Fusion 360 – Contour Selection – 2D Contour (part 1)

fusion 360 2d contour

Fusion 360 2D Contour – Geometry


YouTube: https://youtu.be/DIL6FRkplQI

Contours machining, like faceing, belongs to the 2D machinings.

On CAM systems, this strategy generates toolpaths based on contours. The contours can be closed or open. Usually these are contours extracted from a 3D model or simply 2D sketches (drawn or imported).

fusion 360 2d contour

To add contour machining to the project, select the 2D Contour from the 2D menu.

2d contour fusion 360

A window will appear, which we already know from the first operation and the tool used in the previous operation was automatically loaded. For rough contour machining, this tool will be ok, so we do not change anything in this tab.

Geometry Tab

Let’s go to the Geometry tab.

geometry tab fusion 360

Compared to the Face operation, we have a lot more options here that can affect the tool path and machining program.

In the first section – Geometry, we indicate the contour to be machined. With the option there is a field with an arrow and the word Nothing. On the model, we can indicate the contour that we will be working on.

fusion 360 contour selection

Select the outer edge of the model. Just move the cursor over the edge of the model, which will be the geometry of the contour being mechined and left-click the mouse (we can indicate several contours in one operation, but for now we will focus on one).

After selecting the contour, it will be highlighted.

contour selection fusion 360

And in the field, with the Contour Selection option, the string “Chain” will appear, indicating that we have the contour to be machined (if we had, for example, several contours, their number would also appear) and an “x”, that allows you to delete the geometry (eg if we made a mistake in pointing and wanted to indicate a different geometry).

selected contours fusion 360

Another option is the Tangential Extension Distance, which is responsible for tangentially extending the tool path and works with open contours. We will back to this option later.

By selecting the next option – Separate Tangential End Extension, another parameter will appear in which you can specify the tangent extension of the contour at its end.

tangential extension fusion 360

The next parameters will be discussed in the next post.


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