Drawing gauge faces in Fusion360

[BaronVonVaderham]

Hi all,

im trying to draw gauge faces in fusion, but can’t figure out how to do that.

I cannot do it in sketches apparently because sketches don’t let me create line thicknesses and colours.

but trying to make a drawing of a gauge face from a model of the gauge face also doesn’t work. Hell, I can’t even draw a circle and tell fusion what the diameter or radius of that circle should be. Drawing also doesnthave construction lines, which are incredibly useful for circular duplication of marks.

so how do I do that?

[No1sonuk]

Sorry if there's a "ghost notification".  I wrote a long post with text and graphics that only posted the graphics and lost the text. 
It's after 3am, so I'll redo it after I get some sleep.

[BaronVonVaderham]

Looking forward to it!

[No1sonuk]

The simple answer is you can't do everything you want in Fusion 360.

I'll go through each part of your question one by one:

Line thickness
You can't do line thickness in F360.
For a given line thickness and length, you'll have to draw a rectangle of appropriate size.  Curved lines are harder, but possible.

Line colour
Not possible in F360 as far as I'm aware, unless you model it as a solid, then change its appearance.

Circles
See this screenshot:

Both circles are 50mm diameter, but each was drawn slightly differently.

The top one was drawn by clicking the centre point, then move the cursor out a bit.  You'll notice the diameter is highlighted.  At this point, type the diameter wanted and hit enter.  The circle will resize and you'll get the dimension inside it as shown in the top.

The bottom one was drawn by clicking the centre point, then move the cursor out until the dimesnion gets to 50mm, then left click.

To add the dimension to the bottom one, click on the dimension tool (A).
Then click on the line of the circle (B) and move the cursor inside the circle a bit.  The dimension will now appear.  Left click to set the position, then press Enter to fix the dimension. The circle will now have the dimension in it, like the top one.

The dimensions can be moved by click/drag or changed by double-clicking on the numbers.

Construction lines
Here's where it gets easy...
You can do this in at least 2 ways:
1) Draw the line.  Select it, and click on construction line in line type (C).
2) Change the line type, then draw your line(s).

Circular patterns
There's a circular patterns tool in the Create menu.

The bottom line(s)
Fusion 360 isn't really the best option for drawing complete gauge faces unless you intend to 3D print or engrave them.  A vector drawing package like Inkscape (free) is better, and it can do all the line thickness and colour things you want.

HOWEVER, F360 can help to make the gauge face fit your model by creating the template in F360, export as DXF, then finish it in Inkscape, etc.  I do this with PCBs so they'll fit in the model.

Here's an example I'm working on (a Tornado trim indicator).

The Yaw scale is done, and I've started the layout for the Roll one.

Hope that is of some use to you.

Edited January 6, 2024 by No1sonuk
Typos

[BaronVonVaderham]

Thanks buddy! I kinda figured f360 cannot do that stuff (unless you model it in 3D like you said). It’s not really meant for that.

good to know I can export a template and import that as a basis in Inkscape. I’ve not used Inkscape before, but if it has similar clever tools for equal distancing stuff in circular patterns, then I should be able to figure it out. Does it work in layers, similar to photoshop?

[No1sonuk]

Yes to layers. Not sure about the other stuff.
And if you have photoshop, you might be able to do it in that too. I just suggested Inkscape because I know it can do it.
All you need is to be able to import the vector graphics and keep the real size information intact.

[Nikolas_A]

On 1/6/2024 at 6:55 PM, No1sonuk said:

The bottom line(s)
Fusion 360 isn't really the best option for drawing complete gauge faces unless you intend to 3D print or engrave them.  A vector drawing package like Inkscape (free) is better, and it can do all the line thickness and colour things you want.

HOWEVER, F360 can help to make the gauge face fit your model by creating the template in F360, export as DXF, then finish it in Inkscape, etc.  I do this with PCBs so they'll fit in the model.

That's my workflow too. I design the 3d assembly in NX, export the gauge face to dfx and import in Inkscape for lettering and scales.

I do miss the constraining capabilities of NX in Inkscape. I wish someone made a 2d CAD program with the capabilities that a parametric 3D CAD program has in the scetch environment...