The Extrude tool is one of the most important tools in Fusion 360. It takes a flat 2D sketch and turns it into a real 3D solid body — this is where your designs come to life. If you are just starting out with Fusion 360, learning Extrude is the very first step you should take. Almost every 3D part you ever build will start here. What Does the Extrude Tool Do? Think of it like this — you draw a shape on paper, and then you push it upward to give it thickness and depth. That is exactly what Extrude does in Fusion 360. Draw a rectangle and Extrude it — you get a box. Draw a circle and Extrude it — you get a cylinder. It is that simple. How to Open the Extrude Tool The fastest way is to press the letter E on your keyboard. Fusion 360 will immediately open the Extrude dialog. You can also go to Solid in the top menu and click Extrude from the dropdown. Or right-click on any sketch profile and select Extrude from the menu that appears. Step by Step — How to Use Extrude Step 1 — Create a Sketch Before you can Extrude anything, you need a 2D sketch to work with. Click Create, then Sketch. Select a plane to draw on — XY, XZ or YZ. Draw your shape using the sketch tools. When finished, click Finish Sketch. Step 2 — Open Extrude Press E on your keyboard or go to Solid → Extrude. Step 3 — Select Your Profile Click on the sketch shape you want to Extrude. It will turn blue to show it is selected. Step 4 — Set the Distance Drag the arrow that appears to set how tall or deep you want the shape. You can also type an exact number like 10mm directly into the distance box. Step 5 — Choose the Operation This is important. Fusion 360 gives you four options: New Body creates a brand new 3D object. Use this when starting fresh. Join adds the extruded shape onto an existing body. Use this to build up your design. Cut removes material from an existing body. Use this to make holes or cutouts. Intersect keeps only the part where two bodies overlap. This is more advanced and rarely needed by beginners. Step 6 — Click OK Your 3D body is created. You will see it appear in the canvas and in the timeline at the bottom of the screen. Extruding in Different Directions By default Fusion 360 extrudes in one direction. But you can change this. One Side pushes the shape in a single direction — this is the default. Two Sides lets you control how far the shape goes in both directions separately. Symmetric pushes the shape equally in both directions at the same time. The Taper Angle Option Inside the Extrude dialog you will also see a Taper Angle option. This lets you angle the walls of your extruded shape inward or outward as it grows. This is very useful when designing parts for injection molding or creating shapes that need draft angles for easy removal from molds. Tips That Will Save You Time Always press E as your shortcut — it is much faster than using the menu every time. If your Extrude is not working, the most common reason is that your sketch is not fully closed. Check for any small gaps in your sketch profile. You can select multiple profiles at once by holding Shift and clicking each one. Fusion 360 will Extrude them all together. To make a hole in an existing body, draw a circle on the surface, press E and choose the Cut operation. No need for a separate hole tool. If you want to Extrude up to an existing face or body instead of a fixed distance, change the Extent Type to To Object. This is very powerful for complex designs. Common Mistakes Beginners Make The sketch is not closed. This is the number one reason Extrude does not work. Always make sure your sketch profile has no open gaps. Wrong plane selected. If your 3D shape is going in the wrong direction, you probably drew your sketch on the wrong plane. Delete and redraw on the correct plane. Forgot to click Finish Sketch. You must finish the sketch before Extrude will recognize it as a profile. A Real World Example Say you want to build a simple bracket. Start by sketching a rectangle 60mm wide and 40mm tall on the XY plane. Extrude it 5mm using New Body — now you have your base plate. Next sketch a smaller rectangle on the top face for a slot. Press E, choose Cut and set the depth to go all the way through. Your slot is cut instantly. This is exactly how real engineers and designers use Extrude every day. Save Time with Ready-Made Scripts If you want to skip the manual modeling and get professional parametric parts instantly, check out FusioScripts. We offer free ready-made Fusion 360 Python scripts for gears, brackets, motor mounts and more. Just copy the code, paste it into Fusion 360 and your part is generated automatically. No drawing, no Extrude, no manual work. 👉 fusioscripts.com