In this content, the various types of joints available in Fusion 360 are thoroughly explained and illustrated. The piece discusses the procedure for using joints in assemblies, from the initial selection of components to the application of specific joint types like rigid, revolute, slider, cylindrical, pin slot, planar, and ball joint.
Key Insights
- The first step in applying a joint in Fusion 360 is selecting two components, with the first selected component being the one that moves. Joints can only be applied between components and not bodies.
- There are a variety of joint types in Fusion 360, including rigid, revolute, slider, cylindrical, pin slot, planar, and ball joint. The behavior and application of each type are demonstrated in the article.
- The article also provides insight into the use of joint origins, which allows for the placement of a joint anywhere on a face or geometry, and rigid groups, which enable the selection of multiple components to form a connected piece.
In this video, we will talk about joints in Fusion 360. You will see that I am in my joints file, and I have hidden all of the components except for Rigid 1.
When I am in the Model workspace and go to Assemble, I see a tool called Joint. When I click Joint, I can see that there are multiple types of joints. We will go through these types of joints in this video.
When applying a joint, you need to select two components. Joints can only be applied between components and not bodies. The first component that you select will always be the component that moves.
As I hover over this cylinder, you will see that there are multiple joint origins that it is giving me to select. I will select either the edge of the top circular face or the center to grab the center of this face. Next, it is prompting me to select the second component.
So I will do the same on this cube. I will find the center and click. Fusion 360 will animate the parts together and show you what type of joint you are using.
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I can hit Animate here to start a continuous animation of the joint type. Because this is a Rigid joint—or stuck together rigidly—the parts do not move in relation to one another. Joints are different from mates or constraints found in other software in that they limit a direction of mobility one at a time.
A joint limits all directions of mobility except for one or two specific degrees of freedom. When I hit OK, you will see that now when I drag my components, they are rigidly stuck together. The next joint is Revolute.
I can hit the Joint icon here in my workspace toolbar. I will first select this component, and I will hold CTRL to snap to the major points on this face. I will click.
Again, I will select this point here. I will change the joint type to Revolute, and you will see a Revolute animation appear.
Again, I can hit Animate to continue the animation. I can also drag the sliders to set offsets and type in distances. At any time, I can select the joint, right-click, choose Animate Joint, and hit Escape to stop.
Next is the Slider joint. I will go to Joint, and I will select this face in the center.
And then this face in the center. Again, I will change my joint type to Slider, and you will notice that it has automatically guessed that my slider will go in the Z direction.
I would like to change this to the Y axis so that it slides along my part. I will hit OK. Next is the Cylindrical joint.
I will select this component and then this component. Again, I will need to change my axis. The Cylindrical joint allows a part to rotate around and also slide along the part.
Next is the Pin-Slot joint, which is similar to the Cylindrical joint, except that it will rotate and slide in a perpendicular direction. I will select this circular face and then the inside face of my part.
Notice that my part is free to rotate and slide along this joint. Next is the Planar joint. The Planar joint locks a face to another face but still allows the part to slide.
Next is the Ball joint. The Ball joint is used in sockets and other assembly techniques. The Ball joint rotates over two center points.
I am using two spheres here, but you do not need to use spheres for a Ball joint. The next item is not a joint, but it is helpful when assembling joints. If I go to Assemble > Joint Origin,
This will allow me to place a simple joint origin anywhere on a face, on any geometry, or between two faces. I would like this arm to float in between these two faces until I draw my pin. So I will select this face first, this face second, and I will place my joint origin on the center point of this hole.
I don't want to move it or rotate it, so I will hit OK. I will do the same here: Assemble > Joint Origin, change this to Between Two Faces, select this face, this face, and then the center of my cylinder.
I will hit OK. Now, when I apply a joint, I will select Revolute. I can select my joint origin, and it will animate any components that it is hosted to.
I will hit OK. You will now see that my joint is animating around the center of my part. Last is the Rigid Group.
You will see that I have built a little box here in my model. These components, however, are not grouped together. I could set individual Rigid joints between them, or I could go to Assemble > Rigid Group.
A Rigid Group will allow you to select as many components as you would like, and it will place them in a Rigid Group. I will hit OK. You can now see that my box parts now move as one connected piece.
I will see you in the next video.
