Here's where the magic begins. Any CAD program will let you manually create a chain-mail link and copy it into a sheet of mail - then start all over from scratch every time you make a change - a tedious process at best.

But Fusion's amazing Parameters functionality allows you to create a list of measurements, then assign those parameters to the dimensions of objects in your model. When those parameters are changed, Fusion automatically updates every object that uses those dimensions.

Parameters are created and managed in a form similar to a spreadsheet. You access the Parameter function under the Modify menu.

Create Your First Parameters

We will start simply. Let's define some dimension parameters for the size of the "wire" in our chain-mail. Click on the Modify menu, and select Change Parameters at the bottom of the drop down. A pop-up form will appear. Next to the User Parameters label will be a green plus (+) sign. Click that plus sign to create your first parameter. A pop-up dialog will appear.

Type " wireWidth " into the " Name " field.

" into the " " field. Set the Units to " mm "

to " " Enter "5" for the "Expression"

Repeat until the width, depth and height of the wire have parameters.

wireWidth = 5 (mm)



wireDepth = wireWidth * 1



wireHeight = wireWidth * 1

Notice that the depth and height use the the original value entered for the width (multiplied by 1). This is a very simple mathematical formula, but we could also enter specific values for each dimension.

Now we define a parameter for how far apart each item must be for us to successfully 3d-print them.

clearance = 1 mm

Next, we use the wire sizes and the clearance between parts to help us set the dimensions for the crossbars. Each crossbar has to be long enough to fit two interconnected wires with clearance spaces between all the parts. So we use some simple math to create a formula, then add an additional 1 mm. That 1 mm is the only thing we should change. We can always add space (5 or 12 mm), but we need to assure the minimum space created in the formula remains intact.

crossbarWidth = 1 mm + (wireWidth * 2) + (clearance * 3)



crossbarDepth = 1 mm + (wireDepth * 2) + (clearance * 3)

That's all the parameters we need to dimension our 2d sketch. But let's go ahead a create a couple more parameters so we can extrude the flat sketch into the third dimension.

postHeight = 4 mm + ( ( 2 * wireHeight ) + clearance )



crossbarRaise = postHeight - wireHeight * 1

Notice that these parameters are also based on other dimensions and that the formulas assure that the links of chain-mail can interlock with enough clearance.

Now we're ready to use these parameters to dimension our sketch.

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