Business of Machining - Episode 93

 

Welcome to Autodesk University

With a focus on Fusion and Manufacturing

Special guest for this episode: Rob Awesome Lockwood!

Here is the link of the event Grimsmo, Saunders, and Rob Lockwood were at. 

It's time for Grimsmo and Saunders to head to class for four days straight of learning, inspiration, and a little bit of teaching.  

In this episode, we catch Saunders, Grimsmo, and Lockwood in the thick of the event in Las Vegas, and hear their thoughts on the courses they've attended so far and what they think of popular topics of the event.

“It’s wonderful to meet the architects of [Fusion 360]” - Saunders

Featured classes: 

• 101 Tips on Fusion 360 - Maximize the number of features you know about, and use, on Fusion 360 (especially helpful for the self-taught machinist)

“The self-taught Fusion experience means that we’re probably missing out on some key functions that would make our lives easier” - Grimsmo

"The most valuable stuff that I've gotten is the underpinning stuff of fusion" - Lockwood

• Under the hood of Fusion 360 - Keep your sketches light weight!
• Utilize Macro Programming and Probing to Make More Parts, Better - Taught by Grimsmo
• Speeds and Feeds - Taught by Saunders
• CAM with Generative - Overview by Lockwood
• Design Thinking with Fusion 360 - Jeff Smith (@blaster701 on Instagram). Saunders loved this class! It got him to think more about designing with intent. 

Let's Talk Fusion

The three machinists discuss the changes Fusion could make, the changes they have made, and what the implications of these changes could mean for the software and the community.

“If everyone is doing it incorrectly, there's really a discussion to be had about changing the workflow” - Saunders

What's the hot topic of the conference? Generative Design

“Everyone’s talking about generative here” - Grimsmo

"Some of the designs look like when you see a whale carcass" - Lockwood

"What’s neat about [generative design] is, by definition, all of the results are manufacturable, technically” - Lockwood

"Ask me about singularity" 

- A quote Lockwood's conference badge

Saunders and Lockwood both give their definitions of Generative design in manufacturing, then the three of them discuss its implications. They also discuss the definition of singularity design for manufacturing. 

Psst...Miss the event but want to watch the classes anyway? 

Fear not! Lots of the classes were recorded and are online.

Fusion Payment Model

Fusion continues to offer the free version, but there is only one paid version now and it’s 500 dollars a year. These three believe it's a good value, and an easy to understand model

We may be talking about Fusion and manufacturing a lot, but don't forget...

"Autodesk is a giant company, and the world is a giant place, and our manufacturing sector is a small percentage of what they do" - Grimsmo

The conference is finished, and everyone's back home, but they are feeling more inspired than ever. 

What do YOU think?

• How can a design software improve buildings of the future such as hospitals and schools?