Fusion 360 For Woodworkers Course on Udemy - ON SALE!

[nclemmons]

I just wrapped up the Fusion 360 Course on Udemy. It's a great resource if you want to dive into Fusion at a pretty quick pace and come up to speed on how to get the most out of the design program as a woodworker.

Course is on sale for $9.99 for 71 videos and 8.5 hours of instruction  You can easily jump around, fast forward or rewind as well as set bookmarks.  The instructor is a maker and knows a fair amount about Fusion.  I completed the entire course set, though I did fast forward through a few areas that I did not think I'd use that much, but have access to go back.  I like the book mark feature so you can set places if you want to go back to a section in the course.

Highly recommended if you want to try Fusion, or if you are moving from SketchUP to Fusion.

BTW, Fusion is a free application that includes CAD, CAM, Rendering, Sculpting and Plan Layout among other features.  A product of AutoDesk, if you are a maker, you can get a free subscription for a year at a time and simply renew by confirming you are still a maker.  Fusion runs on a Mac, on Windows and they offer apps for your tablet or smartphone for viewing projects you have created.  Plus it's cloud based so you can create a design and share a viewable version of the design with a client or associate for viewing within a browser.

For more info on the course, check out https://www.udemy.com/fusion360/learn/v4/overview

For more on Fusion 360, check out https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview

 

[Cheese]

Hey Neil, I’ve been checking out the Fushion software and I’m unable to find that it’s free to a maker. Only a student or a teacher. Otherwise it’s a $400 yearly expense. Can you point me in the right direction. Thanks 

 

[nclemmons]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] ... Go to this page:

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/free-trial

Click on the 'i' icon to the right of 'are you a startup or hobbiest'

I've been using it for over a year.  As I recall you download it and as a part of registration, they ask if you are a hobbiest (maker) and you can confirm.  On your one year anniversary, they send you an email and ask again and you just 're-up'.

That info link will take you to this page -https://knowledge.autodesk.com/supp...-or-educational-licensing-for-Fusion-360.html

Hope that helps -

neil

 

[Cheese]

Thanks Neil, I’ll check it out tomorrow.

 

[Mario Turcot]

[member=167]neilc[/member] Thanks for the heads up.

Fusion 360 is a standalone application? I thought it was an online service  [scared]

Can the CAM part connect to any CNC make? I'm currently toying with a Shapeoko XXL but plan to step up to Laguna IQ. I'd like to know if Fusion 360 can connect to both prior to dive into any course.

 

[nclemmons]

It is both a standalone and cloud based.  You download the app to your computer but everything syncs to the cloud for collaboration, sharing, backup and all file storage.  It does have an 'offline mode' if for example you don't have internet access.  But updates, materials, etc all come via the cloud.  And rendering of images can either be local or in the cloud if you want a higher quality render.

Fusion has very robust CAM capabilities - 2D, 2.5D, 3D with adaptive clearing as well.  It will work with 3,  4 and 5 axis CNC machines.  And it also will work with CNC lathes, Plasma tables, 3D printers, etc. 

The normal workflow will be something like this:

CAD (2D or 3D design) -> Optional Rendering or Printed Plan Creation -> CAM (defining machine paths for milling based on the model) -> Post Processor (typically built into Fusion) -> GCode Export (standard text file) -> Import to Machine Controller like Mach3, Mach4 or the CNC manufacturer's control software (digital readout, stepper motor control, limits, etc) -> CNC Machine (which cuts or prints the material)

Built into Fusion is what's called a 'post processor' which takes into consideration the specific G-code commands to control a particular company's CNC controller.  Fusion has support for Shapeco post-processor built in. Fusion will output G-Code which you can import into any G-code sender like Mach 3 or Mach 4 or the one created by the CNC manufacturer to control a CNC.  I use Mach 3 with is probably the most popular CNC control software and never had any issues with it. 

Shapeco comes with Carbide Create and Carbide Control.  Those are their design and control programs for controlling their CNC.  But you can also use Fusion for the creation side and export the GCode which you then import into the Control tool to send to the CNC.

It looks like Laguna also supports Fusion 360 with their post-processor.  https://lagunatools.com/design-software-resources/  I'd suggest you reach out to them as you move down that path with questions on workflow and support.

It's a lot to absorb on how this stuff works.  Hope this helps. 

 

[Cheese]

Hey Neil, just wanted to thank you again and let you know I downloaded Fushion 360 today and purchased the coursework from Udemy. It should be interesting.  [big grin]

 

[vkumar]

Thanks Neil for the udemy link.  I have had this program for a quite a while but havent done much with . This will give me a kick I need. I am pretty proficient with Solidworks and Creo (Proe).

 

[live4ever]

Yes thank you Neil!  I’ve had F360 installed for a while but been procrastinating learning it.  I started the course and it looks like it will be very helpful.

 

[Cheese]

I downloaded Fusion 360 about 15 months ago and tried to learn how to use it. Unfortunately, my 30 day license expired before I was able to figure it out, so I just let it sit. With the new "Maker" yearly license option and the Udemy coursework, I expect the process to be a lot less frustrating.

It seems some operations in F360 are really intuitive while many others are not.

 

[Mario Turcot]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] have you re-activate your Fusion 360 license yet?

 

[Cheese]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] have you re-activate your Fusion 360 license yet?

Yea Mario, I did that yesterday, however that’s all the further I got.  [tongue]

 

[Mario Turcot]

Cool, i just want to know if you had any problem renewing the license  [wink]

 

[Cheese]

Cool, i just want to know if you had any problem renewing the license  [wink]

None whatsoever Mario...but we’ll see in either 30 days or 365 days.  [eek]

 

[vkumar]

No problems in renewing after 365 days ( I know this from experience).  Should be good as long as their current policy stays.

 

[mdihle]

Appreciate the heads up guys!  I was using sketchup to learn and design a bed for my daughter that I just made, but I wanted to go beyond the free web version they have.  Being just a hobbiest - I could not pay the full featured price and things like printing things out were a pain.  I picked up the Fusion class and got all signed up with the software!  Thanks guys! [smile]

 

[PaulH99]

You can still download "Sketchup Make" which previously was the free standalone version:

Mac version:https://www.sketchup.com/download/sketchup-make/mac/thank-you
Windows version:https://www.sketchup.com/download/sketchup-make/windows/thank-you

The links, above, bypass the mailing list signup page and will instantly download the application installer file.

Appreciate the heads up guys!  I was using sketchup to learn and design a bed for my daughter that I just made, but I wanted to go beyond the free web version they have.  Being just a hobbiest - I could not pay the full featured price and things like printing things out were a pain.  I picked up the Fusion class and got all signed up with the software!  Thanks guys! [smile]

 

[Mario Turcot]

Subscribed to the Fusion 360 For Hobbyists and Woodworkers  [big grin]

Thank you Neil  8)

 

[Mario Turcot]

Now that I`m done with that course Autodesk made a huge change to their licenses. No more free

 

[Dick Mahany]

Figures, I'm 60% through the course !  I really like Fusion 360, but now I need to look at cost.

EDIT: 9/14/2018  Just checked Autodesk site and they still claim that hobbyists can use it for free if used for non-commercial use.