How to program CAM for guitar bodies in Fusion 360 | Complete Tutorial

In this video we dive deep into CAM for Guitar bodies in Autodesk Fusion 360. We program the CAM for my guitar, from start to finish, including Setups, Stocks, Fixtures, Tool Library, 2D & 3D Toolpaths, and full simulations with detailed tips and tricks.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:21 Constraints & order of operations
3:53 Stocks & fixture
10:00 Setting up your tool library
22:06 Setup 1 for pre laminated top
24:59 2D Toolpaths for wiring channels & control cavity
33:30 Setup 2 for laminated top
35:00 2D Toolpaths for pickup slots
37:45 2D Toolpaths for outer contour
46:06 2D Toolpaths for neck pocket
50:36 3D Rouging toolpaths for relief cuts
54:24 3D Finishing toolpaths for relief cuts
1:03:28 Setup 3 for back side (flip part)
1:05:31 Adjusting 3D toolpaths for back side
1:13:37 2D Toolpaths for neck & string ferrules
1:17:54 2D Toolpaths for control cavity panel
1:18:50 2D Toolpath for final contour (with tabs)
1:21:48 Summary and full simulation of programs
1:26:25 Final Thoughts
Fusion 360 Tutorial | CAM Basics (Part 1)
• Fusion 360 Tutorial | ...
Fusion 360 Tutorial | CAM Order of Operations (Part 2)
• Fusion 360 Tutorial | ...
How I modeled this guitar:
• Guitars in Fusion 360
Discord Server: Come chat with me!
/ discord
If you like this video or want to learn more in Fusion 360, please like, comment, and subscribe to not miss any future videos!
#Fusion360 #CNC #CAM

[@Bama5150RT]

Thank you Austin! Perfect and timely tutorial.

[@MrKtmstu]

Nice work Austin, I’ve not used F360 for some time and this got me back up to speed so quickly. Keep it up!

[@klaudio001]

Thank you very much Austin! You definitely ROCK!! Excellent work

[@placidobillone]

Thank you Austin. The quality and the content of your videos is amazing. Thank you for sharing. You deserve thousands of like

[@markscheiner3952]

Really interesting Fusion Cam tutorial. So much good info in here. Thanks for posting

[@alexanderkartsonakis]

In depth and great detail as always!!! Didn't feel like 1 ½ hour long!

[@austinshaner]

Felt like 8 hours of recording for an 1 1/2 hour video for me :)

[@edmayhew4261]

YESSSSSSS again with the prime content.

[@seanlennon5044]

Well done Austin, another superb tutorial.

[@austinshaner]

Thank you!

[@0hardy]

You're an angel man.

[@samwalker4442]

great video man....really helped ALOT!

[@Mad-v3d0n]

Good job! great tutorial

[@Active-guitar]

Thank you, this great help!

[@paulvreke9781]

This was yet another very useful tutorial! Thanks!

[@austinshaner]

No sweat, glad this was helpful!

[@luisownerbr]

Thank you so much for sharing man

[@pierrecomtois1222]

Awesome video. Thx so much...will help me with my current electric violin build! Pierre

[@ACOUSTITRON-mp6tc]

Amazing…thanks a lot

[@bebe-yt]

Very useful thank you

[@CarlosDelcristo]

Awesome!!! Thanks

[@felixmartinmusic]

this is awesome man ive been learning!

[@onecarwood]

How have I just found your channel?!? Great videos, exact info I need. Most videos I watch don’t either go over the right info or maybe they just don’t explain as well, idk.

[@matthewjacobs3952]

Great stuff, yet again! Its a shame you only have 463 subscribers. A quick tip, in your preferences under manufacture, you can set it to show machine time next to the op, really helps to dial in the settings. Keep up the good work!

[@austinshaner]

That's great to know! Thanks for the tip! I only really started uploading regularly around 3 months ago and things have just started to pickup (200+ in the last few weeks). From what I hear, it takes most channels (including big ones) around 6 months to a year to hit 1000, but the first 1k is harder than the next ;)

[@DanielBorelGuitars]

Wonderful video ! Clear concrete explanations,... for a newbie in Fusion like me it's VERY helpful !!! I had just big problems to send G codes to Carbide motion... newbie with cnc too ; ). and spent lots of time searching a solution. ATTENTION! for those who speak other languages (I speak usually French), set up the English interface! changing from French to English solved my problems... Thanks again Austin, keep on teaching !

[@diegompinheiro]

😍😍😍

[@jackriebe5410]

Hey man, love your videos. Do you have another video that explains a little more in depth how to set up those fixtures you were talking about 3:58 to 9:52 ? I've watched it a couple times and I'm still not sure I'm understanding it. Thank you

[@ChrisInMarshfield]

Thanks for a great series! This seemed like a good place to ask the question out of all in the collection. You speak of tool paths and order of operations often which makes for good usable work segments. I appreciate the thought that goes into your process. When it comes to machining operations that require a tool change, do you (or anyone else) prefer to separate those operations into their own code files or keep everything in a single operation? I was practicing using some of the techniques you described and when it was time to change the tool, I shifted the machine, this throwing it out of alignment. Knowing that I had no way of getting it back mid-operation, I wondered if breaking it into more manageable chunks like that might be a good practice. Was that covered in any of your videos? I'd love to hear others' experience in that regard. Thanks!

[@austinshaner]

That sort of depends on what the capabilities of your machine is. For example if you have an ATC spindle, it would be smart to group as many into one operation (with automatic tool changes) together. If you have a standard collet spindle, then depending on how much you trust your machine to not lose xy position you could either group or split them up. I can't trust my machine to maintain position during a tool change, so I try to group all toolpaths that require the same tool into one operation, then tool change and rezero, then a group of all toolpaths that use the next tool into one operation. However, there are still some operations I keep 100% separate from the rest, and those are usually ones where I need to dial in a specific tolerance and re-run it again without taking the workpiece off the machine. That way I can run, measure, change the stock to leave etc, repost, and run again

[@GTguitarworks]

Hi Austin, thank you for this video, I've learned a lot from it. I got all the CAM set up for a Strat body with this info. However, when I set it up on the machine it doesn't want to cut at the work piece. It wants to cut air more in the middle of the machine. and what's confusing is I just machined two other projects this week with no problem? I have a probe with my Shapeoko XX3, so it should zero out at the work piece. I also went into setups and made sure in the post processing tab, in the WCS box it has a 1 in the first set up and a 2 in the second set up for when I flip the body over. However, none of this will make the machine start at the work piece where I probe it? I think it must have something to do with this newer NC system. Have you experienced this? and if so how did you work through it? Thanks..

[@ghobii_x]

This is clearing up so many little frustrating details for me. Thanks so much! I also have a "wimpy X-carve" :)

[@austinshaner]

I've made it a little less wimpy over the years - but I'm nearly due for an upgrade. I'd like to go with the PrintNC - which as far as I'm concerned is the most capable and cost efficient package I can find (around 1k). My "dream" machine would be AVID CNC but I can't fork out 10k for that.

[@ghobii_x]

@@austinshaner I've upgraded a number of parts too. It's a decent machine, though I'd like one a bit larger so I could cut baritone and bass necks without tiling. And something beefy enough to really cut aluminum in a reasonable amount of time so I could realistically make my own bridges. I hadn't come across the PrintNC before. I imagine that steel frame would really help with cutting metal.

[@clearpepsi7347]

Very awesome dude! This was a super helpful tutorial! One question, how do you set your zero on the machine to the origin point of the fixture? By eye? Edge finder?

[@austinshaner]

Thanks!! I have a couple different ways depending on what I'm machining. I have an aluminum touch probe that let's me find xyz, a z touch probe that came with my xcarve, but honestly I typically do it by feel/eye. So I will bring the endmill near the edge of my fixture or workpiece, shine a light behind it (pointed towards me) and rotate the bit until the light disappears at the flute and I can just barely feel it scraping the wood. That usually gets me within about a thou or two which is more than enough for wood.

[@wallbagner]

WoW! Nice work! BTW I hate sanding wood , so what is your preference regarding the ramp/conventional machining , witch one do you choose for final cutting or roughing, i have noticed a smoother result in "ramp" style cutting during toolpaths , so what is your take on this? Cheers! BTW I am also a Musician and a retired old Geezer!

[@Rhysss1991]

Thank you so much. Would you consider training 1 to 1 over Teams? If so, how do we get in touch so we can discuss your hourly rate?

[@benweiss897]

Great video - I learned a ton. Thank you Austin! Will you at some point post a video of the actual cutting on your CNC? Your methods to index, hold-down and flip were not clear to me. Also, you had some "rapid collision with stock" errors. I'd love top see how you resolved those (that's something I've struggled with).

[@austinshaner]

Hey Ben! I'm glad this was helpful! Yes, I do plan on machining this at some point and will post a video when I do. The rapid collision error is sometimes confusing. But what it means is that my bit contacted the stock while it was using a G0 rapid move command. To put it more plainly, my bit hit my stock while it was moving from one cutting location to another. There are a lot of reasons this could happen, such as lead ins or lead outs, clearance for the bit from a previous operation etc... I apologize I don't remember the specific cause from my video.

[@austinshaner]

As for my indexing, I'm simply using two dowel pins to hold the alignment with clamps to hold down the stock, flip the part, realign with pins/ clamp, and keep cutting. As for the fixture, I am simply zeroing my workoffsets on the fixture, rather than the stock. The only challenge this brings Is that I need to provide the fixture with a specific thickess of stock. Because I won't be accommodating much variation in thickess by zeroing off off of the work piece like you normally would.

[@alphaomegalives]

Would lowering your tolerance from.0004 down to say .004 shorten you machining time while still yielding a reasonable tolerance? This was one of the first things that tripped me up machining time wise. Super video, I love watching peoples approaches to cam and always take something away from it - I love that you explain why your doing something- this is extremely helpful for us beginners. I don’t build guitars but this video was immensely helpful. I hope you do more of these. Also would love to watch this part being cut on the machine. Cheers!

[@lancelindquist8925]

where can i get the material you're using as your fixture?great content, thank you

[@ivanvladimirovic2972]

Awesome content!Please help bro,i cannot save toolpaths to actually machine my designed gutar body.

[@rogerswanson6209]

Did you use MDF for the fixture and how thick 3/4" ?

[@GTguitarworks]

Hi Austin, If I shared a file with you from fusion 360, would you look at the tool paths to see if you see any problems?