Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
ME 170: COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN
CADLAB #1: INTRODUCTION TO FUSION 360
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Understand the basic interface and navigation tools in Fusion 360.
2. Set up your Fusion 360 Hub, ME 170 Project, and Lab Folders using ME 170 naming convention.
3. Create and fully define 2D sketches using dimensions and key sketch constraints.
4. Use basic 3D modeling tools to generate a 3D solid model from a 2D sketch.
5. Apply parametric design principles by editing sketch dimensions and observing model updates.
6. Export a Fusion 360 design as a .STL file for 3D printing and verify design constraints.
7. Develop good CAD practices through a guided design activity that produces a physical part.
LAB FILES YOU’LL NEED
1. bracket154.f3d
2. Keychain.f3d
3. [Link]
LAB TOOLS YOU’LL USE
1. Create Sketch
2. Extrude
3. Fillet
4. Measure
PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO FUSION 360
1. Share your Fusion hub with your TA and Grader – we won’t be able to grade any of your labs
until you do this!!!
a. This should have been completed for the Prelab assignment.
b. If you faced any issues in completing this step during the Prelab, please ask your Grader or
TA for help.
c. If you completed this part successfully for the Prelab, check with your TA AND Grader if
they have received a Fusion invitation from you before moving ahead .
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
2. Setting Units and Axis Orientation – you will need to verify this for every design you make in
ME 170.
a. Locate the “Browser” Panel towards the top
left and expand the “Document Settings” tab.
b. Hover over the “Units” tab and select the
“Change Active Units” option (shown in the
image on the right).
c. Ensure that the “Unit System” is selected as
millimeter (mm), gram (g) and that the “Set As
Default” option is selected. This will be the unit system we will use
in ME 170 unless specified otherwise.
d. Now select the Account icon in the top right corner and select
“Preferences” (shown in the image on the right).
e. Find the “Default modeling orientation” and ensure that it is
selected as “Z up,” then press Apply and then Ok.
3. Explore the Fusion 360 interface using a sample part.
a. Go to the “CADLAB#1” assignment on Canvas and download the bracket154.f3d file and
save it to your Downloads or Desktop folder.
b. Go to the ME170 project in the Data Panel in Fusion, select the “New Folder” option and
enter “CADLAB 1” as the folder name. Double click on the folder to open it.
c. Click on the Blue “Upload” Box, click “Select Files” in the box that pops up, select the
bracket154.f3d file that you just
downloaded, and then click Upload.
d. Your Data Panel should look like the
image on the right now.
e. Click on the “V1” option on the bottom
right of the file icon to view the entire file
history – graders will be viewing this file
history to check if you have submitted
your lab on time!!
f. Open the file by double clicking on it in the Data Panel (you can also open the file by right
clicking on it and selecting “Open”.
4. Locate the toolbar and explore the features in it.
a. The toolbar is found towards the bottom of
the screen (shown in the image).
b. Click on the “Display Settings” option and
go to the “Visual Style” feature.
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
c. The visual style should be selected as “Shaded with Visible Edges only” for all your designs
in ME 170. Click on each of the other visual styles as well and observe how the model
display changes.
d. Click on the “Free Orbit”, “Pan”, and “Zoom” options in the toolbar to see how you can
change the view of your model.
5. Good modeling practice for viewing your model from different positions and angles.
a. Hold down the middle mouse wheel and move the mouse to pan the camera. This does the
exact same thing as the “Pan” feature in the toolbar.
b. Hold down the shift key and the middle mouse wheel to spin the camera. This does the
exact same thing as the “Free Orbit” feature in the toolbar.
c. Spring the middle mouse wheel forward and backward to zoom in and out. This does the
exact same thing as the “Zoom In” and “ Zoom Out” features in the toolbar.
6. Explore the View Cube – very important for future Labs.
a. Find the View Cube in the upper right corner.
b. Hover over the view cube and click on the home button to go to the
default view for the design. If the Z-axis is not showing upwards,
redo steps 2d and 2e of this lab.
c. You can now click on different faces to change the view.
d. Note: you can also rotate your model using either the corner, edge,
or face of the view cube!
e. Note the X, Y, and Z axis in the view cube – this will help you
determine the plane you are in (very important for creating 2D sketches later).
f. Hover over the view cube and select the home symbol to go back to the default view for
your model (shown in the image).
7. Understand how your model is organized in the Browser Panel.
a. The browser panel is located toward the top left side of the
Fusion interface. This panel shows everything that exists in your
design.
b. While in the bracket154 file, expand the following options:
i. Origin – shows the origin, XYZ axes, and the default planes
ii. Bodies – shows the solid parts within the model
iii. Sketches – shows the 2D sketches used the build the solid
parts
c. Click on each of the sketches and bodies in the browser to
see where they are in your design!!
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
d. You can click the eyeball icon next to each option to hide/show that feature in the model.
e. This should show you how every 3D solid start from a 2D sketch in CAD!!
8. Observe how the model was built step by step in the Timeline.
a. The timeline is the bar at the
bottom of the screen. Every feature
you add to your model appears
here in the order it was created.
b. Hover over any of the timeline icons and Fusion will highlight that feature in the model.
c. The timeline helps you track your design history – this is especially useful when you need to
fix, reorder, or adjust specific parts of your design.
d. You can click the play button to view an animation of how the bracket was made!!
9. Good modeling practice: naming sketches and bodies.
a. It is generally good modeling practice to name your sketches and bodies in the browser
panel so that you and other team members can understand their purpose with ease.
b. We will now change the names of the body and sketches in the bracket file to follow these
good modeling practices. You are expected to follow these practices throughout ME 170
(and beyond!) as well.
c. Go back to the browser panel and right click on “Body2,” select rename, and change its
name to “Bracket”.
d. Similarly, rename “Sketch1” to “Bracket Base,” “Sketch2” to “Front Hole,” and “ Sketch3”
to “Side Hole.”
PART 2: INTRODUCTION TO 3D MODELING
10. We will now work through designing a ME 170 keychain from scratch.
a. Start a new design by clicking the add icon towards the top right on Fusion.
b. Go to File > Save, name the file as “Keychain,” and choose the location as your CADLAB 1
folder.
11. Enter a sketch.
a. To model in 3 dimensions, we generally begin in 2 dimensions, specifying geometry, before
adding the third dimension.
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
b. 2-D sketches are located on planes and are used to define “features” which add depth to
the sketch.
c. Throughout all the labs in ME 170, it is extremely important to pay attention to the
plane we are asking you to sketch on!!
d. Start a sketch by selecting the
“Create Sketch” option in the
Create toolbar (shown in the
image).
e. Select the bottom (XY) plane to start your sketch on (as
shown highlighted in the image).
f. Note: you can tell whether you are in a sketch if the “Finish
Sketch” option is shown in the top right.
12. Create the sketch for the base of your keychain.
a. Notice as you enter sketch mode, the application bar at the top changes to allow you to use
various 2D sketching tools (see image below).
b. Go to the Create Dropdown >
Rectangle > 2-Point Rectangle
(shown in the image on the
right), place the first point at the
origin, and drag out the second
point to anywhere in the positive
X and Y axes.
c. Your screen should look
something like the image shown
on the right.
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
13. Fully dimension and constraint your sketches – THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN ME 170!!
a. In Fusion 360, a sketch is only correct if it is fully defined. To do so you must always use:
i. Dimensions – these define the exact sketch geometry.
ii. Constraints – these control the relationship between sketch elements.
b. Observe the sketch from section 14 carefully. Some lines are black whereas some are blue.
Black lines indicate they are fully constrained and blue lines mean they aren’t defined fully.
Remember to never finish a sketch until all lines and points are fully constrained!!
14. Add dimensions to your sketch.
a. Select the “Sketch Dimension” tool from the create toolbar (or press the “D” key on your
keyboard), select a vertical line in the rectangle, and drag your mouse to create a
dimension. Enter 25mm as the value for the vertical line.
b. Now click on the “D” key and select one of the horizontal lines in the rectangle. While
entering the dimensions, click on the dimension you just created. This should now show
“d1” in the dimension text box and click enter. This is called Parametric Dimensioning and
is an extremely important feature in creating sketches. In this case, “d1” refers to
dimension number 1 (vertical height of the rectangle) that is in your sketch.
c. Now the base of our keychain should be 3 times the height, so we need to change the
horizontal dimension to d1*3.
d. Your final sketch should look like the image below.
e. Notice the “fx” next to the parametric dimension (highlighted with a red circle)! “fx”
indicates that a dimension is a function of some other dimension. In our case the horizontal
length of the rectangle is a function of the vertical height of the rectangle.
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
15. Understand the constraints present your sketch.
a. Notice the small grey icons on the sides of the rectangle in section 14 – these are called
constraints. They are highlighted by the black circles.
b. This constraint is called the “Horizontal/Vertical” constraint which allows us to keep the 4
lines in the rectangle either horizontal or vertical which in turn helps us keep the shape of
the rectangle no matter what the dimensions are.
c. You created a rectangle that came built in with these constraints to preserve the shape of
the rectangle. For more complex sketches in future labs, you might have to add some
constraints on your own!
d. Notice how all the lines and points are black now – this means our sketch is fully defined.
e. Think: Why did we not have to dimension all 4 lines in the rectangle to make the sketch fully
defined??
f. Click the “Finish Sketch” option at the top right to exit the sketch
mode.
g. Rename the sketch as “Keychain Base” in the browser panel.
h. The “Finish Sketch” icon is a good way to check if you are in sketch mode or no!
16. Extrude your 2D sketch to convert it into a 3D solid.
a. An extrusion takes the geometry of a 2D sketch and extends it in the perpendicular
dimension for a given length.
b. Notice how the applications toolbar at the top is different than what it was in sketch mode.
This allows us to create and modify 3D features in our model.
c. Select the “Extrude” option from the create toolbar (or use hotkey “E”) and notice that the
sketch gets automatically selected as the extrude profile.
d. Enter 3mm as the length of the extrusion and press Enter (shown above). Notice how a 3D
solid is formed (shown below).
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
17. Create a hole for your keychain.
a. Select the top face of the solid you just created
and then select “Create Sketch” to draw a sketch
on the selected face.
b. Go to Create > Circle > Center-Diameter Circle
and place the first point near the left end of the
rectangle and drag the second point out to create
a circle (look at the image on the right to see
roughly where the circle needs to be placed on the keychain).
c. As you can see the center point and outline of the circle are both blue. This means we will
have to fully define the circle now.
d. We will need to dimension the diameter of the circle and the X & Y dimensions of the center.
e. Select the Sketch Dimension tool (hotkey D), select
the outline of the circle, and drag it out to enter
5mm as the diameter of the circle.
f. To dimension the center, use the Sketch Dimension
tool again (hotkey D), select the center of the circle
and then the origin. Now drag the dimension
downwards and enter 4.5mm as the horizontal
distance from the origin to the center.
g. Repeat the process in part f, but this time drag the
dimension sidewards to enter 12.5mm as the
vertical distance from the origin to the center.
h. Finish the sketch after it looks like the image on the
right.
i. Rename the sketch as “Hole” in the browser panel.
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
18. Cut a hole through the body.
a. Select the Extrude feature. This time no profile is automatically selected because there are
2 sketches to select from. Select the inside of the circle as the profile to extrude (shown
below).
b. Since we want to cut a hole, select the operation type in the pop-
up box as “Cut” and enter the extrude distance as -3mm (make
sure you enter -3mm because we want to cut in the negative
direction). Press Enter to make the hole.
c. Rotate the model to see that the hole goes all the way through the
body (shown below).
19. Learning the importance of “Extent Type” while creating a hole using extrude.
a. Go to the timeline at the bottom and find
“Extrude 1” by hovering over the first extrude that
we used to create the body of the keychain. Right
click on it and select “Edit Feature” to make
changes to the extrude.
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
b. Enter the extrude distance as 5mm now and press OK.
c. Rotate your model and observe what has happened to the hole. Can you think of a reason
why this happened?
d. Now go to the timeline again and this time find “Extrude 2” (the extrude used to make the
hole) and select “Edit Feature” to edit the hole. Select the “Extent Type” as All and press
OK.
e. Note: The distance type “All” extends (or cuts through) the selected profile throughout the
entire model in the selected direction.
f. Rotate your model and observe what has happened to the hole now.
g. Rename the keychain body as “Keychain” in the browser panel.
20. Smooth out the edges.
a. Our aim is to 3D print this keychain, so we need to modify our model smooth out any sharp
corners or edges.
b. Go to the Modify toolbar and select the Fillet tool (hotkey F) as shown below.
c. Select the 4 vertical edges in the keychain (shown in the left image below), enter 5mm as
the fillet radius, and press Enter (you can also use the arrow the create a fillet!).
d. Your final keychain should look like the right image below.
21. Learn to use the measure tool – this is how the graders check your designs!
a. Select the Measure tool (hotkey I) from
the Inspect dropdown.
b. Select any vertical edge in the keychain
to measure the thickness. The length of the edge you select will be shown in the Measure
pop up box.
c. Try using the measure tool on some more edges to practice using the tool.
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
d. You can also use the measure tool to measure the distance between two edges. Select the
edge of the circle and any one of the edges of the keychain to measure the perpendicular
distance between the edge of the circle and the keychain.
e. Think: How do you measure the distance between the center of the circle and edge of the
keychain?
f. In the Measure pop up box, select the “Show Snap Points” option and over the top face of
the keychain. While pressing CTRL, go over the hole to select the center point of the circle.
Select any one of the top edges now to measure the distance of the center of the circle from
the edges. Note the distances to all 4 edges.
g. Now, measure the curved edges that you made using the Fillet tool. Note down the fillet
radius for all 4 corner edges. Do they match the fillet radius on entered?
22. Engrave your name on the keychain!!
a. Start a sketch on the top face of the keychain. Go to Create > Text and select 2 points to
create a text box.
b. Type your name.
i. Under the Text box, select the centered vertical
alignment and make sure that your text is bolded. It
should look like the image to the right. If the text
height has not already defaulted to 10 mm, you should
adjust the height to be 10 mm.
ii. Click “OK”
iii. Constrain the text box with the dimensions below:
c. Feel free to change the font and style of the text, but know that some more complex fonts
may be difficult for the 3D printer to print in a clean way.
d. Finish the sketch.
e. Note: If your name is longer than what fits on the keychain, you will need to increase the
horizontal length of the base rectangle by editing the first sketch:
i. In the Browser Panel, locate the sketch named “Keychain Base.”
ii. Right-click on Keychain Base and select Edit Sketch to enter sketch mode.
iii. Click on the horizontal dimension that controls the length of the rectangle.
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
iv. Change the dimension value to d1*3.5 or d1*4 (depending on how much longer you
want the keychain to be).
v. Press Enter to apply the new dimension. You should see the rectangle length adjust
accordingly.
vi. Click Finish Sketch at the top right to exit the sketch and update the model.
f. Rename this new sketch as “Name” in the browser panel.
g. Select the extrude tool, select the operation type as “Cut”, and enter the distance as -
3mm.
h. Optional: If you want to make your keychain fancy, you can add any other feature to it, but
you should have completed all the steps given above first.
i. Continue to Part 3 to 3D print your keychain – this is REQUIRED!
j. Save your part by clicking on the File icon.
PART 3 INTRODUCTION TO 3D PRINTING
23. Create an STL file for 3D printing.
a. An STL file is required by the rapid prototyping machines and 3D printers. STL is an
abbreviation for stereo-lithography, which was the first rapid prototyping method capable
of directly manufacturing parts from a solid model CAD file (developed in the late 1980s).
The STL file is a standard file that can be used by most, if not all, 3D printers and rapid
prototyping machines.
b. Go to the File icon in the top left and select Export. Select the “Type” as “STL Files (*.STL)
and export the file.
c. Once the .STL file is exported, go to the CADLAB 1 folder in the Data Panel and upload the
.STL file to the CADLAB 1 folder – this is a submission requirement.
PART 4 SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
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Grainger College of Engineering ME 170: CADLAB #1
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
1. The following files should be in your CADLAB 1 folder (Note: The files you create in Fusion are by
default .f3d files. That’s why you will see all Fusion files called out with a .f3d extension in all the
CADLAB documents!):
o Bracket154.f3d
o Keychain.f3d
o [Link]
2. Complete the CADLAB#1 Quiz linked in the CADLAB#1 assignment description on Canvas.
3. Go to the “CADLAB#1” assignment on canvas and type “Ready for Grading” as a text
submission for the lab. Please do not edit your files after you submit the text entry.
4. Visit the Jackson Innovation Studio (LuMEB 0100) to 3D print your part.
o Guidelines for 3D printing in the studio can be found in the CADLAB#0 assignment
description on Canvas.
5. Take a photo of your 3D printed keychain and submit it to the “CADLAB#1: 3D Printed Keychain
Photo” assignment on Canvas .
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