Designing Physical Objects

Learning the use of Mechanical Engineering CAD tools is critical for any budding maker or engineer trying to design physical objects. Like all skills, one gets better only through practice. Being able to design physical objects needs one to go about trying to replicate designs available.

At Aegion, we use Fusion 360 as one of the preferred tools for its versatility and CAM support that allows the designer to automate the manufacturing process.

Learning the Basics

The ability to create sketches, extruding the designs is the core of how one realizes 3D objects

You need to develop the discipline of using parametric design and making sure that all your design are constraint driven using parameters wherever you can. This tutorial will only teach you about making finger-joints (something we use quite a bit when making laser cut enclosures, but also drill the use of parameters into you).

Creating Forms

While the core of the mechanical design is based out of using parametric sketches and extrusions, designs that humans interact with typically require a different approach, learning to create forms takes all that one knows about making designs and shaping forms to fit the ideas.

Often times we need to create designs that are more ergonomic and less blockly, this is nearly impossible to design with fusion 360 and the standard parametric design, so learning how to do surface modeling is going to be important.Surface Modeling with Fusion 360Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Once you're able to do this, you should take a look at all the other ways one can create 3D forms. This will let you understand.

Now mix form and function

Objects like an Xbox controller not only have to be ergonomic but also have the standardized compartments for holding the PCB internally, which this tutorial doesn't into the gritty details, it does serve as a good exercise to be able to do such complex designs.

Miscellaneous things one needs to do

When creating hardware most designers often neglect drawing cables and harnesses that take up a significant portion of the designs. While Solidworks does a better job at this, Fusion 360 is good enough for one to visualize these cables.

The following tutorial will give you an idea on how to model 3d printed enclosures for PCBs that we might use in the future, while the content here not directly for that, it'll give you the working knowledge.