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How to create Flexible or Rolling Joints in Fusion 360

Technical Support

Issue:


You would like to create flexible or rolling joints in Fusion 360. This type of joint could include a flexible hose, ribbon, or compression spring, a ball rolling on an uneven surface, or more complex examples like a human limb.

Causes:

Fusion 360 is not currently optimized to create this type of joint, as it does not consider material properties within the joints defined in the model workspace.

Solution:

While you may be able to simulate certain positions of the strip by using a swept feature along a spline path, it is very difficult to control in Fusion 360. A brief example of this has been discussed in this forum thread.

CAD programs typically cannot show flexible changes in shape based on material properties, so this is a tricky one to make happen in Fusion.  An idea that has been presented and is currently gathering support is linked here . 

Another thought is that you may be able to accomplish this joint with more detailed simulation software like Dynamic Simulation in Inventor. A short example of a similar situation is linked here. You can learn more about Dynamic Simulation at this link. 

Products:

Fusion;

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