Drawing - Hole table group diameters/no duplicates (no locations)

[Nairn]

Hi all,

I was wondering if it is possible to create a hole table containing only the diameters and corresponding labels?

I looked online but the only mention of something similar was this post (https://community.ptc.com/t5/3D-Part-Assembly-Design/Custom-hole-table-to-auto-output-custom-data/td-p/536880) from 2018 which didn't conclude with an answer.

I am looking to create the same type of table (Lettered holes referring only to the diameter, as our punching department prefer the dimensions to be visible on the drawing itself- but having a diameter call-out  on every hole makes our drawings very messy) and ended up doing it manually as I couldn't find a solution. The below image is what I was hoping to achieve automatically with a hole table. Manually checking and entering all of the dimensions is very time consuming, especially on our more complex parts.

I did consider a repeat region in a regular table based on the suggestions in the other post I linked, but I don't have any experience in using them, and couldn't work out if it's even possible to get hole dimensions, let alone automate placing text by every hole, so I would still have to manually check and place the correct letter reference.

Ideally this would be an option in the hole table dialogue box (I can currently create a table with labelling and dimensions, but it lists this for every individual hole -A1, A2, A3, despite there only being two hole sizes) but from what I've seen I doubt PTC allow this functionality natively, but the ability to remove repeats, or base the labelling on the diameter column, rather than per hole would be amazing.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[pausob]

I think you can hack many things with out-of-the-box Creo but maybe that's not a good approach.

However, using a UDF hole where each hole feature is actually a group of a hole and a small sketch that provides a label might be an approach you can explore:

(the label text is based on it's holes parameter, so it can be made quite parametric)

This maybe takes care of labelling the holes on the drawing, it still remains painful to automatically dimension them and to make the "summary" table on your drawing, but that last step seems you can do pretty by copying the generated hole table chart:

Also consider this software - made to manage the hole charts, perhaps it has the "summarizing" and dimensioning functions you want.

 https://www.buw-soft.de/en/products/smartholechart/

[Nairn]

Thank you for your ideas, I will look into the grouped note and hole - it may not be fully automatic like the labelling from the hole table, but it could save time when putting the drawing together compared to manually checking each dimension and inserting a manual text field. As for the table, I can make that up quickly enough manually since we typically only have a few different sizes. I will look into that software as well, thank you!

[mashton-2]

This can be done but I think it needs to be programmed using the toolkit. We have a thing we call a workbench but its like a dashboard built using the toolkit and we have a hole table function which does what you describe  - assigns a letter to each hole of the same type, gives a description of the hole and a count of the holes. It means all holes have to be done properly using the hole tool which I think is a good thing. BUT when CREO is updated there is often something in the update that upsets the settings and then your table doesn't work properly and requires work by a programmer to fix.

Unfortunately I am not a programmer so I have no idea how the toolkit works or how the table was achieved.

Ours hasn't been updated and the guy who did the programming has moved on. Also with the imminent arrival of MBD there is a perception that there won't be a need for this kind of functionality in the near future.

[Nairn]

Thanks mashton, so close and yet so far! It's good to know it's possible, but I doubt we would be able to put it together and upkeep it as you described. We have enough issues with new Creo releases breaking our tools as it is! If the suggestions from pausob don't help then it looks like it will only ever be a manual process.

MBD's arrival may be imminent but I doubt our plant will adopt it this side of 2030, we're on a massive lag in terms of tech adoption. Many of our manufactured parts are hand-programmed from our drawings, and we just got Wi-fi on our factory floor with the intention assemblers will have access to our PVZ models at some point in the future. It's like living through all these tech innovations all over again!

[mashton-2]

Nairn

Agreed I am pretty sure I will retire before MBD is fully implemented. We are still on CREO4 for the same sort of reasons. It is just so hard to keep all the versions of different apps in a compatible state and keep up with updates.

I think the hole table was another thing that PTC missed a trick on.

[MartinHanak · Accepted solution]

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@Nairn wrote:

Hi all,

I was wondering if it is possible to create a hole table containing only the diameters and corresponding labels?

I looked online but the only mention of something similar was this post (https://community.ptc.com/t5/3D-Part-Assembly-Design/Custom-hole-table-to-auto-output-custom-data/td-p/536880) from 2018 which didn't conclude with an answer.

I am looking to create the same type of table (Lettered holes referring only to the diameter, as our punching department prefer the dimensions to be visible on the drawing itself- but having a diameter call-out  on every hole makes our drawings very messy) and ended up doing it manually as I couldn't find a solution. The below image is what I was hoping to achieve automatically with a hole table. Manually checking and entering all of the dimensions is very time consuming, especially on our more complex parts.

I did consider a repeat region in a regular table based on the suggestions in the other post I linked, but I don't have any experience in using them, and couldn't work out if it's even possible to get hole dimensions, let alone automate placing text by every hole, so I would still have to manually check and place the correct letter reference.

Ideally this would be an option in the hole table dialogue box (I can currently create a table with labelling and dimensions, but it lists this for every individual hole -A1, A2, A3, despite there only being two hole sizes) but from what I've seen I doubt PTC allow this functionality natively, but the ability to remove repeats, or base the labelling on the diameter column, rather than per hole would be amazing.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

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Hi,

I did some excercise in Excel (PowerQuery functionality) and here is the result ... see video.

[Nairn]

Hi Martin,

This is a very innovative approach! Thank you for your time with this, I didn't know anything like this was even possible as I haven't used a table pattern before. I will need to have a look at this when I get some free time.