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Dimensioning a bolt hole circle

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Message 1 of 11
KevinMacDonald
3676 Views, 10 Replies

Dimensioning a bolt hole circle

I am using Autocad Mechanical 2013 to build a 3D model of a plate that has a simple pattern of holes centered around a point. I am now dimensioning the part in paper space using Base and Detail views. I want to show a bolt circle diameter (or radius) dimension. But, there is of course no such arc to click on in order to define the dimension. Is there a way to do this? I was expecting to find some kind of hole pattern dimensioning command but have found no such thing. I could draw an arc in model space, but I don't really want to do that since it is not part of the 3D model. I would rather the model be 'clean', i.e. only 3D solids representing real objects.

 

Thanks

Inventor 2013
10 REPLIES 10
Message 2 of 11

Could you upload the drawing?

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Autodesk Certified Professional - Inventor
Message 3 of 11

I know of no command which inserts reference objects. When I have such objects, I consider them same as text, dimensions and other annotations.

 

e.g. If I am drawing a 3D flange, and I need to show the bolt hole diameter, I place a phantom line in paperspace manually on the section or detail view. That way it never gets lost in my model when switching views or when Orbit is active. It also will not show up, and possibly obscure an object, in any other viewport.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. "-Eleanor Roosevelt
Message 4 of 11

When you then dimension to that phantom line in paper space - using for example AMPOWERDIM_RAD - don't you find that the dimension is scaled to paper space instead of model space?
Inventor 2013
Message 5 of 11

No not at all. If you draw your reference circle by snapping to the center of the flange diameter and then end the diameter at the center of a bolt hole, the diameter of the phantom line is true. You must use objects in model space to create reference lines and circles.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. "-Eleanor Roosevelt
Message 6 of 11

I think an example is in order. I'm attaching a file containing a simple 3D object with a set of holes that are centered about a flange. I'd like to provide a conventional bolt circle radius dimension for those holes. The radius is 2". Could you show me how you would dimension that? It's unclear to me whether you are placing the phantom circle on top of the view in paper space, or in model space. Note that I have inserted a view, NOT a viewport. If you are using viewports rather than views perhaps you could create another layout and show that.

 

Thanks very much! 

Inventor 2013
Message 7 of 11

Can you save the drawing down. I'm using 2012.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. "-Eleanor Roosevelt
Message 8 of 11

If you draw a reference line, arc, circle in paperspace and want to dimension it, you will have to adjust the variable DIMLFAC to equal your layout scale. I think that is the problem you are facing without looking at the drawing.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. "-Eleanor Roosevelt
Message 9 of 11

Yes that would definitely be a problem re: DIMLFAC. But you seemed to be saying that the line was NOT drawn in paper space and that scaling was not a problem, so I was wondering what method you were doing. I think what you must be saying is: 1) insert a View (not a view port) into paper space via selecting 3D objects. 2) Draw a line on the view in paper space. 3) Adjust DIMLFAC to match the scale of the view. 3) Dimension to the line.
Inventor 2013
Message 10 of 11

Correct. Since you wanted the model to be "clean", paperspace is the only alternative, and that "old school" method still works.

 

You could place the line, arc, circle in model space on a non-plot layer and identify it with a custom color. (I sometimes use a strange hue of orange since that is a very seldom used color.)

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. "-Eleanor Roosevelt
Message 11 of 11

That's a good thought. I've also considered placing construction lines on the faces of my 3D solids, but then I don't think I can select them to appear in a view. It would be interesting if Autocad allowed one to attach such reference objects to 3D solids. Of course, Inventor really does all this. But I'm finding Inventor to often be overkill for what I'm doing, plus I love the flexibility of Autocad. Maybe I just know that product a lot better.
Inventor 2013

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