Coast Fabrication - A Great Source for Fastener Information!

A sample of a Hydraulic coupling rendered in Fusion 360

In this post, I'm actually taking a step back from directly talking about a design tool.  Instead, I'm sharing a little info on where I get the information to put my design tools

At work, one of my tasks is creating and maintaining Autodesk Inventor Content of aerospace fasteners.

And trust me, there are a lot of these fasteners around!

They can be referred to as AN (Army/Navy), MS (Mil Spec), NAS or NASM (National Aerospace Standard), and AS (SAE Aerospace).   And I'm sure I've missed a standard or two somewhere! 

That means a lot searching databases, reading charts, and sifting through a lot of tables!  

Of course that begs a big question?  Where can this data be found?  

Admittedly, it can be quite a safari.  I'm fortunate that my place of employment maintains a resource for the data.  

But not all of us have that luxury.  That means a lot of hunting around, trying to find the data we need.  

One resource I found that has been a enormous help has been the technical resource page from Coast Fabrication in Huntington Beach, California. 

More than once I've used their technical page as a quick reference for a fastener I'm using, sometimes for work but other times for personal use.  

This is just a section of the Coast Fabrication Technical page

The reason I shared this site is because I know that there are many times users need this information.  It might be to create a library of helical inserts for work, or a quick model of a hydraulic fitting for a personal project, this is a sight that is well worth the reference!

Of course, a blog post like this wouldn't be a blog post if I didn't have a disclaimer.  I'm not paid by Coast Fabrication.  I've never even visited their shop even though their only about 10 miles away from me. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure they don't even know I exist.  

But that's okay!  They've provided a great resource worthy of sharing, and I'm happy to help Karma return some of their goodwill!  So take a look if you're in the need for fastener specs.  

Easing selections using the "Select Other" tool in Fusion 360

In my last post, I mentioned changing the opacity of a part in Fusion 360.  The intention was to make it easier to transfer geometry from one part to another. 

This part is giving me a lot of mileage! 

I also mentioned that it can make it easier to select a part laying underneath another.

But the reality is I only told a part of the story.  Just being able to see an underlying part, step two is being able to use that part's geometry.

Three holes to be projected.

For example, if I want to transfer the holes from the ribs to the skin of the tab, I can activate the sketch in the skin, and project geometry from the rib to the skin of the tab using the Project tool.

The Project tool is your friend!

But those are some tiny holes under some thin sheet metal!  That means that I only have a small target to hit with my cursor, with lots of other geometry that can get in my way.

The trick, with Project tool active, left click and hold the left mouse button down.  After a moment, a list of geometry that can be projected will appear.

The options to select various geometry.
Just choose from the list!

All that's needed is to choose the desired geometry from the list.  The geometry, in this case a hole, can be used to create the needed cutout.

Extruding the projected geometry

So give select other a try.  And it's not just for sketches.  It can be used any time selecting from multiple pieces of geometry is needed!

Creating a Part by Projecting Geometry from Another Part in Fusion 360

One of the goals I set  for myself is to try to spend some time every week to build something in Fusion 360.  Sometimes, all I can do is create a patter of holes, or build a few sheet metal flanges.

But I always tell myself I'll try something new in Fusion 360.  

So far, so good!

One thing I've been trying is making different parts, some of which have been sheet metal.

I've got ribs that will support a sheet metal.  The component is an aircraft trim tab.  There are two ribs at each end of the tab.

The sheet metal forming the tab will wrap around the ribs and attached via rivets.  That means that the sheet metal will be following the ribs, so why not reuse that geometry instead of trying to recreating with a lot of "measuring and calculating".

The first thing to do is to assemble the ribs in their final position and orientation.

The ribs place and oriented, ready for sheet metal.

The next step is to create a new component in the Fusion assembly and activate it.  Select it as a sheet metal part and set your sheet metal rules.

If your not sure about creating sheet metal rules, my previous post here may help.

Create a new component

Now, create a sketch, and being projecting geometry from the existing parts.  

Now project the geometry that will be used to help define the new part.  I'd recommend making it construction geometry to make sure it doesn't accidentally add itself to your part. 

Creating construction geometry to build a part.

Now sketch out the profile required.  In this case, it's the shape of the sheet metal part. 

Projected geometry to form the sheet metal profile.

Now it's a matter of creating the sheet metal flanges to the distance needed to define the part.

The sheet metal part extruded.

Now continue the process of defining the part.  This includes other features, such as extrusions and holes.

Additional features can be created by projecting from another part.

Give it a try, it can make creating another part much easier than transitioning measurements! 

Bonus tip! 

Change your part opacity by right clicking on a component and choosing "Opacity Control".  You can make the part semi-transparent and make it easier to see underlying geometry! 

Try changing Opacity to make selecting through parts easier.

Acknowledgements: 

Trim tab created from drawings accessed via my subscription to Air Corps Library.