Creating the threaded part of a 3d screw or nut in AUTOCAD

[Anonymous]

Hello people I am quite new to the Autodesk AutoCAD software cause I am a student currently utilizing it for my project and I want to ask a question regarding creating the threaded part of a screw in AutoCAD. I have searched the queries in the forum regarding this issues and they have returned results regarding a programming language used to create it but I am also not familiar with it. If someone can help me I want to create a 3d part of a screw or bolt and the internal threads of nuts in AutoCAD.

[vinodkl · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous 

You can check out youtube. There are many tutorials on how to create 3d screw. Here is the link to one of them 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hwL9UYetIk 

[Kent1Cooper · Accepted solution]

For the screw/bolt part, you may be able to use >this<.  For the nut, maybe you can make the bolt and use SUBTRACT to take its shape out of something larger.

Note that the command name in the link is HELIX.  It was written long before there was a Helix command in AutoCAD, so I'd suggest you change then name.

[Anonymous]

Gee thanks @Kent1Cooper and @vinodkl for the response really helped a lot. Guess I wasn't searching hard enough, sorry! but really appreciate your time guys. 

Thanks, Sione. 

[malcolm_lyle_iii]

404 not found? Update for link?

[Kent1Cooper]

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@malcolm_lyle_iii wrote:

404 not found? Update for link?

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[The Cadalyst CAD Tips site where that was posted is currently a lost cause.  They have a Resources pull-down in the Hot Tip Harry page supposedly to the CAD Tips LISP Archive where such a routine should be found, but it doesn't go anywhere.  I've contacted them multiple times to point out the problem -- maybe some more such contacts will shake them loose to fix it.]

[milton_fitzgerald]

I've been interested in getting "ANYTHING" in regard to getting 3D nuts & bolts.

I even tried using basic Revit to export out a file, (files) to AutoCAD (back when you could do the parametric thingy), to get my AutoCAD drawings.  It's funny how that worked for basic drawings (mainly furniture but also mechanical parts) and we never thought to use the software to get or create other basic elements, "Like Nuts & Bolts"...🤔

[RSomppi]

Yeah, Revit is not the place to be looking for such fine detail unless it is content that has been imported into Revit from another platform. BTW, Revit is still doing the "parametric thingy". If it weren't, it wouldn't be Revit anymore.

[milton_fitzgerald]

Yes, meaning, I’m glad Revit still does the parametric thing. It’s helped me a ton in the past.
Back when there use to be 3 flavors of Revit (I learned it in 2011, on Revit Mechanical),
that was the time to get simple nuts & bolts. “Oh well🤔”

[RSomppi]

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@milton_fitzgerald wrote:
(I learned it in 2011, on Revit Mechanical),
that was the time to get simple nuts & bolts.

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As I said in my last post, I don't think so, unless you were exporting imported content. AutoCAD is much more capable of making such things than Revit is. Anything like that created in Revit wouldn't have the thread details.

[milton_fitzgerald]

Again, got it meaning I understand the "Newer Versions" or Revit may not have that.

That all being said, when you crank up the view details on Revit (LOD 500) you can get some really nice detail, which is how I made some parts & exported them out to AutoCAD.

I know it can be done, (or use to be able to do this), because I did this for another company over 10 years ago, (with the Revit Mechanical, or Revit MEP).

I also created my very 1st 3D prints from the Revit drawings, converted to AutoCAD, which were then converted to "STL's" (again from over 10 years ago).

[RSomppi]

I've been using Revit steadily since before your limited experience with it. I've been managing models and libraries since 2010. Trust me, you've got it all mixed up. You are talking about 2D details, drafting views. This topic is about 3D parts drawn to scale. Revit is limited in this aspect and that kind of detail has never been possible. AutoCAD and Inventor are both quite capable of making these parts. If you think you were exporting them from Revit, I'd like to see you prove that because I've done exactly what you said but backwards, sideways, and upside down and have not been able to get that kind of detail into Revit. I can make nuts, bolts, threaded rods all day long in Revit but it will not make the threads.

Also, Revit doesn't have a setting for LOD 500. That refers to the accuracy of the building model. It's nothing more than an accurate as-built. It doesn't even have to contain engineering data for systems. LOD 300 has more engineering data than 500. It's just an accurate as-built 3D model with added information on the actual products used. It's not even an exact replica because Revit makes walls straight and perfectly square. It cannot account for flaws in workmanship or the curvature of the earth unless you utilize 3D scans.

I suggest that you fact check yourself before spreading any more false information. It doesn't look good on you.

[milton_fitzgerald]

Sorry, I didn’t mean to make a whole dissertation about this, and certainly didn’t mean to insult your expertise.

I just know for a fact I was able to get / create fully functional 3D details & models (not 2D details). I exported them into AutoCAD (again “3D models”)

and I created the 3D prints / "STL" files, (from Revit, *.rfa to AutoCAD, *.dwg & export out to STL).

Not just in college, (again refer to my link) but also at home on my own 3D printer.

That’s the fact.

[RSomppi]

Even if you actually did what you are describing, It would have been much easier to model those threads in the software that you were importing Revit files into. That's why I am doubting you did as you are describing. That kind of detail in a building or campus like you illustrated would bring a Revit model to a screeching halt. It simply cannot handle that much geometric data from a practical standpoint. The other programs already mentioned are designed and quite capable. Your workflow just doesn't make sense and seems backwards. 

Let's take this over to one of the Revit forums where actual daily Revit users can chime in.

[RSomppi]

I think I figured out why what you did worked well. One thing that I really like about Revit is its ability to retain .dwg model space information when a direct link was missing. The .dwg file can be replicated with an export from Revit. In order for you to do what you are describing is probably by using context that was imported into Revit which a lot of available Revit content was imports from rapped in .rfa format.

[milton_fitzgerald]

Exactly...
I wish I could "Really" show you what I did but, the parts I made back in 2014 are definitely under a "NDA" and with another company.
Again, my stuff on my YouTube Channel  & Blog is just showing basic items & the type of work (for, or from 2014). I really thought by now (here we are, 11 years later in 2025), and it doesn't seem as if there were too many advances other than that the quality of the 3D printers has improved.