BOLT CIRCLE

[rjmax]

Is there an easy way to insert a bolt circle and maybe tie the dimension of the bolt circle to a bolt pattern?

Mechanical Engineer
Colmek Systems Engineering
Salt Lake City, UT
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[Heckler]

Open a sketch > draw a circle then go to Tools > Sketch Tools > Circular Pattern

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 2.0 & Pro/E 2001
XP Pro SP2.0 P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
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(In reference to David Beckham) "He can't kick with his left foot, he can't tackle, he can't head the ball and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that, he's all right." -- George Best

 

[fcsuper]

I would use the cicular array sketch function within the Hole Wizard feature, and not an array of sketch circles. This way, the bolt pattern can be used to drive a part pattern at the assembly level.

Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA

http://sw.fcsuper.com/index.php

 

[alolesen]

I like to use a circumscribed polygon, make it construction geometry and put a hole at each vertex.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

alolesen ... what do you do when the hole qty changes?

 

[Eltron]

Use the hole wizard to place the holes. It's simple to modify the sketch, and you get the proper hole callout on your drawings.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[alolesen]

Like Eltron says, use Hole Wizard. Then to change the number of holes, right click on the polygon and choose "edit polygon" from the menu.

 

[rjmax]

So, when I go to detail the drawing how do I reference a Bolt Circle (B.C.) in the hole callout?

Mechanical Engineer
Colmek Systems Engineering
Salt Lake City, UT
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[Eltron]

There are several ways to call out your bolt circle diameter.
1. You can show the hole wizard sketch and dimension it. I always add the text "BCD" to the dimension.
2. You can also just create a circle sketch in the drawing and dimension in the same way.
3. Otherwise you can click on the hole callout and add the text and symbols to the the Dimension Text window.

Hope that helps.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

SW doesn't have an "automatic" BCD in a Hole Callout.

When positioning the points on the HW sketch, use a construction circle, and add "BCD" to the diameter dimension. Then when using Insert > Model Items to place the dims, the BCD dimension will be seen. To complete the picture, RMB select the positioning sketch from the drawing view in the View Manager and select Show.

 

[rjmax]

Eltron, that is what I have basically been doing. I add it usually to the hole callout as text but I was wondering how to link the dimension of the B.C. so that if it changed it would automatically update.

Mechanical Engineer
Colmek Systems Engineering
Salt Lake City, UT
--------------------------
l l
0]lllll[0
l__l l__l

 

[Eltron]

The only way it will update automatically is if you dimension the BCD sepatately from the hole callout.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[alolesen]

I put a circular center mark on the hole pattern, this puts in a center line circle to represent the bolt circle. Then I dimension the resulting bolt circle. The only thing is that this dimension comes in as a radius, you have to go into its properties and change it to a diameter dimension.