My Sixth Fusion 360 Tutorial: THA BOX 12/6/24

I've just finished my sixth fusion 360 tutorial, and for future refence this is the last time I’m going to follow a YouTube walkthrough starting now, because I feel that I have now learned all of the basics, so I’ll be sketching, modeling, and animating completely original designs. But of course, if I'm stuck on a build and I need some help I'll of course look online for some help!

This build is my favorite so far! I began by sketching the base: a simple rectangular profile with rounded corners to give it a friendly, tactile feel. After extruding the walls to the desired height, I added a subtle fillet around the top edge so the lid could seat flush without any sharp interference. Next, I mirrored the base sketch to create the lid, scaling it down slightly so it would slip over the box with just the right amount of clearance.

With both box halves modeled, I focused on the hinge mechanism. I sketched two half-cylinder profiles along the back edge of the base and lid, extruding each into solid hinge knuckles. To complete the hinge, I revolved a small pin profile to span those knuckles. Paying close attention to tolerance, I made sure the pin’s diameter was just under the inner diameter of the knuckles so the lid could swing freely but without wobbling.

Moving into the Assembly workspace, I inserted the base, lid, and hinge pin as separate components. I defined a revolute joint between the pin and each set of knuckles, locking rotation to only the hinge axis. Then I used a rigid joint to fix the pin in place relative to the base. This setup let the lid swing open up to ninety degrees before hitting the built-in stops I sketched into the design. I toggled collision detection on so I could catch any interference between the lid and base walls during motion.

To bring the box to life, I flipped over to the Motion Study environment and created an Animation Timeline. I dragged the revolute joint handle from zero to ninety degrees across two seconds, then back to zero over another two seconds, giving the box a satisfying “pop” open and closed motion. I refined the animation by easing in and out of the keyframes, which smoothed the start and end of each motion cycle. Spotting a slight collision against the back wall at full open, I went back to the model and added a tiny chamfer to the lid’s lower edge to eliminate the snag.

In the end, I exported the animation as an MP4 and captured a few renders to show off the box’s dynamic action. I’m already thinking about adding a spring-loaded mechanism and exploring API scripts to automate hinge stiffness or simulate realistic damping. Have you built self-animating mechanisms in Fusion 360? Whether you’ve tackled complex multi-link assemblies or just elegant joint animations, I’d love to hear what tricks you’ve learned. Share your tips below so we can all level up our mechanical designs together!