CAD - Keychain & Handphone Stand

Reflection on Keychain recap activity:

For Week 1's activity, we were assigned an activity which was to design our own keychain using Fusion360. Before I start using Fusion360 to design my own keychain, I need to know its purposes and capabilities. Fusion360 is a CAD tool that enables users to explore and iterate on product ideas and development process which combines organic shapes modelling, mechanical design and manufacturing. 

I have used Fusion360 in the previous module CP5065 to make a keychain as well, a photo frame and our own chemical product and learned the uses of constraints. However, it has been a few months since I last practiced on Fusion360 so I have forgotten some of the basics on Fusion360. Therefore, this recap lesson is important to me to catch up on what I have forgotten and familiarize myself again with Fusion360.

I have used the guided resource on Youtube provided by the lecturers on blackboard to start on my task. Click Here.

Once Fusion 360 is opened, it will straight away lead you to a new untitled project. I will explain the steps accordingly on how to make a keychain:

The first step is to create a sketch and select a plane. The 'create sketch' is located on the top left corner which is already selected as shown by the blue highlight. After clicking on the 'create sketch' a plane will be shown like the picture below. Select a planar face afterwards. I selected the bottom plane that is lying horizontally parallel to both the red and green axis. 

The second step is to draw a rectangle by selecting the '2-point rectangle' under Create. Place the first corner of the rectangle on the origin of the planar axes then type the dimensions 65mm by 25mm. Use the tab button on your keyboard to select and type in the dimensions accordingly and press enter. The finished step should be like the one shown below:

The third step is select the 'Offset' option under Modify and click on the rectangle. Offset the sketch by 2mm and press enter. This is to shift the selected face in a positive or negative direction. The finished step should be like the one shown below:

The fourth step is to select 'Fillet' under Modify and click on the 4 outer corners with radius of 5mm. After completing one corner and typing the radius in, press enter and move on to the next until all 4 corners are filleted. This is to round the edges of a solid body. The finished step should be like the one below:

The fifth step is create a line by selecting 'Line' under Create. Then, place the line on the top end of the keychain to draw the line and place on the bottom end of the keychain to end the line. Drag your mouse horizontally downwards. Afterwards, right click your mouse on the line and select 'Normal/Construction'. The finished step should be like the one below:

The sixth step is to select 'Dimension' under Create and click on both lines (drawn line and the outer leftmost line of keychain) then click on the number indicated by the current distance and type 7mm for the distance between them. The finished step should be like the one below:

The seventh step is to create a 'Point' in the middle of the drawn line under Create. You will know if it's the middle of the line when a triangle appears at the left side. The finished step should be like the one below:

The eighth step is to draw a 'Circle' under Create with diameter of 5mm from the point that was recently created. The finished step should be like the one below:

The ninth step is to create 'Text' under Create. Specifying the text position can be anywhere on the inside of the keychain. The textbox should appear after clicking on the text positions. The size of the textbox can be adjusted later on. Afterwards, type your name, select a font type and adjust the height to fit the rectangle textbox from the text menu. Centre your name accordingly by clicking on your name and dragging it. In my case, I chose Gabriola as the font type after typing out my name on the text with a height of 12mm. To adjust the size of the text box, click on the corner of the rectangle and drag it in or out to fit the size of the text. Click finish sketch on the top right hand corner with the green color tick once done.

The tenth step is to 'Extrude' the base of 3mm under Create or by pressing the letter E on your keyboard. Do not select the hole. The base includes every part of the keychain except the hole. To select multiple faces, press the ctrl button on your keyboard then tap the faces needed. The faces will be selected when it shows a blue highlighted color. Remember that your name needs to be included when extruding. The finished step should be like the picture below. You can press on the orbit at the bottom of your screen to see the depth of your product faces or profile.

Next, hide all bodies from the browser and show your sketch by clicking on the 'eye' icon. When the 'eye' turns grey, it means it is visible to see and when the 'eye' turns white with a slash, it means it is not visible to see. To show your sketch, click on the arrow on 'Sketches' and it will extend to 'Sketch1' and click on its 'eye' to see. After, select the border and your name (use ctrl button on your keyboard to select both and it should be in blue highlighted color). Select 'Extrude' under Create or press the letter E in your keyboard and type 1.5mm. From the extrude menu, select offset plane and enter 3mm. A warning will appear so to avoid this, click the 'eye' icon on bodies then press join on operation from the extrude menu and click OK. The arrow is shown on the picture below because I used the pan button to see its depth.

The last step is to hide your Sketch1 by clicking on the 'eye' icon again and the finished keychain should be shown as below:

Conclusion: 

CAD is a skill that I would need more practice on especially if I will be working on more complex designs. This was a great opportunity for me to catch up on what I have forgotten and helped me in my growth with using CAD. I got to remember what are the uses of extrude, fillet and offset and how to apply them. 

References:

IMDb. (n.d.). Introduction to Autodesk Fusion 360. [online] Available at: <https://platform.europeanmoocs.eu/course_introduction_to_autodesk_fusio> [Accessed 18 October 2021].

Reflection on Handphone Stand Parametric Design Activity:    

For week 2's lesson, our task was to create our own personalized handphone stand in Fusion360 using parametric design. In the VIDEO provided in Blackboard, I learned that parametric design helps to quickly and easily change the dimensions of a model without having to correct individual steps. Parametric design is a major time saver as it allows you to change the dimensions of multiple parts at once without having to do it manually and have a single part be fitted into multiple parts of the model.

To start, I searched through Youtube to get ideas and look for tutorials on how to design a handphone stand. I followed the steps from HERE and got inspired to start designing with the help from it. The key feature of the handphone stand is the curved arc of the stand that makes it look like a mirror or a rocking chair. With the parametric design built into my handphone stand, I can customize and change the dimensions easily without doing it one by one which saves time and energy. It is definitely a useful feature and will come in handy in my group's capstone project especially if we want to change the parameters of the product without redoing it over and over. I find this tutorial very useful because in the past, I used to think that we weren't allowed to change the dimensions freely hence we had to do one by one which was what I did to design my group's chemical product prototype in CP5065. So next, I will add this knowledge into designing other personal products that I want to design or during my internship or for my group's capstone project.

I chose this particular tutorial guide into helping me design the handphone stand as it explores the use of constraints which I had learned in the previous module so it was a refresher to me and I am now able to apply constraints. Additionally, the guide used 'Mirror' to mirror the exact sketch of the product thus extruding and creating a new sketch for the other half of the handphone stand was not needed which saves time. Thus, I learned the usage of 'Mirror' as well which can help me in my future projects with Fusion360.

I will explain the steps accordingly on how to make the handphone stand:

Note - The pictures are arranged from left to right according to the steps explained.

Creating sketch of Phone and Stand
Step 1: Under Modify, go to change parameters and type in the parameters as followed in the picture below. Right click on '(Unsaved)' under browser on the left most side of the screen and click new component twice and name one 'Phone' and the other 'Stand'. 

Step 2: Press on the 'Phone' component and create a new sketch using the front view and make a 2-point rectangle. Click the triangle icon under Constraints which represents midpoint then click on the bottom width of the rectangle and the origin. Press 'D' or click on sketch dimension under Create and type in the dimensions for the length as 'P_L' and for the width 'P_W' as follows:

Step 3: Finish sketch and press 'E' for extrude and type in 'P_T'. Press 'M' for move/copy and follow the settings as shown below and type 'P_Angle' for its angle. Check that under change parameters there is a 'Move1' as shown below.

Step 4: Click on the 'Stand component' and create a new sketch using the right view. Press 'P' for project, click the body for geometry (highlighted blue) and selection filter is bodies. Draw a line under create that is perpendicular from the midpoint's width of the rectangle drawn (triangle indicates that it is the midpoint) and press D for its dimension and type 'P_Offset'. Click on the line and press 'X' for construction, it will show a dashed line.

Step 5: Create a 2-point rectangle under create and click on 'Coincident' under constraints and click on the bottom length of the rectangle and the bottom line drawn. Click coincident again and click on the top line drawn and the left width of the rectangle. Press D and type the width dimension for the rectangle as 4mm and length as 'P_L*0.6'.

Step 6: Under create, click the 'Center point arc' and follow the steps in the picture by clicking 1 followed by 2 then 3. Do the same for the other arc. Draw the lines circled in the picture under create. Click coincident under constraints and click on the upper arc and the midpoint of the rectangle on top of it with the triangle. 

Step 7: Click 'Equal' under constraints and click on 1 and 2 in the picture, then click equal again on 2 and 3 in the picture. Press D and follow the dimensions as shown in the picture: 

Note - d12 is P_Offset

Step 8: Draw another rectangle as shown in the picture. Under create, click '3-point arc' and make 2 arcs like in the picture. The end of the arc must be touching the bottom length of the rectangle. Click 'Concentric' under constraints and click on the two WHITE DOTS on the right. It should show a circle icon CIRCLED IN RED in the picture. Then, click equal under constraints and equalize the two RED CIRCLED width in the picture.

Step 9: Press D and follow the dimensions as shown in the picture. For the dimensions between the arc, right click mouse and 'Pick circle/arc tangent' and press D to type in the dimension as follows:

Note - d14 is P_L*0.6, length of the bottom rectangle

Extrusion of Stand

Step 10: Finish sketch. Click on an empty space in the screen and drag your mouse as shown as the YELLOW BOX in the picture then press E. Deselect the circled part in the picture and type 'P_W*0.45' as the dimension. 

Step 11: Click on the 'eye' 👁 icon of 'Phone' component to hide it. Create sketch using the upper front view. Press P for project, click the entire body and select bodies for selection filter. A YELLOW RECTANGLE with PURPLE BORDERS will appear in front of the body. Press L to draw the line from the right bottom of the YELLOW RECTANGLE followed by clicking 'Tangent arc' under create to draw the arc to the left top of the YELLOW RECTANGLE connecting to the line drawn. Follow the outline as shown in the picture below. Press 'Horizontal/Vertical' under constraints and click on the WHITE DOT and the origin point.

Step 12: Press D and click on the arc and type 'P_W*0.35' as the dimension. Press O for offset then click on the line and follow the dimension in the picture:

Step 13: Orbit to the bottom of the model and press P for project. The geometry selected is the RED ARROWED pointed line in the picture and the selection filter is specified entities. Create a 3-point arc under create like the one in the picture. The BLUE circle icon must be shown. Press 'Horizontal/Vertical' under constraints and click on the WHITE DOT and the origin point. Press X on the project line as shown in the picture and it will appear as a dashed line.

Step 14: Press E and click on the BLUE HIGHLIGHTED faces in the picture for the profile and follow the settings for extrude in the picture. For Side 1, click on the WHITE DOT shown by the LEFT GREEN ARROW in the picture and for side 2, click on the WHITE DOT shown by the RIGHT GREEN ARROW in the picture. Operation is intersect.

It should look like this:

Step 15: Click the 'eye' icon on 'Sketch1' under Stand component in browser and press E. Select the BLUE HIGHLIGHTED face in the picture and  follow the settings for extrude in the picture. The object is the LIGHT GRAY HIGHLIGHTED section in the picture. Operation is join.

Step 16: Click the 'eye' 👁 icon on 'Sketch2' and hide 'Sketch1' by clicking its eye 👁 icon again and press E. Select the BLUE HIGHLIGHTED face in the picture and follow the settings for extrude in the picture. Afterwards, hide 'Sketch2'.

Step 17: Press F for Fillet and select on the two edged line shown with the RED ARROWS in the picture and type 2mm. Press F again and select the BLUE HIGHLIGHTED line in the picture and type 4.5mm. Under create, select Mirror. Pattern type is bodies, objects is the entire body of the model and select the RED ARROWED face in the picture as the mirror plane.

The finished phone stand should look like the one below and you can experiment with the parameters to see the changes in dimensions.

All in all, I made lots of experiments with Fusion360 and learned new features of this CAD software. Through this activity, I will apply the knowledge I have learned to make new products and for my group's capstone project. There were lots of frustration along the way as I faced some challenges such as not producing the curved arc for the phone to lean against in the picture above due to my error in extrusion and being unable to change the parameters freely as when I do so, the product gets destroyed. I have forgotten to switch the extent type to object and thus I had to redo that part by rewatching the video again. With parametrics, I have used it in most of the dimensions of the phone stand with some arrangements such as multiplying the width to a radius arc. With this, I am able to change the main dimensions in the parameter table as all of the phone stand's dimension changes. After overcoming these challenges, I feel a sense of accomplishment in making a unique phone stand with the help from the guide.

References:

Fusion 360 Blog. (2020). Tutorial: Parametric Modeling With Fusion 360 -. [online] Available at: https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/parametric-modeling-in-fusion-360-tutorial/ [Accessed 29 October 2021].

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