Holes/Screws on a rolled plate

[DRoam]

I'm modeling a band that will be screwed onto the inside of a sheet metal cylinder. The band will be rolled to the ID of the cylinder. I'm trying to model the holes in the band, and place screws into the holes. I'm not sure yet how the holes will be machined out in the shop--whether they'll be drilled or punched, made before or after the band is rolled, placed based upon degree or arc length, etc. Some of you might have insight into how they're likely to do this, and that would be appreciated.

My main questions are:

1. Is there a better way to model the band and its holes?

2. How can I properly and easily insert the bolt into the holes since they're no longer "perfect holes" that can be used in an "Insert" constraint.

3. How can I then pattern the bolt so I don't have to insert one into each hole?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

Some of  your questions are answered in this thread.

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor/The-best-way-to-insert-one-tube-in-another-tube-whic...

other portions are answered here

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor/Rolling-of-perforated-flat-sheet/td-p/4332715

(I would never use Bend Part to make a sheet metal part.)

[DRoam]

Thanks for the tips, JD. I wasn't aware that I could unfold and refold a sheet metal part like that. The main issue I'm dealing with now is patterning the bolt once I've inserted one into one of the holes. The holes are in a sort of arc, so the only way I can think of is to do a circular pattern about the longitudinal axis of the rolled sheet metal. But then I'd have to know the angle between each of the holes, which wouldn't be too bad if I could just calculate it once and leave it, but I'll probably be making changes to the hole placement as time goes on. Any suggestions for this?

[JDMather]

If it is in an arc (which it appears to be) place and constrain one bolt and then do a circular component pattern.

A different technique would be to use the Feature Pattern of the Hole when creating the Component Pattern.

But this depends on how you create the Feature Pattern in the part.

[DRoam · Accepted solution]

Actually, I think I've figured out a way that will work. I created a sketch on the XY plane of the band part after the holes were created and projected the location of two holes onto the sketch, then created a driven dimension for the angle between the holes. I can now use that dimension for the bolt's circular pattern.