topic Re: BOLT CIRCLE CENTERLINE in Inventor Forum

BOLT CIRCLE CENTERLINE

kpanikLPNEM — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:14:51 GMT

It's been a while since I had to make one but I used to be able to pick a series of holes in a bolt circle to create a bolt circle centerline in a drawing.

I have a hex plate with a rectangular cutout in the center with a set of holes in a bolt circle. No hole in the center. Now I cant remember how to create the bolt circle centerline. I see how to make one with a center hole but how do I do it without a center hole?

Thanks.

K Panik

Re: BOLT CIRCLE CENTERLINE

Schredhammer — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:33:30 GMT

Centerline

Re: BOLT CIRCLE CENTERLINE

kpanikLPNEM — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:34:26 GMT

Thanks Scredhammer! I tried all the other centerline icons but that one.

Re: BOLT CIRCLE CENTERLINE

Schredhammer — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:35:44 GMT

You're welcome!

Re: BOLT CIRCLE CENTERLINE

swalton — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:45:22 GMT

Did you use a circular feature pattern to build the holes in the model? The Automatic Centerline tool will work.

If you used a sketch pattern to make the hole pattern, include the work geometry that you used to create the center of the circular pattern in the drawing view. Then use that as the centerpoint in the manual centerline tool. You can hide the work feature after creating the centerlines.

Finally, you can attach a sketch to the drawing view, project 3 holes from the pattern, constrain a circle to the center of the holes, then use that circle as the centerpoint for the manual centerline tool. Once the centerlines exist, then go back to the sketch and set the circle to sketch-only so it won't be visible in the drawing.

I prefer using a circular feature pattern in the part because it simplifies the drafting and provides a seed for component patterns in later assemblies.

Re: BOLT CIRCLE CENTERLINE

kpanikLPNEM — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:34:35 GMT

Thanks swalton!