Spitfire76 is learning Autodesk Fusion 360

[Spitfire76]

After building a number of both foam board and 3d printed planes I really have the desire to design my own planes and know that I need to become somewhat proficient in CAD.

I had used Inkscape for 2d and Tinkercad for simple 3d printed parts but to design a complete plane a more professional CAD software was needed. I started with some Fusion 360 tutorials on YouTube and some classes on Udemy but recently stumbled upon these guys that in my opinion really is the ultimate method to learn Fusion 360.

The Ultimate Online Fusion 360 CAD Course (Tutorial, Lesson)

27 step-by-step CAD projects to help you quickly master Autodesk Fusion 360 and start building your dreams. Updated in 2024. Live expert help. Sketches, Joints, Assemblies, Engineering Drawings, Motion Animation, CAM, and more.

www.cadclass.org

So they have a video course for $400 but their paperback book on Amazon covers the same material for under $40. They even have the PDFs of the book downloadable for free on their website but I am sure a donation would be appreciated. What's really good is they are building a community with their discord server and weekly live YouTube podcast that supports the course.

PS - just adding the link to the free personal (non-commercial) version of Fusion 360 as I found it not so obvious to locate on the Autodesk website.

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal

 

[Flying Monkey fab]

I’ve been learning F360 for several years now and appreciate the heads up as I’ve never heard of them. I will check them out.

I’ve designed quite a few things with it but have yet to tackle a full on plane plan. Sure would like to though.

 

[Spitfire76]

Now that CAD Class does not cover designing model planes although they have mentioned a drone project in their next edition of the book (June 2024). Of course what is unique about planes is their airfoil and I found that there are additional Fusion 360 scripts to help with that. I'll attempt to document them in this thread as I learn myself.

In F360 select UTILITIES from the top menu and then ADD-INS and in the drop down menu select Fusion 360 App Store to open up a browser window to the Autodesk App store. Search for "Airfoil DAT to Spline and download it".

From the download directory run the msi file (windows) and it will install the script into F360.
Select Scripts and Add-ins under the ADD-INS menu (or shift S) and it should now show up under My Scripts

Before ruining the script another file (.dat) is needed that describes the airfoil shape. There are a number of sources for this and links are provided in the script's description on the app store. I downloaded a Clark-Y airfoil from Airfoil Tools as I understand that its quite a common airfoil. Make sure that the file has a .dat suffix and not txt.

Run the script and a parameter window will pop up.

Select a plane (I left the others as default) and another window will pop up to select the airfoil's dat file. You should now have something like this

The trailing edge though has a gap so you will need to edit the sketch and add a line to enclose the shape.

....more to follow as I learn how to now make this sketch into a 3d printable wing.

 

[TEAJR66]

You can open the DAT file in notepad and make the last two sets of numbers match the first two sets of numbers. Then give it a name and save the file as a .dat file. Do not delete or add sets of numbers.

Or, like you said, edit the sketch with lines to close up the trailing edge. Either way works.

 

[Spitfire76]

I haven't updated this thread for awhile, mainly because I have been building several 3d printed planes but would like to get back into learning how to design planes, both foam board and 3d printed using Autodesk Fusion.

One feature of Fusion is "sheet metal" which allows you to build a 3d model and then "unfold" it. I figured that it should also work for foam board. I recently came across this in another thread which confirms that it can be used for foam board.

 

[Spitfire76]

To continue on with using Autodesk fusion to design foam board planes my aim is to develop a rule for $tree FB but first need to understand the above parameters. So far just changed

• Thickness to 4.75mm (3/16")
• Bend radius to 0.1 (can't set to zero)

 

[Mr NCT]

View attachment 249055
To continue on with using Autodesk fusion to design foam board planes my aim is to develop a rule for $tree FB but first need to understand the above parameters. So far just changed

• Thickness to 4.75mm (3/16")
• Bend radius to 0.1 (can't set to zero)

Thanks for starting this thread! I've been using Fusion for a few years and have only scratched the surface of what it can do for designing planes. It blows my mind that this much power is available for $0. Really interested to see what tips and tricks you uncover.

 

[Flying Cherokee]

@Mr Man uses Onshape because we couldn’t figure out how to unwrap the skins easily. Let me know if you figure it out!

 

[Mr Man]

@Mr Man uses Onshape because we couldn’t figure out how to unwrap the skins easily. Let me know if you figure it out!

I still recommend Fusion for 3d printing though.

 

[Flying Monkey fab]

I've been approaching this from another angle so I appreciate your work approaching it from a sheet metal vantage point.

View attachment 249055
To continue on with using Autodesk fusion to design foam board planes my aim is to develop a rule for $tree FB but first need to understand the above parameters. So far just changed

• Thickness to 4.75mm (3/16")
• Bend radius to 0.1 (can't set to zer

 

[Spitfire76]

I am discovering more with these tools as I apply the use of CAD to re-design a model I created back in 2022.

FTFC'25 MS Design Bristol M1c designed by Spitfire76

I actually designed and built this plane back in early 2022 for another challenge but have been looking for an excuse to make some major improvements so thanks for allowing me to enter this challenge. The judges should take into consideration that I will have a major head start over someone that...

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