Quickest way to change a round hole to a slotted hole?

[SamLamb]

Hi,

I have a situation where I need to change several different holes to slots, what's your quickest way? I've been through one design and found holes using the hole tool and also holes using extrude. My solution for extruded holes has been to change the current geometry in the sketch to construction lines and draw/dimension the slots around them. This works but it's a pain to do multiple holes this way. Using copy paste in sketch works OK but every paste loses some of the constraints and dimensions every time. For the hole tool holes I just extrude a sketch right over them. I would usually modify the holes the proper way but I just don't have the time lately. Are there any other quicker ways to accomplish this task? Some kind of pattern, use of relations, or other method I might try? I appreciate your input.

Thanks,

Sam

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[TomD.inPDX]

Look at the sketch palette. If has a ready made slot. A little more effort, and you can add your own sketches into the palette.

The idea behind sketched "templates" that are accessible by the palette tool is to have everything but scale and position locked down. It is a drag-n-drop tool. For specifying your own custom location (in addition to default), use the following in config.pro: sketcher_palette_path <drive and full path> you can save sections into this location and the palette will list them. By default, it finds sketches in your working folder.

Using holes for "master" locations is not unheard of. It provides the centerline needed for drawings and it makes a good sketch reference.

All the slots that have the same shape and orientation can be patterned using a set of points from a point feature.

If you need centerlines (axes) in the model to detail the slot, you can add datum points in the sketch. Extruding datum points will generate axes. There is also a config.pro option that will create centerlines for all arcs used in sketches. show_axes_for_extr_arcs yes

Lots of options, but copy/paste is one of the last ones I reach for.

[dgschaefer]

On copy paste, what you need is copy > paste special > advanced reference configuration. This allows you to select new refs for each and every ref selected when the original feature was made. It's brilliant, and frankly should be the default copy/paste in my mind. If you have a lot of slots to make, make one, copy it then copy the two to make 4 then copy the 4 to make 8 and so on. It won't take long to make them all.

Also,on the sketched points, make sure you're creating a geometry point in sketcher. Those become an axis when extruded, a standard sketcher point does not.