Manufacture and CAM#

This section covers Fusion's Manufacture workspace, from setup to G-code. It starts with the workspace tour, setups and stock, the work coordinate system, and tools and tool libraries, then feeds and speeds.

The toolpath pages cover 2D milling (Face, 2D Contour, 2D Offset Roughing, 2D Adaptive Roughing), drilling, 3D milling strategies, 4- and 5-axis milling, turning, and probing and inspection. Toolpath simulation, post processing and the manufacturing extensions page finish the section. Current strategy names are used throughout; older tutorials call these Adaptive Clearing and Pocket Clearing. It suits beginners, with later pages for experienced machinists.

Pages in this section#

1. The Manufacture Workspace (beginner): A tour of the Manufacture workspace: toolbar tabs.
2. Setups and Stock (beginner): Create and configure a CAM Setup: operation type.
3. WCS and Orientation (beginner): Define the Work Coordinate System: Z and X axis selection.
4. Tools and Tool Libraries (beginner): Create, edit, and organize cutting tools: tool types.
5. Feeds and Speeds (intermediate): Understand surface speed, spindle rpm, chip load and feedrate.
6. 2D Milling: Face and 2D Contour (beginner): Program Face and 2D Contour operations: tool, geometry.
7. 2D Pocket and 2D Adaptive Clearing (intermediate): Clear material with 2D Offset Roughing (formerly 2D Pocket) and 2D Adaptive Roughing (formerly 2D Adaptive Clearing).
8. Drilling, Tapping and Hole Operations (intermediate): Program holes with the Drill operation: selecting hole geometry.
9. 3D Milling Strategies (intermediate): Rough and finish freeform surfaces with 3D Adaptive Roughing.
10. 4-Axis and 5-Axis Milling (advanced): Plan 3+2 positional machining and simultaneous 4/5-axis toolpaths.
11. Turning on the Lathe (intermediate): Create turning setups and toolpaths in Fusion: lathe WCS.
12. Toolpath Simulation (intermediate): Verify toolpaths before cutting: the Simulation environment, simulating with and without a machine.
13. Post Processing and G-code (intermediate): Turn toolpaths into controller-ready G-code: the post library.
14. Probing and Inspection (advanced): Use touch probes to set work offsets, measure features.
15. Fusion Extensions for Manufacturing (intermediate): What the Fusion Manufacturing Extension adds to CAM.

Before you start#

Which strategies and options your license includes is covered on the Fusion Extensions for Manufacturing page. Probe WCS and Manual inspection are not marked as extension features; Probe Geometry, Inspect Surface, Part alignment and Live part alignment are marked as part of the Manufacturing Extension.

Confirmed vs not confirmed#

Not confirmed in Autodesk's documentation: feature-by-feature Personal-use restrictions for CAM, which mill-turn, sub-spindle and live-tooling features need an extension, tool-setter and rotary probing cycles, and some post-dependent output such as G95 and rigid tapping.