I'm interested to know how others build models of structures using weldments, beams and the like.
Do you fill every hole with a relevant fastener?
If so is this a manual operation or some automatic method eg toolbox or other third party add-on.
I've given up with using toolbox to fill the holes as it fails 9/10 times to put the fastener in correctly and does not work well with mutliple instances of parts.
On some of the models I have, filling every hole is extremely time consuming and heavy on resources.
I know I can hide the parts create configs etc but this is still a really time consuming operation.
as an aside (should possibly be another thread)
Is there a way of pointing to a hole/series and saying what type of bolt should be there without actually putting anything in?
This information would be used in the bom and when pointing to the connection would appear in a note - if required.
Roy.
I actually gave up filling all the holes and only put fasteners in if they are going to show in a detail view.
It just seems I'm missing functionality by not having a complete BoM.
It is reassurring though that others do the same thing.
Roy.
I've tried many different things from filling every hole, to not putting fasteners in at all. If you need the BOM to show proper quantities of items, then you can try a few different things.
One solution is to use component patterning as much as possible. Insert the first instance, then either use a feature driven pattern, or a pattern that matches your hole spacing. If that is not doable, then pick an arbitrary pattern, but hide all the components in the pattern. These methods keep the BOM synched with the model.
If you don't care if the BOM is synched with the model, then you can either add the first instance of each fastener, or leave it out completely. Then manually modify the BOM (via an equation for robustness), by respectively edting the quantities, or adding rows and entering the fasteners by hand.
The method I choose depends on the situation.
I hope this helps.
I basically agree with the above posts. A few things to point out. You need to use hole wizard holes or feature patterns in order to get patterned components to work. Also, you will need to insert your first instance of your hardware in the "seed" hole of the hole wizard feature. The seed hole is the one that shows the revolved sketch when you show the sketches involved in generating the hole.
Also, I don't recommend using a linear or circular pattern for hardware because although the spacing may match your hole spacing at the time the assembly was created, if the part's hole spacing changes, the assembly will not update. Using a feature driven pattern you won't have a problem.
The hiding of the fasteners is a good tip too. While not as resource friendly as no fasteners or suppressed fasteners, it will lighten the load... and the BOM will still be correct.
The other tip is not to add the additional mate that clocks the hardware. I have been a long time advocate for adding that mate just for completeness... and a quick way to verify that all parts are constrained. But a thread on here that showed rebuild times for various hardware restraining methods switched me to the dark (er I mean Jedi) side.