Friday July 26, 2013 at 3:17pm
“Smart fasteners” is a really useful time saving tool, allowing you to automatically insert toolbox fasteners such as bolts and screws into an assembly providing there is a standard hole. The tool uses both ANSI inch and metric alongside standard components and provides the opportunity to use your own custom fasteners from the toolbox database.
Smart Fasteners can be found in Command Manager, Assembly toolbar or alternatively Menu, Insert, Smart Fasteners.
1. Click Smart Fasteners, if this message appears click OK
2. Select the planar face on which the standard hole series sits and then click Add
3. The Smart Fasteners tool will then recognise the holes on the planar face as being identical as the holes applied during the hole series application, in this example CSK for M5 Flat Head Machine Screw holes, and will automatically fill the hole with the correct fastener. The drop down menu lets you change the size should you wish.
4. By clicking the Auto Size to hole diameter option the fastener will automatically but should you wish to amend the fastener this can easily be done in the sidebar which appears when you’re in the feature.
5. You can also add a bottom stack to the screw to fix it on the other side, click the 'Add to bottom stack' and choose your desired type of nut.
6. As a result two screws and two nuts are added to the part and a Smart Fasteners folder will appear in the Feature Manager design tree.
Give it a go!
Written: July 2013, Lucy ApplebyUpdated: June 2021, Aaron Moore