shared. That changed the picture tremendously.

The most discouraging thing about 3d programs is that we still need Autocad for electrical, and process drawings. They work well for generating flat views of 3d objects but totally suck for 2d drafting.
 
Yes it is...

Need more letters

you are right I am wrong, but I will say, the difference is even looking at it , I cannot figure out how to change things in fusion[well, in 5 minutes] and in my 10 year old version of solidworks, I cannot figure out how to get it to stop changing things.....yeah yeah, get your model fully constrained .....

I mean, one of the things I like about Fusion is it is not bugging me to get everything constrained....

but my own stupidity is making my point here

write a fookin manual you pinheads, if only so I won't look stupid on the internet................

yeah I know no hope there............
 
To answer your post processor question. You can download functional posts, or pay to have one custom made if needed. Posts are done in java script, so you can edit one yourself if you are comfortable with that.

Here is a location of standard posts for download. Autodesk CAM | Post Library

A series of webinars on editing posts is on youtube Post Development Basic Training Part 1 - YouTube

For minor edits there is quite a bit of help via the forums as well. I've probably modified 50+ 3-axis posts for others there. Most are simple code ordering changes, but sometimes it's actual functionality improvements.

Computer Aided Machining (CAM) - Autodesk Community

HSM Post Processor Forum - Autodesk Community
 
For minor edits there is quite a bit of help via the forums as well. I've probably modified 50+ 3-axis posts for others there. Most are simple code ordering changes, but sometimes it's actual functionality improvements.

Computer Aided Machining (CAM) - Autodesk Community

HSM Post Processor Forum - Autodesk Community
Yeah, but for major edits like having the Z axis raise a set distance vs going all the way home before moving the rotary axis you are on your own.
 
Yeah, but for major edits like having the Z axis raise a set distance vs going all the way home before moving the rotary axis you are on your own.

That shouldn't be too difficult. I'd help with that if someone asked. I have added maximum height and axis return values to posts for a tool change position (IE tall parts). A little more work and it could be modified to output a specific location editable in the user variables but neither person I helped needed it.
 
That shouldn't be too difficult. I'd help with that if someone asked. I have added maximum height and axis return values to posts for a tool change position (IE tall parts). A little more work and it could be modified to output a specific location editable in the user variables but neither person I helped needed it.
I would really appreciate it! Here is my thread on the HSM forum.

Bob Shultz showed me how to remove the Z move to home but I would then need to add it to the tool change section and the Z move to clearance for rotary axis rotation. How would you like proceed?

Thank you.
 
Was hoping this thread might be able to shed some light on my CAD/CAM ignorance a bit but seems to be about the function and not some nuts and bolts aspects.

Please take this with a grain of salt, my last CAD use was AutoCad 2008 and I used it for 2D drawings for our landscape architecture business to replace drafting. So never used CAD to make parts in a CNC.

My question is about things I have heard people mention but never go into detail about.

First is it ransomware as far as your work goes? People have hinted it is entirely cloud based (so much for my new powerful CAD computer?) and if you decide to step up to something else and still want access to your old work you have to keep your subscription up forever or you are out of luck.

Second when reading through forum posts from the beta a few years ago when they were trying to get people to subscribe they kept mentioning 'rendering points' or some such. The implication was that every time you rendered something it was happening on their servers so was taking cycles and you only had an allotted amount then you had to pay. They were offering 1000 free rendering points to people who upgraded to the full product or something like that.

Is this true? Is it a complete client piece of software like a video game where you have to be internet connected to use it? And no sub means no use. That has long term ramifications that I find alarming.

Again sorry about my lack of knowledge but I am getting my first real CNC machine in a few weeks or whenever Ellison gets around to delivering it and the CAD/CAM thing really has me stumped. I don't have a huge budget to just blow on Solidworks/MasterCam. I certainly don't want to lose all my work in Fusion 360 if I get to that point.

There were a few other questions like being able to upgrade the $300 year sub for standard to the $900 a year sub for when I buy my 4th axis or get a lathe with Y/C live tooling. Can you do this or is it more complicated than that? Trying to avoid wading into their phone support, if they have any, but I have lots of questions. Yes I refuse to "upgrade" to Windows 365 for the same reasons.
 








 
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