Fusion 360 – Woody's Workshop

March 1, 2026March 1, 2026

Gearwheel Designer Update

Brocot escape wheel preset added.

Graham Baxter has added a Brocot escape wheel design preset button in his latest version of Gearwheel designer (GWD). This additional preset function came in useful as I had a client asking whether I could copy a 22mm diameter 29 tooth Brocot wheel from a French clock. The wheel was damaged with missing tooth and two further teeth which were bent .

I had never before attempted cutting a wheel this small and fragile looking but it might be a good learning experience so I stuck my neck out and said ‘yes I can do that’ before I had actually seen how delicate the wheel would be.

I measured one tooth under the microscope and then used Fusion to create a circular array. The update to GWD allowed me to make a second version. Here is a screen shot of the model.

Using GWD in this respect needs some additional comments.

GWD will let you create the 2D geometry of the wheel and from this create a DXF. You can also create a direct CNC code to cut the wheel or a STL version. It is a very powerful piece of software.

My normal route is to export the DXF from GWD into Fusion using the Fusion’s Insert menu. Once in Fusion I can then extrude the 2D design to the required thickness and create the manufacturing GCode in Fusion. A qualifier is needed on this. If you are running the Fusion hobby licence you cannot import a DXF into Fusion. This is a real pain for hobbyist users.

If your intention is to create a 3D printed version of the GWD wheel then you can create a STL export and import this directly into your slicer without going via the Fusion route. With this direct route you need to set the Z depth in GWD. The Z depth value is the thickness of the wheel (equivalent to the extrusion value if you had gone the Fusion route). Note that in GWD the Z value is always a negative value. So if you want your 3D printed wheel to be 3mm thick you enter -3 in the Z offset box.

The next bit is a bit weird. When you import the STL created by GWD into your slicer it will appear as just the edges of the wheel outline with no infill. If you then run the slicing routine the infill appears correctly and you are good to go on a print. (I have tried this direct STL route and via the DXF Fusion route and the model in the slicer is exactly the same).

Back to the Brocot wheel …

Both versions were cut on my Tormach 440 CNC machine with the CAM created in Fusion. I used a Blue Builders tape superglue fixture to hold the stock in place. Here is a picture of the result.

The left hand wheel is the microscope measured version before the petals were cut. The upper one is the GWD version with the petals cut but retained in place by breakout tabs. The lower one is the original. Machining was done with a 1mm diameter end mill at 10,000 rpm.

The client chose to install the fully finished GWD version and the clock is now running happily once again.

There is a full write up of my process in the February 2026 edition of the Horological Journal. This is the monthly magazine of the British Horological Institute.

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February 4, 2026February 4, 2026

Fusion 2026 Update Furor

The natives are restless

Autodesk has released an updated version of Fusion in January 2026 that has caused quite a few ripples.

The gist is that the new version now offers both a traditional top down methodology as well as a new bottom up based process. This is not radically new as both methods were always available but this now hits you in the face via an opening dialogue box that offers various options on how you might want to proceed. The dialogue box is not optional and cannot be blocked. This has caused some heavy criticism on the Autodesk forum.

Top down is where you give a file a top level name and all the constituent parts are built under this title as components. One file holding lots of parts.

Bottom up starts with lots of individual parts in separate files all brought together in one assembly file. Lots of files with one holding file. This way of working suits large organisations where multiple operators are all simultaneously working on a large project.

Top down was always Fusion’s ace in the hole as it bucked the trend of other packages that stuck to the more standard bottom up way of working. Top down is still an option but will be known hence forth as Hybrid working.

For hobby licencees the Hybrid way of working more efficiently supports the 10 active files limit.

Here are some good YouTube videos giving an overview of this change.

Autodesk has inferred that this is a starting point in a planned new way of working. Time will tell. It might be a bumpy ride.

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January 31, 2026January 31, 2026

Confusion over the 10 files limit in Fusion hobby licence

A misunderstanding of the Fusion design process ?

I regularly see comments on forums from people who don’t want to use the free hobby licence for Fusion because of the ’10 open file restriction’. This suggests that perhaps they are used to conventional bottom-up CAD design whereas Fusion creates a powerful top-down architecture. (You can still use the bottom-up approach and this is probably why the confusion arises).

A bottom-up approach has each part of an intended assembly created in its own file and the individual parts are then brought together in an assembly file. This creates a 1+N count of files needed for an assembly where N is the number of parts involved. It also places a high demand on the creator to monitor and check linkages between the individual files.

A top-down approach starts with the assembly file and all the components are contained within that file. The file count is just 1. Clearly a top-down file could become enormous if there are lots of components but it is still one file. Unlike the bottom-up method, the linkages between the components are automatically updated.

One of the more helpful descriptions of the differences in the two techniques is the first 5 minutes of this video by Product Design Online.

The other big advantage of a top-down approach is the ability to have parametric modelling of the file. This uses a look up table of all the key parameters in a design. These parameters can be just a value or can be equation linked. They are represented in the design dimension values as text and equations. Once again Product Design Online has a good tutorial.

Although I have a paid licence to use Fusion I have never had an issue of needing anywhere near 10 projects open at anyone time but I might have had well in excess of 10 components active.

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January 27, 2026January 31, 2026

DXF import to Fusion

Doesn’t work with hobby licence

I recently had an article printed in the BHI monthly Journal where I detailed using Gearwheel Designer to create a clock wheel and how the resulting design could be imported into Fusion using a DXF import. This would allow manipulation of the file for creating the CAM machining code.

I have a friend who uses the hobby ‘free use’ of Fusion and he was struggling to import a DXF by this method. After some exploration we decided that DXF import on Fusion was not allowed for the free hobby version. This is not clearly obvious when you look at the Autodesk site.

With this in mind we collectively investigated the differences involved using the licenced and licence free version of Fusion. This resulted in a workaround solution whereby the STL export from Gearwheel Designer can be used instead. This can create a solid model in Fusion for onward processing for 3D printing and for CAM programming.

Rather than have a long post I have detailed the process in the attached PDF write up.

Gearwheel Designer and Fusion Download

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January 20, 2026January 20, 2026

Adding a second monitor to your Fusion work space

A positive step forward in how you use Fusion

Ever since I started using Fusion (over 10 years ago now … how time flies ..) I had a single wide screen Dell U2913WM 29″ monitor (2560 x 1080). This is a really nice screen to use and has lots of interface options including a Dell Display port (aka HDMI). When using Fusion it gives acres of working space. The U2913 can be picked up on EBay for a reasonable cost and this size and aspect ration makes it well worth the investment.

The frustation with single monitor working is the need to minimise Fusion if you want to dive off to do something in another app.

Lurking in the corner of my office was an old Dell monitor that only had VGA and a DVI as connector options. I wondered at the possibility of using it on my new GEEKOM mini PC which has two HDMI outputs. To my surprise I discovered that you can buy cables and also dongle adapters to allow both VGA and DVI to connect to a HDMI output (how does that work I wonder ?).

I orderd a DVI to HDMI dongle from Amazon and now have the U2913 as the main activity screen and the old Dell as the side activity screen via the DVI to HDMI dongle. This dual screen working is relatively easy to set up in the Windows display options but can be a bit confusing until you get your #1 and #2 screen selected correctly. (I intially had my mouse disappearing off the left side of the big screen and reappearing from the right hand side of the small monitor).

What a joy to have two screens. You can be deep into Fusion on the main large screen and then dive off to do a quick websearch on the other. This has had almost the same impact on my way of working as when I added my 3DConnexion SpaceMouse.

If you have a second screen gathering dust under a bench check it out for possible use. Even an old TV with HDMI interface can be pressed into service . If you don’t have a screen handy there are lots of old interface style ones on EBay at silly prices.

Go two screen ! You won’t regret it.

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