Fusion 360 Sheet Metal Tutorial! FF94

Fusion 360 has released the Sheet Metal modeling environment! Let's show how to create sheet metal bends, folds, flange, unfold, flat pattern and more!
This is also the video debut of Kevin Ellingson! Kevin is an Autodesk Elite Expert in both Inventor and Fusion 360 who will be helping us develop more Fusion 360 learning and training content!
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Reach us / CNC Info:
Fusion 360: dsi.fyi/3yu7Mt0
CNC & Fusion 360 Training: bit.ly/3TRHs4J
SMW Products: saundersmachineworks.com/
Speeds & Feeds: provencut.com
CNC Resources: www.nyccnc.com

[@GlennCrocker]

I've watched a lot of Fusion 360 tutorials, and this is by far the best. Detail about keys being hit, why things are being done, etc. is spot-on.

[@normancarr8562]

You guys did a perfect job on this tutorial. I learned more in 15 minutes than I can believe! Fantastic

[@Regalmetalworks]

I wanted to make the online class today, but shop demands got in the way! thanks for sharing!

[@turbocobra]

John and Kevin, thanks for posting this. I signed up for the webinar yesterday but had some things come up and had to miss it. Nice job on the video debut Kevin! This was very useful. Thanks guys

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thank you. I'm glad you found it useful.

[@newsogn5148]

Oooooooooooooooooh yea I've been waiting for this that's awesome!!!!!

[@TylerHarney]

This is perfect! I have been designing my own cardboard boxes in Illustrator then cutting it out on my CO2 laser cutter. This will save a lot of time!

[@andreasstanszus3337]

Welcome Kevin, a new voice at NYC CNC. An impressive little tutorial

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Andreas! I'm glad you find the overview useful.

[@tc1890]

Great job Kevin! !!! I really got alot out of your advanced Fusion cam class . You and John are the best.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Tony! I hope you and Vic had a safe trip back to Alabama. Thanks for making the drive up to attend the class.

[@TAWPTool]

Great job Kevin! Very well presented and simple to understand. Welcome to NYC CNC KZbin!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thank you. I'm very excited to be here!

[@aly-tek7190]

Welcome to KZbin Kevin ;) Nice quick simple intro to sheet metal :D I liked it ;)

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Stephen. Hopefully the video helps you to get started with the sheet metal tools.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Byron!

[@jacobmills7824]

The tab to switch dimension thing was super helpful, I had wondered that for a long time

[@Petah30]

A very concise and well done tutorial. Thanks very much

[@RobotsOnCandy]

Thank you so much for this video. Very helpful.

[@Allan-mf1he]

Wow got me going in under 13min super awesome tutorial! Thanks.

[@automan1223]

Excellent !! Thank you !!

[@uberkoth_windyfuckface]

Great tutorial! Thank you so much!!!

[@SolidRockMachineShopInc]

Fusion 360 is great. I am no expert in in but i love it for what we do. We use it often in our videos to highlight certain points of interest in our machining projects. Fusion 360 gets better and more powerful with each update. Steve

[@nguyenvuhoanglong3418]

me too, i have used NX for 5 years and Creo 2.0-4.0 for 2.5 years...but they can not compare with Fusion is so sweet and simple to use ! it will be my next partner in my career as CAD engineer !

[@prodesign8189]

Nice job Kevin. You did great during the training classes last January too! It gave me a boost to where I could actually start making parts and production runs for some companies since the class. Almost paid the machine off since then.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

That's awesome! I love to hear things like this.

[@mxcollin95]

Great video. I’ll probably have to watch it 3 times to remember everything.

[@toothrobber8076]

very helpful video. It allowed me to do my first flat pattern

[@hush22performance1]

Thank you for this video!

[@ScottMoyse]

Thanks for getting Kevin involved John, he has a lot of awesome to share. And I don't want him to know this, but I think he's an ok dude as well. :-)

[@makestuffwithkids989]

+1

[@richardlewis8500]

Very good job explaining. . I'll have to watch all your videos.

[@ayukebot4272]

very helpful indeed. Can i modify an imported drawing part (.sldprt) from solidworks in fusion 360. if yes how? i tried but parts seem not editable. Thanks

[@scott_small]

Awesome. Nice that it also builds the bend sequence.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thank you. I just want to note that the numbers you see on the flat pattern aren't the bend sequence. Currently these are just bend identifiers. It would still be up to the operator to determine the order of bending to make the part.

[@CADSchulungen]

Excellent video!

[@brukernavnfettsjit]

Very VERY cool feature. And I like this new presenter, clear voice and to the point! Good stuff.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Glad you liked the video!

[@bcbloc02]

Excellent tips!

[@JackZimmermann]

Great stuff! Thanks!

[@MrNursi]

Nicely demonstrated, thanks. One question: do you know of any way of doing a divergent/convergent cone in flat metal?

[@ClockwerkIndustries]

Great video! Clear and concise!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thank you. Happy to hear you liked it.

[@MartinZelenka]

Awesome video! Thank you very much :)

[@thomasutley]

Excellent intro. Thanks for sharing!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks!

[@ArlindoFernandes]

Great Video!! Thanks!!!

[@longbeachcitycollegemetalf3321]

In the sheet metal rule, or when you are selecting where to pull your flanges from, can you select ID or OD somewhere?

[@travezripley]

I love you!!! Thank you!

[@nguyenvuhoanglong3418]

wondeful, thank you very much for your video !

[@ulyssesdewaegemaeker5673]

Fusion is so simple and useful! Autodesk rules!

[@886014]

Awesome, thanks

[@simonwt]

Awesome video, I just bought Fusion myself, can't wait to start working in it within the next few weeks. One question I had after watching this video: Can you also add the stamp type/radius of certain machines. For the press to create this, each uses different values, you can LVD, Amada, etc etc... Where do you define the stamp settings for folding, so when you press unfold it will use the correct properties per machine/fold type.

[@gabriellebourke7075]

One of the best explanations of the sheet metal environment I’ve seen to date. Thanks Kevin. Can you apply sheet metal rules to acrylic and what would be the k factor for 3 mm acrylic?

[@paulrautenbach]

Like it. Thanks Kevin. Very clear.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Paul. I'm glad you found it useful.

[@marcellemay7721]

If I want to cut this out on a plasma using a different cam program such as sheetcam, how do I export the dxf to sheetcam? Stated another way, where or how do I grab the dxf file of the flat pattern to export it. Also, how can I get the bend instructions onto a sheet of paper for manual bending in a finger brake?

[@zfotoguy71]

I love your videos. I have a few questions if you have the time. I have a light duty CNC that has a hotwire and mill on an arm that is the A axis. I would like to use the mill to cut foam sheets. Is there a way to bend the sheet metal so that the corners meet up at a 45 degree angle or even better, one flap butts up against the other so they are perpendicular from each other? I could create a new rule that will be my foam rule.

[@FaraiHandina]

Nice . you guys are doing great

[@erklaerbaer01]

So I drew this C shaped part with 2 bends in it and I would like to close off both sides of the C, is there a flange feature that allows me to follow the conture of the C ob thos sides?

[@voiceafx]

I've seen designs where stitched cuts are placed on all the bend lines, so that the part can actually be bent by hand. Do you know of a good workflow to create that kind of stitching?

[@bgorowy]

Great video I've learned a lot, but somehow drawing on a flat pattern does not make any changes to folded part. It only works when you unfold the part and then draw on it. Any ideas why this is like that?

[@unknownblueblue]

thanks awesome video

[@driesbovijn6044]

Perfect!

[@sbirdranch]

I had to do a double take when the voice wasn't John. Nice job Kevin.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thank you. I should have thrown out a warning to not change the channel or adjust the volume haha

[@No_Go_Moto]

Good job Kevin !!!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Greg! Hope things are going well in your new job.

[@prathamshah2013]

thanks a lot for the for explaining excellent tutorial ..

[@GreekGadgetGuru]

Can you export the flat pattern as a DXF?

[@ElizabethGreene]

You can now,. It's in the December 2017 update.

[@troyerz63]

excelent video ... to the point ....I am a beginner ... if I am to send out a piece to be cut and bend to a vendor ... should I flatten or both bend and flattened and how do I handle an export of a build that has multiple components

[@-yfm-]

Thank you!

[@Good13man]

Mind! Blown! :-)

[@peterStu]

Can I change K factor to bend deduction in setup like in solidworks?

[@Travisphoenix334]

Thanks a lot!

[@barrythompson5127]

Excellent !!! Thank you

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Barry. I hope you can use this as a starting point to use the sheet metal tools in Fusion.

[@MrOrangeman18]

Is there a rule for if you want the corners touching for welding. As the cap looks to big as it is. Cheers.

[@LimBo3500]

Thanks for the very clear demonstration. Pitching some ideas here for future sheet metal demos : It would be nice to have a demonstration how to apply sheet metal to an existing assembly. For example, I've designed a motor + gear + spindel mechanism, but would like to create a sheetmetal cover around it for protection/safety cover. What is a good strategy to start design such a cover. Another nice one, would be how to combine sheet metal for structural design. Like tormach uses sheetmetal to create their mill base. Since sheetmetal is more cost effective, it would really be a nice to learn to use fusion360 for that type of work.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Tom. I'm glad you found it useful. Thanks for the potential future topics.

[@chrisabraham8793]

How do you feature and draw a rolled bead line where you would roll a bead line for strength on a piece of sheet or a bead edge.

[@grizzlymetalworks8867]

how do you change the angle of a flange after its been created? how do you change the length of the surface inbetween two legs? how do you define a bend line on an existing flat part at a specified location?

[@arthurseefried]

Hi I'm completly new to fusion and have some questions, so excuse me in advance for some uneducated questions ^^ 1. how can i set the flange not to extrude orthogonal to the edge but in a certain angle? 2. is there an option to get perforations on the bending lines without sketching them manually? thanks in advance and the great video!

[@stevenschmelling5597]

Great tutorial and I learned a lot. I know this was just a fun widget to show what the software can do, but one thing really stood out to me, my break metal supervisor would have had my head if I had brought that design to him! It's been 10 years since I did break metal work, so maybe things have changed, but from what I remember that would be a very difficult, if not impossible part to bend up, at least with normal press tooling and keeping the outside faces free of marring. If all the flanges were facing out, no problem, or even if there was more distance along the bottom was greater, you could get a die in there. The mitered corners on the inside don't help either, squared off ones, with one side running through would make it significantly easier as well. I'd love to hear from a break press operator that I'm off base, and things have advanced a lot in the last 10 years. Keep up the great work!!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Steven. You are correct that this was just a widget demo part. That being said, I don't think what I showed pushed the limits for a part that couldn't be made. I emailed a good friend of mine that runs a sheet metal fabrication business to get his opinion and he said he didn't see anything that wasn't makable. He did say he wouldn't want to do a huge production run of these, but he didn't see any real issues either. Thanks for asking the question and keeping me on my toes!

[@stevenschmelling5597]

Mechanical Advantage thanks for the follow up. Like I said, I've been out of that design area for 10 years, and honestly I don't think they had changed how we did break work in house for quite a while before that. IIRC they pretty much worked with a sheer, press and really good welders, and 90% of it was 1/8" aluminum. And we were doing our design layouts in 2d AutoCAD, with some in house lisp programs for determining lengths. I really liked working with them, but they were a bit old school. I could see with a more modern press and cut flat stock, it would make doing some of that easier. Keep it up, I hope to learn more.

[@redryderaus]

A sheet metal part like that is "bread & butter"for the business I work at. It would not be difficult to fold at all. I'm also the bunny that has to weld it so accurate folding makes that part of my job much easier.

[@fabianodrosa]

Hi! Very good video! I have a somewhat more complex question that is very much needed in metallurgy: how to draw a square to round folded model for? SolidWorks and Autodesq Inventors have well-defined tools for this function. I think Fusion 360 was missing this function. Maybe it will be added in the future??

[@mahmudkhaliil2525]

am having a sketch how would i come back to folding it

[@willemtimmerman4954]

How do you reveal the bend lines in the drawing? When i unfold the green bendlines aren't visible.

[@theturkish1373]

Cheers mate

[@meichler23]

Great video!!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Mitch! Hopefully it helps you get started with sheet metal in Fusion.

[@chuckpickering6040]

I know this video is a year old, but I am just learning Fusion sheet metal. I followed this video step by step. The only problem is, when my model is unfolded, it is not exactly like yours. The long side flanges are reversed side to side. The pointy on is on the bottom and the clipped one is on the top. Can you explain why? I have ver 2.0.4391.

[@SmartFurnishing]

How to add a straight or spherical impression for like a 90 degree angle to add strength.

[@kellycoe1787]

At point 12:47. Im trying to add the smaller flange... but keep getting an error. Says its due to internal error, check body and bend parameters and try again... i have no idea what that means... the rest of the tutorial has worked fine up to this point..(which has been great)

[@johnnyfp01]

I'm assuming that you can also use a standard mill cam operation, if one doesn't have a fancy Plasma or Laser cutter.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Yep. After switching to the CAM workspace, all of the tools available in CAM would be available to the user for this.

[@darkwinter6028]

Hmm... could probably use that for other flat materials besides sheet metal... cardboard for custom boxes (perhaps on a flatbed "vinyl" cutter), or laser cut plastic comes to mind...

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

You are correct, it can be used for other materials as well. In the Autodesk sheet metal preview forum, a user was posting images he was creating of cardboard fold ups he was making for packing foods.

[@TylerHarney]

I'll be using it to design my own small cardboard shipping boxes then cutting them out on my laser cutter.

[@hodgepodgeenginerd1258]

Thanks

[@ProtoG42]

Great video Kevin! Let me know if you ever need a sheet metal part made.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Glad you liked it, and I'll let you know if I ever need some sheet metal parts.

[@cdthomas001]

Thanks Kevin for this one, now for the next challenge - after seeing this video, I have been trying to create a flat pattern of a sheet metal cone but are unable to select a stationary face?? Any pointers - looking also to do a rectangle to round cone as well.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Cameron. I'm glad you liked it. Unfortunately, things like flattening cones or creating square to rounds (lofted flanges) aren't in the initial sheet metal release. Keep you eye out for future updates to the sheet metal tools that will add this type of functionality.

[@rafallorek8251]

Where can the bending radius be set ?

[@lwilton]

Is there an automated brake that takes G code to do the bends?

[@longbeachcitycollegemetalf3321]

Yes, most power brakes made now are CNC, we have two at our school.

[@kd5ahl]

First video for Kevin? I think not! Good job!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Kelsey Smith Thank you. I haven't done a ton, but this one isn't my first. I hope you found it helpful.

[@wojtczak1984]

Very cool. So you can CAM the cutting of the flat pattern. But.. can you produce a program for a cnc press break? I will have to play with this.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Devin. Fusion won't do that part for you. It will only create the flat pattern. It won't control a press brake.

[@bluedeath996]

Does Fusion number the bends based on order of creation by the user, or order required to bend the piece using a brake? Since some bends would restrict access to others if done out of order.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Currently, the numbers are just bend identifiers. The operator would still be the one to figure out the bend order to produce the folded part. I suspect we will see the ability to renumber the bends in a future release so that the bend numbers would also represent the bend order. That will still rely on someone knowing the proper order to fold the bends however.

[@CockatoobirdmanBill]

been watching for 3+ years you have new voice but it's ok still good vid. work safe.

[@riggsron]

A great video. One of my challenges is to precut flat, flexible plastic sheeting to form compound curves. Sort of like an onion dome. Would that be possible in the sheet metal modeling environment?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Ron. Fusion 360 sheet metal bending duplicates what can be done in a press brake. Fusion won't do bends that need to account for deformation of the material like you mention. There is an 3rd party add-in for Fusion 360 that might do what you are after. Have a look at www.exactflat.com

[@gregmcgowan6794]

Does the numbering of the bends on the drawing correlate to the sequence the bends should be done in?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

In the current release of sheet metal, no. These are just bend identifiers now and I couldn't figure out a way to override the numbering. I think we will see this ability in a future update. Fingers crossed!

[@mandacompany8587]

Welcome Kevin, great job on the video, just one question , how would really make the part you just have drawn, also say you wanted to have the sides close together to weld, like touching for a tig weld. maybe you should try to make a simple box and lets see how that goes. i have tried and found it just about useless..

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks for the question. I meant to add some more info about that to the end of the video but forgot about it. You can do some of what you are talking about by using the push/pull command and move face command. This is the initial release of sheet metal for Fusion 360. There are two additional updates planned that will bring capabilities such as a corner seam tool in addition to other sheet metal tools. I've used these sheet metal tools to manufacture many parts that have been used for HVAC units that you will find on top of hospitals, schools, shopping malls, etc. The initial set of commands for sheet metal cover quite a few needs for sheet metal parts and when the 2nd and 3rd wave a sheet metal tools are released, I think you will find a pretty comprehensive and capable set of tools for creating sheet metal parts.

[@ProtoG42]

Watch the tutorial I posted on that. You can change your sheet metal rules or just override them when creating the flanges. Change the bend radius to 0.001" and model the two flanges you want on the outside first with the bend position set to inside. After the first two have been modeled, click the flange tool and select the other two edges also selecting the bend position as inside. They will tuck in.

[@MrClickbang357]

So I have been trying to figure this out gor s while: how do you pick the "right"gaga of sheet metal to use? I have not found anything on this important topic and it seems that everyone is just going by experience!!!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

You may want to start by looking at sheet metal gauges on Wikipedia for some explanation of them. What is the right gauge? The one that meets the criteria for your design. Each gauge and material type will have a unique k-factor. Different bend dies will also product different bend radii. You might even find this will vary between 2 different machines in the same shop. I hope that helps a little bit. If you have questions, ask away.

[@abhijitshinde1263]

How to make a 180 degree bend (like a U) with a little space in between

[@johnburke7253]

Sweet. Very Bob Ross.

[@hebs007wrx]

Finally

[@TinyWorkshop]

Thanks for sharing, the little tab is a bit ugly like the old corners, how do you fix that?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

That would also be controlled by the rules. Almost everything about the look of the part is controlled by the sheet metal rules. The option I changed controlled what happens when bends meet. There are a couple of ways to control the small flange you are referring to such as not having the bend start tangent to the existing face. There are also some settings that control the bend relief size and the minimum remnant for cuts.

[@TinyWorkshop]

Mechanical Advantage seem much more powerful that the sheet metal of solidworks, fusion it's a game changer imho

[@criio1]

I'd like to see a video on weldable overlap tabs for spot welding seams.

[@twilliamson3]

Something that i would like to see, Say you have a plasma table that has a built in engraver, It would be nice to see if you could generate code that engraved the bend lines, This could also be substituted in a Cardboard environment to use a creaser.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi. Thanks for the comment. I debated showing more about the process of using the integrated CAM tools to cut this shape out from a sheet. I didn't want to make the video too long and wanted this to be more of general overview to get started using the sheet metal tools. Maybe in the future we will do a video that covers the process of creating a setup for sheet metal and cutting the part using the plasma/laser/waterjet tools. To your question though, the plasma/laser/waterjet cutting tools do provide an etching option for the tool paths. It is possible to etch the bend lines into the flat pattern.

[@Sicktrickintuner]

How would you get fold over corners that would be spot welded together? Instead of the gap in the corner?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks for the question. I meant to add some more info about that to the end of the video but forgot about it. You can do some of what you are talking about by using the push/pull command and move face command. This is the initial release of sheet metal for Fusion 360. There are two additional updates planned that will bring capabilities such as a corner seam tool in addition to other sheet metal tools.

[@ProtoG42]

Watch the tutorial I posted on that. You can change your sheet metal rules or just override them when creating the flanges. Change the bend radius to 0.001" and model the two flanges you want on the outside first with the bend position set to inside. After the first two have been modeled, click the flange tool and select the other two edges also selecting the bend position as inside. They will tuck in.

[@KingsDisasterGarage]

This might be a newbie question but are the gaps supposed to be that big? Or is that enough to weld together

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

The gaps are controlled by the sheet metal rule that is in use. I could have tightened up the seam a lot. There are also corner options meant to make things easier to weld up.

[@KingsDisasterGarage]

Mechanical Advantage Thanks for the reply do you that no you can do a video on those weld options and tightening up those gaps?

[@brianw2836]

How can we design the sheet metal if we are going to weld the corners ? I would like to create a simple four wall sheetmetal box that will not leak. Thanks

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Brian W Hi Brian. There are different corner options that can be set in the rule. One of those corner options is called linear weld. I didn't show that as an option ok the model but you could create a rule that would leave you with only a very small gap for welding.

[@brianw2836]

I will look at that. Thanks for the info.

[@justincmw]

Is there a command to create a closed corner where 2 bends meet without having to create a rule for it? In the part of the videos where you showed the rules, that seems like it should only be for the first portion you showed which was material type and thickness, k factor, and radius, and that should always be where you start before you ever start to draw your sheet metal part. Having the corner condition locked into the rule of the part wouldn't work if you had some corners you want closed but maybe others not. Just having a button with a command to select 2 bends and close the corner would be nice or more like what i am used to. Other than that it looks like a step in the right direction for an affordable sheet metal design tool.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Each time you create a flange, you can override the rule that controls how the bends meet. So the rule is the default, but you can change it on the fly.

[@tusharparmar5976]

Solid works is a better or fusion360?