Designing a Parametric "Print in Place" Hinged Container Using Autodesk Fusion 360

cults3d

The eight different size and color 3D printed "print in place" hinged containers appearing in this tutorial's cover photograph all share one thing in common; they were printed from a single Autodesk Fusion 360 model using parametric modeling techniques. In a CAD environment, a parametric model is a model that can be altered simply by changing dimensional values. In this model, I specified the dimensional values in the Autodesk Fusion 360 "Change Parameters" menu for Length, Depth, Height, Thickness, and Tolerance dimensions of a simple "print in place" hinged container. Then, I designed sketches for the base, lid, and ball-and-socket hinges, extruding various components using entered dimensional values. To change the length of the container, simply change the Length dimension; to change the depth, change the Depth dimension; and to change the height, change the Height dimension. When any dimensional value on the Change Parameters menu is altered, Autodesk Fusion 360 rebuilds the container to new dimensions, creating a new model ready for 3D printing thanks to parametric modeling. When designing this model, friends questioned why I didn't scale the model using Cura prior to printing. The answer lies in that when Cura scales a model, it scales everything, including tolerances (or "clearance") between parts. Thus, scaling up results in loose hinges and scaling down causes tight or even "welded" hinges. Parametric modeling ensures user-specified Tolerance dimensions are maintained as the model dimensions change. Now, the caveats: this model has flaws. No limits have been imposed on dimension values, so entering reasonable values is up to users; I suggest using values greater than or equal to those initially placed in the Change Parameters menu. Negative values and excessive Height values relative to Length and Width values will cause problems. If non-reasonable values are entered, errors may appear in the timeline of the model to warn that the model is not printable. I've included the Autodesk Fusion 360 file "Print In Place Parametric Hinged Container v1.f3d," which includes model details, along with videos showing steps performed in creating this model. Familiarity with the Autodesk Fusion 360 environment is highly recommended; I'm always open to questions, suggestions, comments, and criticisms (friendly please), so feel free to comment. As usual, I probably forgot a file or two, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to point them out as I make plenty of mistakes. Designed using Autodesk Fusion 360, sliced with Cura 3.5.1, and printed in PLA on an Ultimaker 2+ Extended and an Ultimaker 3 Extended. Step 1: Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_rvrzCc0zY to see how the model design starts with dimensioning; I recommend starting with values shown in the video. Step 2: Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc7OKoUhcgo to see how the sketch and extrusion for the base hinge are created. Note that the hinge center line is (Height / 2) above the X axis. Step 3: Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_XyWosQbZk to see how the sketch and revolve for the lid hinge sockets are created. Step 4: Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgUQuApNmY0 to see how color, joint, joint limits, and animation of the lid are created in the final step. And that is how I created Designing a Parametric "Print in Place" Hinged Container Using Autodesk Fusion 360. Hope you enjoyed it!