You can use the
SolidWorks Hole Recognition page of the Import wizard to recognize holes in imported SolidWorks parts, as shown in
this example.
SolidWorks hole recognition is different from Feature Recognition because it uses additional data from the SolidWorks model, instead of using just the solid data. This enables you to recognize non-geometric information, such as threads for tapped holes.
Note: You must have SolidWorks installed and licensed on your computer to use SolidWorks hole recognition.
SolidWorks hole recognition has some limitations:
- Only holes that were created using SolidWorks hole wizard are recognized automatically. Holes that were created as extrusions must be recognized using
FeatureCAM's automatic feature recognition.
-
FeatureCAM supports recognizing tapped, counter drill, and counter bore holes created in SolidWorks. Boring and Reaming are not supported because they are dependent on tolerance. Dowel holes are recognized, and machined with a Ream operation.
- Tapered taps are driven to a different depth than straight taps. For straight taps, a tip allowance is added to the thread depth so that the tool cuts the complete thread, this is not added for tapered taps so that the OD is not affected.
-
FeatureCAM recognizes SolidWorks patterns only if those patterns can be mapped to a
FeatureCAM pattern.
To complete this page:
- To use SolidWorks hole recognition, select
Use SolidWorks to extract information about the hole types
and dimensions.
- Select
Suppress recognized holes in the imported model to suppress the holes after they have been recognized. This removes the holes from the solid model so they are not recognized again if you use Feature Recognition.
- If you do not want to perform hole recognition using SolidWorks, select
Use
FeatureCAM to recognize the holes later.
- Click
Finish to close the wizard.
Note: It may take some time to start up SolidWorks and recognize the holes, so please be patient.