In this lesson, we'll create a body from a stock setup. After completing this lesson, you'll be able to create a body copy for modifications and use direct modeling tools. In Fusion 360, we want to begin by using the completing a multi-axis setup design. Know that this is the same design that we've been working on, it's just simply another safe point if you need to use another file. What we have here is the design workspace with our stock bodies shown and the Stock Prep Fixture. What we want to talk about in this instance is using some direct modeling tools to create another body for stock. You'll note that in the Stock Prep Fixture, there is a visible body that's shown for stock, and if we expand this and we take a look, there is a stock component inside here that can be shown. Now, this stock component is larger than we need, but it's a generic stock component that can be used. In our instance, I'm going to right-click on it and select "Remove", which will place a feature in the timeline that allows us to go back and undo that at any point. We're going to be focusing for the first part on just the stock, so I'm going to hide the Stock Prep Fixture for now and just take a look at the stock body. If we expand this and expand the bodies' folder, we have Body1. What we want to do is we're going to set this as Ready to Machine. This means that we have the holding feature already machined into it and we can put it in our multi-axis fixture. But to get to this point, we actually have had to machine to these edges and it had to start from another piece of material. The way in which you prepare your stock to be machined is going to differ from industry to industry. In some cases, you might have pieces of pre-prepared face and ready-to-go stock that simply have this feature on them, especially if you're using the same part over and over again. What we have here is a generic piece and we want to get it back to an original stock, then we can go in and we can machine these features. In order to do that, I'm going to create a copy of the body. This can actually be done either at the body level or the component level, and there's an important distinction that I want to make. When we create a copy of the component, we do this by right-clicking and selecting Copy. However, when we go to paste this, we have two options: Paste and Paste New. When we select Paste New, what's going to happen is we no longer keep a reference to that original component. If we simply select Paste, we have a second instance of that stock body. What this means is that any changes we make, for example, getting rid of these cuts, those are going to affect both of those components. In a case like this, we would either want to copy the stock component and paste new, or we can come in and select the body, right-click and copy the body, and then we can paste the body directly inside of the stock. Notice that we don't have a paste new option here because when we're pasting the body, there is no parametric link back to the original. It's a good, fresh starting point for us to simply use this body. I'm going to rename this to Starting Stock. I'm going to hide Ready to Machine, and I'm going to activate my stock component. At this point, there are many different ways in which we can bring this back to its original shape. We could select "Extrude," grab a face, and simply pull it up until we're at the appropriate level. This can be done by setting it to objects, so there's a parametric link there. However, we also have direct modeling tools that allow us to select these faces and simply go to Modify and Delete. Notice that when we try to do this, it's automatically telling us that it can't delete that face. If we try to select a single face and press Delete, it gets rid of that entire top feature. If we try to get this face and delete, it gets rid of the entire side. However, if we select both sides and hit Delete, you can see that it's removing it from both sides. In some cases, using these direct modeling tools might be a little bit of trial and error. Once we have the right selection, oftentimes we'll be able to simply remove the faces we want. In this instance, that's not the case because it's trying to remove too much material. There are other tools that we can use such as press pull, that allow us to grab faces and simply move them. Again, we can use this to bring it up to a specific distance, and then we can say, patching the entire body. Keeping in mind that press pull is really just taking a look at introducing the offset faces command, potentially a fill it command, there are other commands that it can activate. But essentially, it's a one-stop tool that allows you to do multiple things. Also keep in mind that when we're using offset face, that distance reference is not parametrically linked. We simply just measured the distance that we wanted it to go. In this case, I'm going to delete that from the timeline, and I'm going to use Extrude, selecting both of these faces, and I want to make sure that the distance is to object, and we're joining. This will allow me to make a clean parametric reference, preparing the stocks so that it's the original size. Now we have a starting stock, and we have Ready to Machine. When we get ready to create our CAM program, we're going to have our starting stock and our Stock Prep Fixture holding it in place, allowing us to prepare the part to be held in our multi-axis fixture setup. At this point, I'm going to go back to a fit-to-screen view and I want to save this before moving on.
