An attempt at hull modeling with Fusion 360 Loft + Rails

[fnkershner]

Peter - Are you aware that F360 has a Slicing feature? It is a free addon that you can install. If you have a solid design, you can slice it into frames. You can specify the number of frames and the thickness of each frame. You can also specify the number of frames lengthwise and side to side. For our purposes this allows you to create the former and bulkheads of a ship's hull. The slicer function will even lay the parts out on a sheet for Laser cutting. If you specify the thickness of your material the parts will even have the slots defined to create your structure to be planked. I am currently working on a Scratch build of the original America. Your work above has been a huge help. I hope to start a build log soon and will share what I learn about F360 here.

 

 I have access to both a large format laser cutter & CNC router. My plan is to build a 1:24 scale model. I have purchased the plans from the Smithsonian. and scanned them and with some help built the hull model in F360. Now comes the testing, tweaking, etc. So that I can build a plank on bulkhead model.

[SardonicMeow]

I finally got around to experimenting with Fusion's form environment.  Here's a log of a method that gave me decent results.  (At least, decent enough to get a form that I can slice at will to make patterns for a plank-on-bulkhead model.  As you'll see, it doesn't give me a clean form for 3d printing or rendering a picture.  But making bulkheads is my goal.)

 

I start by going into form mode, and creating a simple rectangle.

I grab the upper edge and lean it out a bit.

Then, holding Alt as I drag I extrude a few more rectangles.  Here you can see how things exist in the forms / t-spline environment.  There is a grid of control points (black lines) which control the smooth form (in gray).

In the Y-Z view, I adjust the curve of the edges to that they match up with the correct station lines.  Fusion allows this to be done either by moving the control points or by dragging points on the curve itself.  I found dragging the points on the curve to be much easier.

Here is the hull section viewed at an angle and from the side.

To continue, I extruded (added another row or column of control grid points) in the direction of the bow.  I adjusted the curve of the new edge to the station.  And then another.

Working my way toward the bow.

At this point, I tried to match the edge to the stem, but things started getting wobbly and I lost my clean vertical lines, which I need to match each station.

 

There must be a way to cleanly end forms, but for now, it eludes me.

So instead I just kept extending the form forward as it was.

The process going aft was basically the same.  (I forgot to take screenshots.  Oops.)  Near the rudder I did curve things in a little.

The form was completed and mirrored.  It looks pretty clean.

The true test is to see how it holds up if I derive lines from it.  I created new lines by plotting the intersection of the waterline planes and buttock line planes with the new surface.  The results look good.  The only significant deviation I see is the forward end of buttock line 5.

As always, there is more and more to learn.  If you read this far, I hope it was interesting.