I am new to SolidWorks. I am want to do a simple thing and while I can think of a few ways to accomplish it, I am sure there is an easy and recommended way to do it.
I have, for example, a 2D sketch of a stainless tube. (extruded from circle on the horizontal plane). I need to locate some holes in the tube. I need one 1.375" from the bottom (horizontal plane) ... and a few others. The need to be a certain heights. They need to enter the tube from different angles, sometimes square to the tube, sometimes at an angle. Is there a way to turn on a measurement readout for the cursor relative to a specific place or the origin.?
What is the recommended/trained/easiest way to locate and make the holes?
You start off with inserting the hole using the hole wizard (Insert -> Features -> Hole -> Wizard...), select the hole type, size, etc. Click on the "Positions" tab at the top. It will give you an option to click on 3D sketch, but you don't need to in this instance, since the pipe surface is not planar, it will automatically give you a 3D sketch when you click on the pipe (cylinder) surface.
Place the point somewhere on the cylinder and hit the Esc. button to exist the point command, but still remain in the hole wizard "positions" tab.
Now you can add a centerline as construction geometry. To get a continuous sketch without having to start and stop the segments, I would suggest that you start by hovering over the point that you've inserted and click there to start (don't hold the mouse button down, just a click). Then go straight down and click on the outer, bottom edge of the cylinder (you will notice that the line wants to snap to vertical - make sure it's vertical). From there, click on the origin, and then move the mouse horizontally and click somewhere outside the cylinder (make sure that it's snapped to a horizontal). If it will not snap in the horizontal, hit the tab button to change directions.
Now you can dimension the height and angle. Model is attached, study it...