Fusion360 Setup and Execution

Fusion360 is the main software tool utilized to plan frameworks important later on in the robot fabrication process. For this reason, adequate understanding of Fusion 360 and its operation is vital.
Luckily, Fusion360 is free to use for educational purposes. This means that you MUST UTILIZE your Stanford OHS email when signing up.
1. To sign up a fusion account go to: https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview?sorting=featured&filters=individual
2. In the bar at the top, please click “Get Started”.
3. It should then ask you to sign in or create a new account. If you don’t have an existing account: please create one. If you have an existing account, sign in.
  1. To create an account: Fill in all the required information to create an account. (in the rare case that you are under the age of 13, contact the hardware lead.)
  2. When inputting your email, be sure to USE YOUR OHS EMAIL - the one that ends in ohs.stanford.edu.
  3. And then click “Create Account”
4. Once you have finished creating an account, you will have to type in your school name (Stanford University High School) and some other questions. Once done, click the link again, and press “get product” and then “access”.
5. Now, the application begin downloading on your computer. Double click on the file to start the installation process. The installer should pop up and double click again, so open the application. It should start setting up! You have successfully downloaded and installed Fusion360.
Once you have the free education account and have downloaded and installed Fusion360, please let the hardware lead know and they can invite you to the Team Fusion360 Workspace where you will have access to past robot CAD designs and current designs. (You will get an email to join the workspace so make sure to check your Spam folder in case it got sent there!)
Now that you have joined the workspace, start by creating a new folder and title it “[insert your name here] CAD Training”. This is now your folder to practice using Fusion and working with the different parts. To start out with please go through the different tutorials at this link:

https://ryannealyworms.wixsite.com/5206cad

By following the tutorials, you will gain some valuable experience with the various tools that Fusion has to offer. This provides an important foundation when working on the robot’s mechanisms.

Feel free to reference design basics.

Hardware Skills

Onsite, a lot of the tools that we will be using will be hand tools. Occasionally, power tools will be used for the robot.

Though the use of hand tools can seem quite straightforward, please view this valuable resource on safety and common practical use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9YYFwEVIgU

Beyond the basics, a lot of these skills will become more familiar through direct application.

3D Printing

For our hardware designs, we first meet and sketch out designs and then translate our designs to a 3D model on CAD. We then use this CAD Model and 3D print them. 3D printing gives us much more customizability than off the shelf parts.

When thinking about utilizing the 3D Printer it is important to consider two things:

Can another normal part accomplish the intended goal?
If so, communicate your ideas to Han or Antonio and the part can be 3D Printed.

When designing for 3D Printing, it is important to consider how 3D printers work and design accordingly (i.e. minimizing overhangs and eliminating printing on air). We only use supports when strictly necessary.

Next Steps

Design Basics