Fusion 360 - CAM Heights Tab Explained

This video will explain the different fields found in the heights tab in the Fusion 360 CAM workspace. These height values will also be relevant for Inventor HSM and HSMWorks.
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[@adambergendorff2702]

I know this video is 6 yrs old, but still so helpful and clear, especially the part about the helix entry!

[@michelrigaud9552]

I can't click ten times on thumb up but if I could I would! Very helpful

[@colehawkins6623]

Great explanation Kevin. Machine is showing up in a couple weeks. Gonna have to get on your schedule once I have a delivery date. Thanks again.

[@tdg911]

Thank you! This is just what I needed, perfect timing to find this. Explained it very well. Much gratitude

[@ritusharma1092]

Great explanation !!! Loved it

[@homebuiltedmmachines9471]

Kevin by FAR the best video I have ever seen on the heights tap!!! This will greatly help me, I am sure I will still have questions but this is a GREAT help.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

If you have questions, let me know. Heights can be a bit confusion when you are getting started. Once you work with them a bit, things snap into place and using the heights becomes very intuitive. For instance, you can select a chain of geometry anywhere along the z axis of the part for the area you want to cut and then you can use the top height and bottom height fields to choose where the cut should start and how deep it should go. How the heights are handled is one of my favorite CAM features.

[@HotSo0P]

Absolutely fantastic explanation! Clear and concise.

[@bluehandsvideo]

More great info. I really like the elimination of all the helix. shared. :)

[@MrRctintin]

That’s helped a lot. Was struggling last night on this.

[@neilsmith5930]

Great video again Kevin

[@MrRctintin]

Thanks Kevin, very helpful mate.

[@DCT_Aaron_Engineering]

Nice work as always Kevin. Looking forward to colaborating with you in some up coming videos. Cheers, Aaron.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Me too Aaron. It is going to be fun.

[@SolidRockMachineShopInc]

Hi Kevin, Found you from Aaron's channel. I love fusion 360. We have a small CNC router and hope to do some You Tube videos using it and Fusion in the near future. Thanks for the video I will be watching more as time permits. Steve

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Steve. Thanks for stopping by and having a look. I hope you will find some good tidbits of info If you have any requests, just let me know.

[@Davvyk]

This is great. I only have one question. when setting my z height with a probe on something like the xcarve do i still reference from the original stock height or the new height when using model top. For example if i carved 8mm off the top of the stock and then started my next operations with model top do i still probe to the original stock top to set z

[@vanminhtrip]

Great 👏👏👏

[@samboles8796]

First off nice job! Isn’t there a setting to ignore the initial roughing as well? Thank you

[@356B]

thank you

[@lacyrhoades3715]

Helpful but I'm trying to get a better understanding of clearance and retract specifically haha

[@irrops]

Great stuff Kevin. Looks like a heat wave in rural ND. PG

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

irrops That looks to be changing next week. Heading to NYC CNC on Friday for the monthly training classes. Hopefully when I get home there will be enough ice for ice fishing.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

irrops And thank you!

[@irrops]

Perch, Walleye? Hello to NYCCNC staff from me and have fun in Zville. Cheers.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

We are going to give spearing northern pike a try this year. Sort of more active fishing. And I'll say hi to everyone for you.

[@irrops]

Mechanical Advantage yes, more of a challenge and when you cook them they com with built in toothpicks!

[@darranedmundson1505]

Kevin, I am frequently using cleats to secure my workpiece. If I model and include these fixtures in the geometry tab, do I still have to worry about retract and clearance heights, or is Fusion smart enough to avoid them? It would seems a bit silly to have to set your retract higher than the cleat top even if you were working relatively far away from the fixture in X/Y.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Darran. I would agree with you, that being said, you do have to manually set your retract higher. There is a small exception/workaround to this. As you have probably seen, when you create your setup you can specify things in your design that are fixtures. However, doing this won't trim a tool path to those fixtures, it will only make the tool turn red if there is a collision and it will be up to you to figure out how to make that not happen. The workaround is that if you include those fixtures as part of the setup models that are to be machined and use 3D toolpaths, Fusion will automatically avoid those items as 3D toolpaths are not allowed to gouge the setup model. It would be fantastic if Autodesk could just make this work the way both of us (and thousands of others) really want it to work. Thanks for the question.

[@bax442]

Do you have asthma and problems with swallowing?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

No. Why?