3D Exercise 129

Exercise 129

In this CAD tutorial we'll use the features: 

1. Extrude with Taper Angle (Draft)

Everything in molded part design starts here. Instead of extruding a perfect brick, you add a taper angle (usually 1 to 3 degrees) directly inside the Extrude command.

• Manufacturing Reality: This taper, known as "draft," is mandatory for plastic injection molding or vacuum forming. If the walls are perfectly straight, the vacuum created during cooling will trap the part inside the steel mold. The taper allows it to pop out effortlessly.

2. Fillet

Here, the order of operations is everything. You apply the fillets to the sharp outer edges of your drafted block before you hollow it out.

• The "Why": Sharp exterior corners create weak points and disrupt the flow of molten plastic. More importantly, by filleting the solid block first, you set the stage for the next command to work perfectly.

3. Shell

This is where the magic happens. You select the top flat face of your drafted, filleted block and use the Shell command to remove it, hollowing out the entire inside.

• Uniform Wall Thickness: Because you applied the fillets first, the Shell command automatically offsets those curved outer corners to the inside as well. This guarantees perfectly uniform wall thickness throughout the entire part. If a molded part has varying wall thicknesses, the plastic will cool at different rates, causing the final enclosure to warp, shrink, or develop ugly "sink marks" on the outside.

4. Rectangular Pattern

Now that you have your perfect, thin-walled housing, you need to add functional details—like a grid of ventilation slots to cool an internal motor, or a matrix of structural ribs to stiffen the floor of the tray.

• Function: You sketch and cut a single ventilation slot (or extrude a single mounting peg). Then, you use the Rectangular Pattern tool to multiply that single feature across the X and Y axes, filling the floor or wall of your enclosure in seconds without bogging down the software with dozens of individual sketches.

All dimensions are in mm/g/s/ISO  

#Fusion360 #Solidworks #Inventor #Autocad #FreeCAD

3D Sketch

Sketch 129

Exercise 129 - 3D practice drawing for all CAD software ( AutoCAD, SolidWorks, 3DS Max, Autodesk Inventor, Fusion 360, CATIA, Creo Parametric, SolidEdge etc.)

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Tutorial In Autodesk Fusion: https://youtu.be/QYVI9JakjUg