Components and Assemblies#

This section covers building assemblies in Fusion. It starts with the difference between components and bodies and the choice between top-down and bottom-up design, then moves to positioning and motion: joints, joint origins, as-built joints, limits, motion links, rigid groups, contact sets and motion studies.

It also covers bills of materials, external references, standard hardware including McMaster-Carr content, and keeping large assemblies responsive. It suits beginners learning components and joints, with later pages for intermediate and advanced users managing larger projects.

Pages in this section#

1. Components vs Bodies (beginner): Understand the difference between bodies and components in Fusion.
2. Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Design (beginner): Compare bottom-up, top-down, and hybrid assembly strategies in Fusion.
3. Joint Origins (intermediate): Create and use joint origins in Fusion to define precise connection points and axes.
4. Joints and Joint Types (beginner): Use the Joint command to position components and define motion.
5. As-Built Joints (intermediate): Use As-built Joint to connect components that are already positioned.
6. Rigid Groups and Grounding (intermediate): Lock components together with Rigid Group and fix them in place with Pin.
7. Joint Limits and Motion Links (intermediate): Constrain joint travel with joint limits and tie joints together with motion links to model gears.
8. Contact Sets (intermediate): Enable contact sets so components collide during joint motion.
9. Motion Study (intermediate): Play joints through their range with the Motion Study tool.
10. Capture Position and Reverting (intermediate): Use Capture Position and Revert to keep or discard the positions of components you have moved in the canvas.
11. BOM and Parts Lists (intermediate): Generate a bill of materials from your component structure.
12. External References (advanced): Link components to other design files, keep them up to date.
13. Large Assemblies (advanced): Keep big Fusion assemblies responsive: structure, history settings.
14. McMaster-Carr and Standard Content (beginner): Insert purchased hardware into assemblies with Insert Fastener.

Confirmed vs not confirmed#

Not confirmed in Autodesk's documentation: an "Exclude from BOM" or "Purchased" property, a command that converts an internal component to an external one, how a captured position is stored, whether a component can belong to more than one rigid group, how a limit's zero is defined, and license or regional availability of the Insert tools for standard content.