I never thought about Fusion 360. I knew it existed and that hobbyists and 3D Printing enthusiasts appreciate its interface. I learned PTC Creo Parametric in college, use PTC Onshape for work, and use FreeCAD for my business. I didn’t really need a new CAD software to use to be honest.
But I’ve recently wanted to offer tutoring sessions with beginners to help them with CAD as they get started. A lot people in the beginner phase tend to use Fusion or Onshape. Therefore I wanted to figure out how to use it too. But there’s more to just wanting to check it out.
As I get better at this skill, I realize that it’s not really about learning workflows, tools, buttons, interface, as much as it is learning how to think! It’s asking, How Do We Make This Part using primitive shapes, standard operations, and tools? That’s the most critical aspect of good teaching in my opinion. I want to get into this topic in greater detail later!!! but for now I will explain why I did this. I am trying Fusion out WITHOUT ANY tutorial or internet questions. I’m trying to loosely prove that once you learn how to think in terms of CAD, then any program starts to make sense.
But why am I even doing this? Well, it’s because I’m fed up with companies that advertise engineering jobs where they ask for a particular CAD software requirement and weed out promising candidates based on that one requirement alone. Is this really a thing? — YES!
I was interviewing with a company that asked for “Solidworks proficiency.” I told them I knew Creo, Onshape, and FreeCAD; bUt i tHaT i’M wIlLiNg tO lEaRn. They probably asked me half a dozen times about whether I knew how to use various (basic) tools in Solidworks. They couldn’t wrap their minds around the idea that both PTC programs have the same features (and I’m talking standard stuff like version control, assemblies!!!, etc). So, I think if I was interviewing someone who has CAD skills, I can trust them enough to figure out the buttons.
So, here is the first 5 minutes after installing Fusion 360 –
Just a random part, with basic constraints, and extrusion, and a revolve.
The sketch:
And a quick drawing just to play with the interface.
These skills may not land me a job, but I think I can effing figure it out Jack…I’m excited to create some cool parts with this tool.
Until next time!