SolidWorks Hole Wizard – Should I use a 2D or a 3D Sketch for Locating the Holes?

SolidWorks Hole Wizard Holes

When inserting a Hole Wizard feature in a part or assembly, you can either have a 2D sketch or a 3D sketch for your positioning sketch, depending on the order of your selection. If you select the surface first and then the Hole Wizard feature second, you will be placed in the 2D sketch environment. When you go to the Positions tab you will find that you do not have access to the 3D sketch option. You can only place your holes on the selected surface or surface plane. Since you are in a 2D sketch you have access to all of the 2D sketch relations.

If, on the other hand, you select the Hole Wizard feature first, you will find that when you go to the Positions tab that you can select the 3D sketch option. By selecting the 3D sketch option you can select different surfaces on which to place your holes. However, in the 3D sketch environment you lose the 2D sketch relation selections, which may be undesirable as you miss out on some functionality.

By selecting the Hole Wizard feature first you can choose either the 2D sketch environment by simply accessing the Positions tab and selecting the surface, or you can choose the 3D sketch option. If you select the surface first and then the Hole Wizard feature second, you limit yourself to only one outcome, that being the 2D sketch environment.

Frank Berger
Senior Designer, Zip Signs Ltd.
Creating signs of excellence across the nation since 1971
www.zipsigns.com

Zip Signs has been a client of Javelin Technologies for over two years, accessing Javelin’s training facilities and courses to further educate it’s staff and develop SolidWorks expertise.