Week 3: Additive Manufacturing

Learning Fusion360

After getting trained to use the 3D printer by Whitney, I was all set to start this assignment! To begin, I downloaded Fusion360, which is the software we would be using to make our 3D printed token. To do this, I had to create an Autodesk student account affiliated with Wheaton College, before downloading Fusion360 from their website. After I had all of the software I needed, I started looking at Kevin's tutorials on Madison's website so I could learn how to use Fusion360.

The first thing I learned was how to use the interface and pan around the screen. I toggled on the origin to see the sort of cube section in the middle of the screen, denoting the center of the workspace where I would be designing.

I right clicked on the x plane and then clicked creat sketch, to start creating on that axis.

To begin, I made a circle, before adding a rectangle along the edge of it.

I then used the extrude tool and selected all of the faces of the object that I wanted to extend.

I set my measurement and hit enter, creating the following shape.

Next, I created a sketch on the top of my object and added an ellipse which I extruded also.

Throughout the video, I was introduced to other tools, like the sketch shortcuts and the different purposes of the tools on the toolbar.


Once I had familiarized myself with the process of using Fusion360, I created a folder within the application to store my files.

Practicing the Techniques

After I had played around with Fusion and got comfortable with the interface/tools, I moved on to constructing a similar token to our actual assignment, although this one was a radioactive symbol.

I created a new project, selected a plain to create a sketch on, and renamed my file since I actually wanted to keep this one.

To start, I made a plain circle and extruded it 2.5 mm.

I then made the top of that circle the area for the sketch. Kevin's video gave an example of the shapes used for this design which he made in a software called Affinity.

To start recreating this, I offset the initial circle to make the outer circles of the token.

I then readjusted the dimensions of these to match the video.

Next, I added the smaller circle to the center, along with the polygon that I would use to help format the wings of the symbol. These lines were dashed because I made them into construction lines, which means that they are only meant to help build the design.

The next step in creating this token was to add lines from the corner of the polygon to the edge of the inner circle. After, I added construction lines between each of these lines on the edge perpindicular to the outer edge of the circle.

I then used the equal tool under the constraint tab and clicked on these construction lines two at a time. From doing this, the distance between them was equalized, causing all of the lines to be evenly spaced out from each other and the corners of the polygon. Next, I added a circle to the center that met the corners of the polygon as well. The following image is my finished sketch.

After my sketch was finished, I extruded the elements of the radioactive symbol and the border, before recoloring them as well to make the design look nicer overall.

Designing the Token

After I successfully constructed the radioactive symbol in Fusion360, I was ready to create my own token. Out of the options shown in Kevin's video, I decided to make the chemical weapons symbol.

I started this assignment just like the I did with the radioactive symbol, making a circle on the bottom axis, before extruding it up 2.5mm.

I then created a sketch on the top of this extruded circle, where I would work on creating the chemical weapons symbol itself. I started by making the small circle in the middle that would be extruded, along with the two extruded circles circle around it. Just like with the radioacrive symbol, I put a hexagon made of construction lines in the farthest circle.

In order to for the rectangular lines from the three outer circles to have a gap between them, I put a smaller hexagon in the second outer circle.

Next, I went to add the rectangles along the inner hexagon. In order to get the three rectangles to be evenly spread around the origin, I used the circular pattern tool under the create tab. I selected all of the lines that made up the rectangle, then selected the center point as the origin of the circle, and then the number of rectangles I wanted.

I played with the dimension of the rectangles, before doing the same circular pattern technique with the outer circles.

After that, I went to add lines on either side of the rectangles in order to create the space between the rectangular extruded shape and the border circle in the center, however, when I went to connect them to the corners of the outer polygon, I realized I had set up the polygons in the wrong circles. Instead of putting them in the outer two extruded circles, I moved them to the inner circle and the first extruded circle. Now that these were in the correct spots, when I placed the lines parallel to the rectangles, they effectively cut through the outer border circles.

Although I never took a screenshot of it, on this circular sketch, I offset the main circle outwards to make the overall circular border. After a bit of editing the dimensions of all my elements, I went to extrude them. I selected all of the parts and successfully extruded them 1.5mm. When I looked at the finished product, I thought it looked a bit different from the radioactive token. It seemed thicker and the sizing seemed off. After referring back to the tutorial video, I realized two things: the size of my overall circle was off, and I had offset the outer border circle of the entire token outside, rather than inside. I switched the offset, before going to change the dimensions of the circle itself, and all the aspects of the chemical symbol sketch.

I changed the initial circle to have a diameter of 50 mm, and then changed the sizing of the chemical symbol elements accordingly.

I then extruded the outer border and the parts of the chemical weapons symbol to get the following result.

Printing My Token

After finishing my design, I saved the file as an stl and put it on my usb, before transferring that usb to the computer in the lab. I opened Prusaslicer and imported my file.

I made sure the print preview looked good and the filament type matched the printer I was planning on using before I saved the gcode to the sd card to put in the printer itself.

I put the sd card in the printer and then selected my file using the knob.

Next, I prepped the printer by selecting my filament type, inserting it, and then having the printer heat to temperature.

Once the printer was prepped and ready, I began to print my token.

I had to stop my print with a few minutes left because the lab closed, so I left it on the printer to come back and finish the next day!

The following day I came back and finished the rest of my print!

During this, a bit of plastic messed up a bit so there was a curly tendril on my finished token.

I took my token off of the print tray, cleaned up the tendril and other small bits of plastic on it from the printer moving, and ended up with the final product!

Both of my stl files can be found here!