Design a Triangular Pottery Plate Block Mold in Fusion 360

Lilly will take you step-by-step through the process of parametrically drawing a triangular plate with curved sides and rounded corners, for 3D printing to pour a plaster working mold.

E. Processes

Click here to watch this at youtube.com or click here to go to our Youtube channel

https://backup.digitalfire.com/videos/TrianglePlate.mp4

Welcome to this project to make a press mold for a triangular-shaped pottery dish. I will draw a case mold that can be 3D printed and filled with plaster to make a working mold.
I already have Fusion 360 open in the solid modelling environment so let’s start the process with a sketch of a triangle on the x-y plane. I will complete this triangle in four steps.
1. Dimension the top side length to the “outer” parameter which I have already defined in the Parameters dialog.
2. I’ll set the other two sides equal to the top one using the Equal constraint.
3. Make the left side vertical.
4. Set the right-hand corner to be coincident with the origin.
2
Next, I will draw a center point arc from each corner, setting the radius to a parameter I have already defined. I will pull each one near, but not over the triangle boundary.
Then I will use the "coincident constraint" to join the pairs of arc endpoints to create a triangle with rounded sides.
Next, I will dimension the inner triangle to enable watching its size. Notice that Fusion 360 creates it as a "driven dimension". In the next step, I will adjust the triangle and arc dimensions to get this close to the target of 230mm.
Finally, I will move the arc dimensions out of the way.
3
Now, I want the triangle to be 230mm in size and the sides to have the desired degree of curvature.
I can do that by adjusting the arc and outer parameters.
I will open the parameters dialog.
Notice the arc is defined as a percentage of the outer. The lower this ratio the smaller the inner triangle is compared to the outer. And the straighter the curve is. By playing with these two numbers I can create the exact size and curvature needed. It is already close, I will change the arc percentage to 69.2 to get close to the 230mm size.
4
The next step is to offset the edge inward for the lip, 6mm.
To make the base I will offset it again by 55mm.
Then I am going to convert the outside triangle and the base lines to construction lines.
Finally, I will finish the sketch and then go home.
5
Next, I will make an offset plane on which to project the base. It needs to be below the x-y plane by the depth parameter.
Now I can create a sketch on it and then project the inner triangle from the first sketch down on to it.
Finally, I'll finish the sketch.
6
Now we are ready to start creating the solid body.
First, let's extrude the whole thing down 40mm, that will be the thickness of the mold.
Next, I'll create a loft from the bottom triangle to the inner upper one using the cut operation. Notice that I need to hide the body to be able to select the bottom triangle and I need to show the sketch in the browser to be able to select the top one.
We now have the beginnings of our 3D object.
7
Now, let's fillet the inside join lines by 40mm to convert the angle to a smooth line.
I'll do the same with top inside edge by 30mm.
And the outer corners by 20mm.
8
Next, let’s turn it over and hollow it out.
Use the shell tool, and specify an inside thickness of 1.2mm - that is three passes by the 0.4mm nozzle on our 3D printer.
9
Finally, I send this to the slicer to prepare for 3D-printing.
Notice it is too big. So in the slicer I’ll set it up on edge and cut it in half near the base and then turn the smaller part over and set it aside. I'll position the larger one diagonally and preview the slicing. Noitce I have supports turned on. The overhand threshold is set to 40 degrees to minimize support and it is set to generate a brim to help hold it down on the plate during printing.
10
The slicer is warning me that parts of the object are outside the print area so I will turn this piece 45 degrees. Both parts should print precisely enough that I will be able to simply tape them together on the outside and pour plaster on the inside.

Links

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Draw a triangular plate press mold in Fusion 360

Lilly will take you step-by-step through the 3D design process of drawing a triangular plate with curved sides and rounded corners. We tried many methods of doing this to finally arrive at a simple procedure that produces a flexible parametric design. Follow the full transcript as you watch. You will be able to use the same process to create a plate with any number of sides and control the bevelling, corner radius, curvature of the sides, lip width, depth, total size and thickness of the plaster mold. You will also be able to make it convex or concave. And 3D print it, in pieces if needed, for filling with plaster to make a ready-to-use mold. If you would like this 3D file in Fusion 360 format, it is available in the Files manager in your Insight-live.com account.

By Tony Hansen
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