VEX CAD Assembly Guide

Goals for this Guide

• Be able to troubleshoot common CAD problems
• Design and implement CAD drawings in Fusion 360 for a VEX robot

Disclaimer

Please thoroughly read the entire guide before starting your Fusion 360 assembly. There are some tips that will make creating your model much easier. Also, keep in mind it might take more than three Aligns to get your parts to snap into place at first, but once you complete a few and start to become comfortable with it, it should become faster. If you have any questions, feel free to ask a TA.

Preparation of Software

• Invite to collaborate in Fusion 360
  • Download the software if you are using your personal computer from https://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/fusion-360-for-educational-institutions (you must either sign in or create an account).
  • Once downloaded open Fusion 360
  • In the top left corner of the Fusion 360 window click the 9 boxes in a square (show data panel) -> the data panel should open from the left
  • In the data, panel click the blue “New Project” button -> a new box should appear with highlighted text to edit
  • Edit the text and name your project
  • Double click on the box with your project name -> the data panel should transition to a new page (make sure you have “People” selected instead of “Data” at the top
  • Enter emails of teammates and click the blue “Invite” button
• Download Zip File of parts and upload to Fusion 360
  • In order to import the Vex parts into fusion you must first download these files from the auto desk website using the link below and unzip the folder.
    • https://www.autodesk.com/education/competitions-and-events/vex/recommended-software?_ga=2.60373103.339762620.1577992716-288517197.1577992716#Kit-of-parts
  • Right-click on the name of the zipped folder in the file explorer -> a dropdown box should appear
  • Click on extract all in the dropdown box -> an uncompressed folder of the same name should appear in the file explorer

• • Open Fusion 360
  • Make a folder inside your new project. This folder will contain all of your Vex parts
  • Click the blue “Upload” button -> a new upload window should appear
  • In the upload window click “Select Files” - > the file explorer should open
  • In the file explorer navigate to the folder that was uncompressed in step b
  • Select the f3z file in the folder and click “open” in the bottom right corner of the file explorer -> the vex pieces will then take a few minutes to upload from your files to fusion 360 -> once the upload is finished, there should be many new boxes on the data panel -> clicking on any of the boxes will open a vex part

Aligning Components

Aligning (Connecting Pieces: Screws, Rods, Shaft Collars, Wheels, etc.)

• Move the two bodies being aligned close to one another using the Move tool (Figure 1)
  • Note that components like the wheels are already files consisting of two bodies. They will have to be joined as a Rigid Group prior to adding additional components
  • To make a rigid group:
    • Highlight all bodies of the subject component
    • Go to the Assemble tab and click Rigid Group (Figure 2). If prompted that components have been moved, select “Capture Position.”

Figure 1: Move tool

Figure 2: Rigid Group tool

• Select the Modify tab from the Design workspace (Figure 3)

Figure 3: Menu Dropdown

• From the dropdown select Align
• Select the first surface being aligned
• The first surface selected will be snapped to the second surface selected
• Repeat steps 3-5 using different points of the bodies being aligned until they are oriented as desired (Figure 4)

Figure 4: Aligned Bodies

Shortcut to Replicating Sub-Assemblies

In some instances, such as for the wheels, it will be required to align gears with the wheel before aligning the sub-assembly with your frame. Seeing that most designs have four wheels, repeating the process multiple times over can become tedious and time-consuming. Using the method below, sub-assemblies can be joined as one body and copied as many times as needed:

• Open a new file to begin the sub-assembly
• Save the newly created file inside the same folder as all the vex parts
• Drag in desired components
• Under the Modify tab, select Align.
• The body selected first will be the body that is moved
• Select a face or edge on the second body to align with the first body.
• Repeat alignment steps for the two remaining axes to complete the alignment process
• Save the file in the same folder as all the downloaded Vex components
• Now you can drag newly made rigid group into the main robot assembly as many times as needed

Using this process whenever there are repeated components will greatly reduce the time needed to make the full assembly.