We also added some separators for Material/Specialty fasteners and thus our toolbox is pretty robust and covers every type of screw or fastener we've ever used. I recommend the first method, so you aren't spending time looking up part numbers for dozens to hundreds to thousands of different screw configurations you're never going to actually use, just so you can enter them in some table. Now you can either add the McMaster-Carr numbers to the field as you go when use those sizes in models, or have someone go through the tables in the Toolbox manager and add the part numbers for every size by hand. 1 How would you determine the size of a screw to place in an assembly Measure the hole and the thickness of the material that the screw has to go through. Just select that size and it'll auto-populate. The switchplate-fastener assembly required 3 mates for each fastener: Concentric Mate, Coincident Mate and Parallel Mate. Once you enter it once for a given size screw, Toolbox remembers it and you don't have to enter it again. Now you will have a custom property field in your toolbox component property managers (the input window that appears when you drag in a new toolbox component) where you can type in the McMaster-Carr part number, and it will show up as the Part Number in BOM's.
RE: How to manage fasteners in toolbox and smart fastener for Grade 5.Everyone always says "just download them from mcmaster-carr and defeature them" but that is way more time consuming than just using Toolbox's built in features for custom properties. Smart Fasteners combines hole wizard features with the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox library of fasteners, which includes a large variety of ANSI Inch, Metric. My biggest concern is what's going to happen to my custom work once I make the jump to 2005. Using the SOLIDWORKS Smart Fasteners feature, you can automatically add fasteners to your assembly if there is a hole, hole series, or pattern of holes that is sized to accept standard hardware. I even used a similar method to create alternate material stocks from the Structural Steel library and even additional shapes (flat bar and tubing). Now I actually went one step further and edited the dimensions of the new parts (washers, specifically) inside the Access database but that is not supported by SWX or the VARs so you're sort of (er, completely) on your own when you do that. Edit the material and part number of the new bolt by inserting one into an assembly, opening that part, making the changes, and then saving it.I renamed "Regular" to "Stainless" by (Toolbox-Browser Configuration-Catalog Document), making appropriate selections in the drop-down boxes, and then editing the description. Create a derived standard (Tools-Options-Data Options-Edit Standards Data) from the ANSI Inch Standard.
You can archive it or move it to a different location, but we always recommend creating a back up.
Make a copy of it in case you need ever need to access older files. To access the Smart Fasteners page: From Windows, click Start > All Programs > SOLIDWORKS version > SOLIDWORKS Tools > Toolbox Settings. Here are the steps: 1) Back up your toolbox.
If you want to change the fastener type, click 'Edit Grouping' and select the series grouping you just placed. Use the Smart Fasteners page to set defaults and preferences for fasteners used with Hole Wizard holes and non-Hole Wizard holes.
Smart fasteners will automatically select the fastener type, length and diameter. Here's how I handled this for SS fasteners: Click the hole feature and click 'Add' to create a series of fasteners for the 10-32 screws.