Data Import: Transferring from Solidworks to Fusion 360

Following up from our recent blog on importing Solidworks data into Inventor we will now take a look at the workflow to correctly upload a Solidworks assembly into Fusion 360.

We are going to use the same Sterling Engine which we used for the Inventor tutorial. First we will start Fusion 360 up, click the Fusion 360 button to open the Data Panel, create a new project on the Data Panel by clicking the new project button.

Give the project a relevant name, in this case I have called it Solidworks files.

Click the upload button to open the Upload dialog box, this will then give us the option to Select the files which we would like to use or Drag and Drop then files into the dialog box. The files will then be located in the “Solidworks Files” folder we have created.

In this case we are going to use the Select Files option. When we click on this option it will open the File Explorer, then navigate to the folder where my assembly is located and select the assemblies and associated files.

Fusion will then ask you to identify a Top-Level assembly in this case STIRLING ENGINE ASSEMBLY.SLDASM

Once the Upload has begun, the Job Status dialog will be opened. You can close this and continue to work on other models in Fusion as the assembly uploads.

Once uploaded you can see the model in the data panel.

When you open the assembly all the parts associated with that assembly are located in the browser on the left of the screen.

These parts are not constrained like they would’ve been in the Solidworks assembly, but you can begin to add joints and motion to showcase how this model would work.

Then edit the geometry of all the parts in the one file and with the Capture Design history, you can begin to populate a Timeline of changes and features you have made to the model.

For instance, using the Hole command to create a hole through this Power Cylinder part. The feature then appears in the timeline.

Errors you may run into to:

1 – Translation Report

For instance when uploading to Inventor, Fusion creates a Translation report, this will highlight any errors or missing files. As you can see from this report, I have 4 files missing, some parts in the above report such as Slotted Cheese Head Screw BSI did not come through, the reason for this error is because these parts were taken from the Toolbox Add in from Solidworks (Content Centre equivalent to Inventor).

2 – Selecting Sub-Assemblies and Parts

This may occur when a customer or client is providing an assembly and only provides the assembly file. Fusion will automatically prompt you to select the reference sub-assemblies and parts that’s are referenced in the Top Level or Main Assembly. Be sure to ask clients and customers to Pack and Go their data to ensure you are able to upload models correctly to Fusion 360.

We hope this blog provided you with the information you were looking for but if you wish to discuss this blog further and speak with one of our Fusion 360 Specialists, contact us HERE