First project - Hexagonal staircase newel cap

[Julien]

@Smorgasbord

Are there any good getting started tutorials for Fusion?

I learned the CAD part from this guy, it was an excellent start to make sense of the UI, and then once we master the basics/design principles, the rest is easy to learn as you go. The CAD part I learned by doing and with the help of folks here on the forum.

@Smorgasbord

I could mill the hexagonal sides conventionally or with the Shapeoko. I would then need to mill the bottom with a recess so that cap only makes contact on the outside edges. Ideas for that? For the top, I could mill that conventionally, because on the CNC it would involve ramping accurately and would definitely need some sanding clean-up anyway.

I have never been a woodworker so I tend to think in terms of “I have a CNC, it’s the answer, whatever the question is” (which is a bad approach obviously, but I just love CNCing stuff). So I would do that as a two-sided job

• start from a square stock
• mill the top
• mill a jig that is a negative of the top
• flip the part and attach it onto that jig
• mill the underside/recess.