Fusion 360 - Tube Notching

This video will show different ways to handle coping tube in Fusion 360. While all my examples show round tubing being used, keep in mind this method will work with any profile shape. Each member can even have it's own unique profile shape.
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[@DCT_Aaron_Engineering]

Fantastic video as per usual Kevin. I wish I had Fusion360 when I did my "intersecting solids" manual drawing back in university. Thanks so much for sharing it with us "Noobs". Cheers, the big boy from DownUnder.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Aaron! I used to use this technique when I worked at a major playground manufacturing company and the notches were done on a 4th axis tube cutting laser. The components could be tacked together without the fabricators spending a bunch of time figuring out how they were going to notch the tubes at the proper angles. They just had to use some basic measurements from the print and the components almost formed their own jig.

[@michaeldevlin5101]

This was exactly what I needed. I've been using fillet command to smooth out that edge, but shell works much better. Thank you

[@acidtechno]

great video , how about Fusion 360 tube swaging / pipe tube rolled end beads? for hoses clamping , new video please please :)

[@daos3300]

awesome. loving 360 and i haven't even used it yet.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@jonowigz8242]

Definitely helps with having tube cutting outsourced to the laser cutter - Thank you

[@maxrybold1531]

Great demo, thanks!

[@j2j_791]

Thanks, this helped me a lot

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Good. I used to use this technique when I worked in industry and make these type of fabricated parts. never got any complaints for the laser cutting vendor that made them for us.

[@Arek_R.]

That's a great tip thanks.

[@BK-it6wg]

gee thanks man... explained superbly

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

B K You are welcome, and thanks for the comment.

[@melnsigors]

Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for

[@TroubledTimes2024]

What was the reason for creating components from the existing bodies. Thanks so much, this method has been working out great.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

You certainly wouldn't have to create components from the bodies. The idea behind showing it would be if you wanted to create a drawing that documented all the parts that made up the assembly. You could add balloons etc. to the drawing. You also notice that I grounded all the components which usually mean the components could never move or change position. However, use the master sketch method allows the sketch to control the location of the components and changing the sketch updates the positions of the components.

[@botoepfer8588]

I would like to 3d print coping patterns/guides from pipe joints any help?

[@robertsworld8864]

does fusion have a sloting and notching library ? eg if i want shelving supprts to slot into upright tubing can i select from a library and place automatically with required distances along the tube?

[@Branistar]

This was a great video. Thanks a lot

[@ukaszkoc6530]

@Mechanical Advantage Can you please show similar example but with square tubes?

[@michaelroof1969]

Great video. I am coming from a world of using sketchup. Is there a cheat sheet or video series that would help the transition?

[@robertcat4916]

WILL YOU PLEASE DO A LESSON ON GOING FROM COPED FRAME TO G CODE FOR LINUXCNC PLASMA TUBE CUTTER FOR EACH COMPONENT BOTH ENDS AT REQUIRED LENGTH. THANK YOU

[@rickjames3034]

Why are you shouting? inside voices please

[@cushmfg]

Hey is there a similar process for this but for square tubing? For instance, a normalized 45 degree notch for a corner of a square tube frame, where it doesn't require the cutter's head to be tilted to get the extreme sharp corner. Thanks

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Give this method a try for square tubing too not should work the same to get a normalized cut.

[@nikoskoutsogiannis239]

maybe the best video in the field . would be 110% perfect if you finished with the unroll surface (if this can be in fusion) of the cutting surface (notch) that can be cutted in 4axis laser without 3d software supported

[@NissanPatrolgq]

Can you make a video on how you would export these tubes to send to a laser cutter? by far the best video on how to notch tubes on fusion! Thanks!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi James. Sorry for the delayed reply. When you say export for a laser cutter, do you mean for cutting on a rotary?

[@mada310]

​@MechanicalAdvantage how would you create files to send out to a laser shop to cut your tubes with a 4 axis tube laser machine?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

@mada310 generally they just need a step or IGES file to do that. Their CAM sotfware will program directly off the model.

[@mada310]

@MechanicalAdvantage thanks! I've never been great with computers but I've managed to do quite a bit with sheetmetal in fusion. Learning tubing is the next step. I appreciate your help :]

[@Dwarfgrinder]

Is there any way that you know of to flatten the coped part of the tube in order to create a pattern that I may print out in order to transfer manually to the a tube? Thanks! Always learning new things here!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Dwarfgrinder yes. You have to extrude a pie shaped cut from top to bottom. Unfortunately, you can’t just flatten that. You have to extrude the flat face of the pie you just cut but a teany tiny amount. Then you can select that face as your stationary face for the flat pattern.

[@CraigHollabaugh]

Trying this example right now, doesn't look like fusion split faces (inside or outside) like in this video? How was this changed over the years? Thanks. EDIT: split face (inside and outside) still works except the split line isn't shown as in this video. Push/Pull can find the 2 pieces to remove.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Craig. Nope, still the same workflow. What are you using as your slicing tool? You can email me Kevin @ mechanicaladvatge . com (remove spaces) if you can’t get it.

[@CraigHollabaugh]

@@MechanicalAdvantage Kevin, I updated my post, the workflow is the same except the cut lines don't show up. Might be a Fusion 360 configuration setting. Thoughts?

[@CraigHollabaugh]

@@MechanicalAdvantage I sent you email, thanks.

[@ARNAV.KAREKAR]

Thank you soo muchh!! this has helped me a lot!!

[@TroubledTimes2024]

In 12 minutes you solved a problem I have tried many hours to create only to fail. Question, would you expect any issues where say 2 or more copes intersect with each other and to the bottom support? Thank you!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

That should work fine. I just built a little example to test it. One thing I would do (even in the example that I show in the video) is to create an offset surface so there is a little gap between the tubes. If you email me at [e-mail], I'll send you the little test file I did so you can see how it works when multiple tubes intersect.

[@sionak]

Thankyou!

[@JordanMiller1117]

Great tutorial, how would you then add assembly joints? For example, welding around those seams of the cope where the two pipes meet. I want to be able to do a stress analysis of the cart frame we are making at our University for the Baja competition. Thanks.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Jordan. That's a good question. I was just trying to mess around a little to see if I could assemble these as separate components in a new file. Fusion can find the rite spot, but I can't change the angle of the joint origin that I need. In this video, I modeled a little sample using one sketch. That would probably be your best bet. Model your frame as one master sketch and then create components from the bodies and use an in place joint to secure everything. Send me an email to [e-mail] if you need more help.

[@chandlerhorton7286]

2 years later, a good TIG weld would do wonderful. I work with coped stainless steel for work and weld joints like this all the time.

[@cbdzcbdz]

Great explanation! Like many others here, I'd like to know if there is a way to create a tool path for a CNC (plasma or laser) cutter. If this isn't possible, how about a flat paper pattern?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Craig Blume Thanks for stopping by. I’ve experimented with cutting these in Fusion CAM with a 4th axis. It currently isn’t possible to do (at least not that I can figure out) with the plasma/waterjet/laser toolpaths. Those expect a flat body. I did do a video for creating a paper template. You can follow this link to see that process. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6abo6Otps92ma8

[@argentosebastian]

I guess this depends on the method used to cut the tubes. If you use a circular saw on a press drill the result would be more like example 1. If you use laser or CNC would be more like example 2.

[@diggles70]

I've used this video a lot to reference back to over the past few months, thank you for providing it. I'm currently designing a tube chassis and have not been able to figure out a way to export my drawing so that a CNC machine can bend and notch the tubes. Are you aware of a way I can achieve this?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Doug. Do you mean to get straight lengths where the tube is "unfolded"? If so, Fusion can't do that. You might looki into software like BendTech.

[@diggles70]

@@MechanicalAdvantage I'm not looking to unfold anything. There are CNC mandrel bending machines out there that I'm trying to export so they can bend and perform notching on the tubes.

[@brian-tv1rw]

Thanks for this video!

[@thomasandkimcowieson8340]

Has this feature been updated in fusion so that you can export to a tube laser?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Do you mean create the rotary cut path in Fusion? If that is what you mean, then no. However do to the number of views and comments on this video it is now on the roadmap for Fusion.

[@EIRCAD]

Great video

[@federiconavarrocabezas257]

Thanks is a incredible video

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Federico. I thought it was a pretty neat way of doing this. Thanks for letting me know you found it helpful.

[@Alex-ez2ym]

are you able to make paper template for the coped sections of tube? Great video

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

HI Alex. I get asked this question a lot and I think it is time to make a video showing how to do maybe do this. The bad news is that it doesn't work with the pipe command very well.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Alex. Just posted a video showing how this can be done. Please note, the pipe method can't be used when creating the geometry.

[@Tuffluck23]

Thank you!

[@scottaero]

nice

[@stephenkosloff6081]

xcellent video fantastic

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

stephen kosloff Glad you found it useful. Thanks for the comment.

[@bennyblanco14]

Every hand rail I ever welded has NEVER been cut to fit flush perfectly.... There is always a gap somewhere and depending on the metal being used it's easier to heat and beat the gap closer ..so even though you might design a T shaped connection to fit perfectly..I highly doubt when it's getting cut that it will stay in the formation

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

I don’t know. I’ve made an awful lot of fabricated rails using a laser tube cutter to make the cuts. I usually designed with a bit of a gap compared to what I show in the video. I never got any complaints from the shop guys that were welding them up.

[@murray2225]

A master of the software.....not so much welding.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

I'm curious. What would you prefer instead? I'll give you my two cents on this but want to hear your thoughts and objections first.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

@patrickmurray Just wanted to do a drive by comment and not discuss any further?

[@Evansthoughts]

Thank you!

[@michaelroof1969]

Great video. I am coming from a world of using sketchup. Is there a cheat sheet or video series that would help the transition?