Environment
Fusion 360 also includes CAM capabilities, it is a simple to use, complete and powerful CAD/CAM software for milling, turning and cutting.
With fusion 360 you can create toolpaths for mill machine, laser/plasma cut or lathe not only from your 3D solid models but also directly from your 2D AutoCAD drawings.
2D profiles transfer from AutoCAD to Fusion 360:
Fusion 360 stores its data in the cloud.
AutoCAD drawing to be machined can be loaded in your Fusion Team or A360 hub very easily via direct upload from local or network drive from Fusion 360.
The drawing that contains the profiles to be machined is now imported and available; it can be directly open in Fusion 360 or inserted into a Fusion 360 existing model, for example into a model that represent your tooling assembly.
Multiple axis toolpaths from AutoCAD geometry
Profiles contained into the AutoCAD drawing will be imported with their 3D status; if you have multiple profiles in different Z levels or different UCS to simulate different faces to be machined with a 4 or 5 axis milling machine (available with Fusion 360 Ultimate), their different spatial orientations will be maintained and ready to be consumed by Fusion 360.
Also, if you have a specific vector defined by a 3D element in AutoCAD, it can be used in Fusion 360 as tool axis like shown in following example.
In this example, same profile (a circle) has been machined first with a tool perpendicular to the profile itself and then with a tool along a different angle defined by a segment into the AutoCAD drawing, generating in this way an elliptical toolpath:
Productivity improvement after converting your 2D design into a 3D solid model
Good opportunity to start creating 3D solid models from your 2D drawings!
You need to machine a very large number of different hole patterns, for example, from AutoCAD you import in Fusion 360 a 2D drawing similar to the following:
To machine this design in 2D with Fusion 360 you need to select all the circles with same diameter and apply the drill cycle for each different hole size.
But if we have a 3D model available, Fusion 360 allows user to select the hole face and all the same diameter automatically.
To generate a solid model from this sketch it is a couple of clicks in Fusion 360:
Once you have the 3D model, to select all holes with same diameter is easy and you will be able to quickly create all your different drill cycles.
