Shell solid bodies

00:03

In Fusion, you can use the Shell tool to remove material from the interior of a solid body,

00:09

creating a hollow cavity with walls of a specified thickness.

00:13

You can create a hollow solid body or remove faces to form an opening.

00:18

In this example, you apply an inside shell to eliminate unwanted material from a solid body.

00:24

On the Design workspace toolbar, Solid tab, Modify group, click Shell.

00:32

Fusion prompts you to select whether to apply the shell to faces or a body.

00:37

If you select a body, the Shell tool will create a hollow cavity within the design.

00:42

In the Browser, expand the Bodies folder and select the body.

00:47

Create the shell by either dragging the manipulator handle or by specifying a value.

00:53

For this example, enter a value of 2 mm.

00:57

For the Direction, select from three options.

01:01

Selecting Inside hollows out the body and applies the wall thickness to the inside of the exterior faces.

01:08

Selecting Outside applies the wall thickness around the exterior faces of the body, while still hollowing out the interior.

01:16

The Both option applies the wall thickness in both directions, allowing for the thickness to be specified in each direction.

01:23

For this example, select Inside.

01:27

Verify that Tangent Chain is selected, so that Fusion simultaneously selects multiple faces that are tangent to one another.

01:35

Click OK to finalize the command.

01:38

The hollow cavity created inside the body is not visible, but you can use a section analysis to check it.

01:45

On the toolbar, expand the Inspect menu and select Section Analysis.

01:51

Select the bottom face of the body, then drag the manipulator to see the hollow cavity inside the body.

01:58

Click Cancel to close the Section Analysis dialog.

02:02

For this particular design, you may want a shell with an open bottom.

02:06

In this case, you will need to select the faces, because you need to hollow the body and remove the face.

02:13

The Shell feature that you already applied is captured in the Timeline.

02:17

Double-click it to open the Shell dialog again.

02:20

To change the selection from a body to faces, click the X to deselect the body.

02:26

Then, on the canvas, click to select the bottom face of the body.

02:31

Retain the value you entered earlier, and keep the Direction set to Inside.

02:36

Click OK.

02:38

This time, the shell removes all unwanted material, including the bottom face.