Dive Into Fusion 360: Design Your Own 7 Segment Display

[@TradeWorks_Construction]

I’ve often thought you could have gone the tutorial route and solely make videos around Fusion360. I’m 100% confident you rank in the top 5 for 3D Cad Tutorials on KZbin which is saying something since your focus is more on what you’re making which happens to include a play by play of the steps you’re taking (with the occasional explanation for why). No matter the focus or the topic, I have nothing but respect + admiration for the level of quality and professionalism you bring to your published content. You really do kill it James 👍.

[@Tekzel]

James, you've basically become my Bob Ross. I watch your videos and I find them extremely soothing. Plus I get to learn something too. Thanks!

[@no-page]

Great follow-up to last week's video. I was especially curious to see how you made the "wells" to shield the LEDs from each other. As I watched you fast-forward through the selection of 56 lens segments at 19:42 , I think I would have hidden the case body then window-selected the lenses all at once. When making the diffusers at 22:45, I would have switched to an end view and window-selected the back faces of the lenses rather than doing them one at a time. I'm just lazy.

[@MooCow2X2]

Wow… I think you just doubled my Fusion360 game in 30 minutes watching this…

[@MattysWorkshop]

Gday James, this was really interesting, I have the hobby version of fusion360 and learnt by watching others on YT, it’s a really handy tool to have that’s for sure, great video mate, cheers

[@Rob_65]

One of the best Fusion 360 "follow along" tutorials available 👍 I have over 15 years experience with SolidWorks and am using Fusion360 for 3 or 4 years and I still pick up some new ideas from these tutorials.

[@michaelgleason4791]

I feel like you should teach Fusion 360. I don't know why, but the way you explained everything just made sense. I usually struggle to follow along with other fusion 360 tutorials.

[@g.tucker8682]

Yes, please

[@rednwhitecooper]

All of your Fusion videos have taught me more than any “learn Fusion in x amount of time” tutorial video ever has.

[@thebrakshow7415]

Its crazy how simple this is watching someone walk you though it. I would have over complicated this 100 times over doing it by myself. Fantastic set of videos!

[@Voidmonster]

I come from entirely the wrong side of the 3d tracks (VFX and game dev), so the decades I've spent pushing polygons around are actually kind of a liability working with Fusion, so I really appreciate the help here especially in an application that's a lot closer to relevant to the stuff I do (unlike quite a lot of other Fusion stuff I see). Thanks!

[@danmooney7192]

Watching you do this programing amazes me, as far as my understanding what you're doing, you might as well be speaking Greek but it's fascinating to watch!

[@sergeb7945]

Found out my F360 process for getting from concept to finished product is very similar to yours. Especially, most of the times where there were several options for a given step I would have gone the same way. Feeling reassured. Thanks James

[@PaulMorley1]

James, Fantastic content. I always learn new things by watching your process for going about designing and organizing your Fusion models. Thanks

[@Festivejelly]

Really great use of the multi material of that machine. Its crazy what we can make at home and in our workshops these days!

[@yellowcrescent]

Awesome. Have been waiting for this one to see how you handled those segments & light pipes. I wonder if originally creating multiple sketches on the same plane would have been cleaner/easier than projecting to other sketches later-- although I feel like sometimes when there are circular dependencies between multiple sketches, Fusion can have a hard time finding a solution when you make parameter changes... but maybe that's due to errors on my part. Anyway, I can always learn more about Fusion 360 and others' design processes, so enjoy these videos. Also: Autodesk is currently running a 33% off promo for a commercial 1 year Fusion 360 subscription until the end of Oct 30, 2023 if anyone was thinking about getting it or want to renew early to save money.

[@robindeputy]

Fascinating workflow. I hope you make more of these kinds of videos. I have barely scratched the surface of the capabilities of Fusion 360 in my own projects. This tutorial will help me a lot! Thanks for the time you put into this.

[@KentHansson]

Love these deep dives, always learning something new everytime. Nice work!

[@thomasherbig]

Fantastic video - thank you! Very clearly explained and ingeniously set up. I’m glad you always encourage user parameters. I really dislike hiding design decisions (e.g., thicknesses, angles) inside each dimension: when I want to change such a decision, I then have to find every single instance of it. Changing a user parameter will affect all of them automatically.

[@HelenaOfDetroit]

Thanks for making this video and sharing your knowledge! I don't know Fusion 360 well but I did manage to make some awesome 3D prints from clever ideas. It just took me ages and, sadly, I can't adjust the size of anything easily in the CAD because I didn't know how to do it right. Setting parameters for specific measurements with labels? Love it! Thanks! Projecting one sketch to another on a different plane so I can have one large sketch "to rule them all" without having to spend half the day figuring out which thing does what? Genius! Love it! Thanks again! These tips, and more, will definitely help me massively with future projects.

[@marclevitt8191]

That was great James! My impression is there are a couple possibly easier ways to do this. Of course there are always a lot of ways to do things in CAD. I am just getting into F360 and I’ve been watching Product Design Online. I’ll post my findings on your Patreon. One takeaway he emphasized was creating sketches first, and organizing his hierarchy with named but empty components ready to receive geometry I think he said there were reasons to avoid creating new bodies by duplicating others. He also fully constrains everything on his sketches. You probably already know this trick but when you dimension or fill any numerical value, I was surprised to find out you can type in text that then becomes a parameter name that doesn’t yet exist, creating new parameters in line as you work. One command for this project that sticks out to me that might be useful to reduce complexity is shell. Another good one which I thought might be leveraged more was extrudes with tapers. Maybe with one diamond shaped sketch along with offset, with heavy use as others have pointed out of circular pattern and horizontal pattern the digits could be even more parametric? I can’t wait to try to model this myself and see how it goes. Curious to see if my ideas work. By the way there is a cool speed CAD contest on KZbin by TooTallToby.

[@bolaumann3943]

You make it look so easy 😉I learned a LOT - thank you!

[@P8ntbaLLA56]

Would you suggest using pattern to speed workflow? Looks like you could pattern each segment in a circle then linear pattern that 2 times to make the entire number. That could be patterned or copied to make your display.

[@hunterlayne6449]

Now that is a beautifully printed part! If I may possibly provide a suggestion for a (possibly, maybe?) more effective filament for the LED viewports: I have been using California Filament's PETG in Black, Clear, and Cloudy White. I LOVE the quality of my prints using their stuff, but I digress... Their Cloudy White PETG may provide the amount of diffusion you are looking for as it is obviously not as translucent as the clear, but more-so than a full white PETG. I'd love to see you have another go at the display using this stuff or similar! Always enjoy watching your videos and am blown away as to why you don't have more subscribers!

[@peirossmallhomemachineshop5364]

I would not have proceeded your way, but I admit that your approach is very effective. Congrats, and thanks for sharing.

[@zaprodk]

I loved seeing this, and learned a couple of new tricks. Thanks for sharing!

[@BrianBoniMakes]

Very nice, I watched the whole video. I like watching how disciplined you are with constraints. I wonder if the led can be seen through a single layer of black?

[@zaprodk]

Depends on the filament. Try it and let us know!

[@qabalah78]

Yeah got my Spacemouse wireless years back. Game changer!!

[@ChriFux]

Thanks James for the tutorial! I was looking forward to this, since I'm currently learning F360. This really taught me a ton

[@PTS_Roller_Coaster_Case]

Thanks James, learned new tricks for fusion. I always wondered how to extrude from a flat surfece to an angled one. The extrude to object will help in my feature designs

[@p.t.anderson1593]

Thank you so much for introducing me to the "project" function. I'm working on layered signs to cut on my LS Crossfire Pro. The rest of the video was fun and mind blowing at the same time.

[@FrankGraffagnino]

really, really, REALLY great tutorial video. You can learn so much by watching someone else's workflow. Thanks Clough42!

[@barryomahony4983]

Amazing video; thanks. This really helps those of us relatively new to Fusion 360 (

[@mduvigneaud]

As a software engineer I do like the deep dive.

[@gregclare]

Brilliant. Well presented and full of helpful tips. You have a new subscriber. 🤓

[@joell439]

James - I definitely found this very useful and learned several tricks. Thank You!

[@hartvanmeter214]

Been recently hooked on your channel as you have a great way of presenting deep understanding of your subject-de-jour. I’m wanting to replace my 10A. 1-1/2 HP drill press motor (Craftsman floor model) with a 3 phase motor with VFD. Any recommendation as to motor specs I should look for along with a matching VFD? I don’t want to get too expensive as I’d be putting lipstick on the pig. Thanks for a great channel sir.

[@dirtdart81]

You r inspired me to try fusion 360 again, thank you!

[@JustTryGambling]

Some of the sketching can be done quicker on the first sketch by using circular patterning. You don’t want to use mirror because it’s italic, but circular pattern around the center point would still work

[@M4XD4B0ZZ]

Loved this all the way

[@georgevigue3982]

hey there James, I love all your great projects. I have some beta bright LED message sign modules that are 12 V serial controlled 7 x 60 led matrix. They are made by adaptive micro systems. i’m not sure if they’re red or tricolor LEDs .They are electronic assembly out of old products that I install. If you think you could use some and want some pictures of them let me know, you can have some if you would like. I think they would make great DRO displays Or any other type data displays.

[@ianide2480]

My process would have been a similar except in one aspect. I would have lofted to a circle (perhaps an oval) instead of a complex shape. Same outcome with quite a bit less time involved sketching. What you have done is very nice, and my method does not detract from the way you have decided upon. You could have also gone with a short loft extrude then a smaller circular light pipe (that goes all the way to the LED) for the rest of the cut operation. Filled the entire cavity with the clear filament, and the diffusion may have been spot on, without the need for the white layer. Would be fun to test, well... what I consider to be fun anyway. I already have decided upon getting a bambu lab printer so I might just test it.

[@aaro_n]

Hello James, excited for this!!!

[@shawnstuart1029]

Great tutorial James! Being the Supreme Educator that you are, I would like to see how you integrate the use of that desk mouse thingy into your F360 workflow. I have been looking for something like that after using Fusion for a few years. I still feel like time is wasted with just my mouse and keyboard on a mac.

[@zd533]

I finally bought the wireless version a couple of months ago and it is worth every single penny. It's almost painful using fusion without it now.

[@stephenjohnson6841]

What a great tutorial/video! Thanks again James!

[@georgel5308]

Great work as always love ur videos. And great content/ presentation.

[@conorstewart2214]

Have you tried doing it without the taper on the lenses? I did it and it worked fine, might make it simpler for some people. I could only get mine to work on the textured PEI sheet though but that was with fine white details and text on the front as well as the transparent section and my bed needed cleaned.

[@thelightspeed3d712]

I’m a pretty avid fusion guy and this was amazing

[@jackpledger8118]

Very interesting for a Fusion 360 beginner.

[@jonsaircond8520]

Amazing and you make it look so easy and definitely isn't

[@piccilos]

Saved for later. Thanks!

[@akierum]

Nice video, what about solidworks or inventor tutorials? Or this can be done in f360 only?

[@_mirjka5746]

Perfect, thanks!!

[@barryweissburg6384]

This is starting to feel like a ELS panel reimagined!

[@The_maker_letters]

Great video! Really Enjoyed it! Will have to buy that mouse so I can be smooth like that in my Fusion360 videos :)

[@jimruddy6083]

Wow, great lesson. But it was a lot to take in as a Fusion newbie. My head hurts, maybe I should watch it again 2 or 20 times 🙂

[@seabreezecoffeeroasters7994]

While it is not perfect simple drag/box selection for large numbers of parts on a sketch is way faster as it will only cover complete sealed objects.

[@PaulSteMarie]

So, I'm a bit confused. Are the lenses and diffusers 3D printed in situ with appropriate filaments, or are you cutting them out of acrylic or whatever and then snapping them into the panel? I've always done this sort of thing by putting a rectangular lens of red (or whatever) acrylic into a recess on the panel, which has holes to allow the display to shine thru, so I'm very interested in seeing new techniques.

[@thesfreader3068]

Have a look at last week's video. It's different filaments, with the printer switching.

[@PaulSteMarie]

@@thesfreader3068 👍 I guess i was paying more attention to the display itself than how it was fabricated.

[@fluppir]

I thank you sir!! This was fantastic!!

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

If you ask me, doing all the skeleton in on sketch is a 'bit busy', putting it nicely. I think I would have had the digit sketch, the segment offset sketch, and an underlying LED void sketch. Otherwise, pretty much a noob could follow along to experiment on their own. You skipped the decimal point. Still, I prefer SolidWorks; to me F360 is still clunky. Overall, very clever, especially the tapering of the lenses and diffusers; one rocket science award.

[@Clough42]

I tried separating the sketches, but in the end found that so much reference geometry needed to be projected for reference that it ended up almost as bad.

[@forrestgumpv9049]

How much did you pay for fusion 360, and what platform did you purchase ?

[@kentswan3230]

thanks!

[@mduvigneaud]

I paused a minute 44s in...I was actually really curious how you moved the view in Fusion360 (but apparently not curious enough to actually ask!) Here's a really pressing question though: are you a robot? Click all of the images with metal. ;)

[@IceCreams62]

Very great tutorial, thanks a lot. But not a big deal, you forgot to include the digit dots on the design

[@GenericAnimeBoy]

For anyone watching who feels overwhelmed by the formulas: part of the benefit of CAD, especially parametric CAD like Fusion360, is that you can let the computer do all the arithmetic. That's all that's really happening there.

[@jhbonarius]

Thai for the tutorial. Wouldn't it have been easier to just find some 7 segment-style font and use the number 8. Not that this took that much time... but still

[@stevesteve6506]

Hi James!!

[@TexDrinkwater]

I could make a joke about "grab the knob", but I won't.

[@leadslinger5130]

I tryied learning fusion 360 and got super frustrated with it and gave up on it and went back to desing spark mechanical. After watching the first 2 minutes im glad i gave up on it. Making this in desing spark would take about 10 mins if that. This is way more complicated. Plus i really didnt like the cloud nonsense. I just wanted to use the CFD tool and i couldn't even find it or how to load my projects into it.

[@no-page]

@leadslinger 5130 I would love to see your video replicating this in 10 minutes

[@c0mputer]

BOOB BOOB

[@Pest789]

It's pronounced display, not display 😂