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• Use one of the Slot sketch tools. SolidWorks has straight and arc slot options on the sketch toolbar.

• Explicitly drawing the slot. Draw a line, press A to switch to the Tangent Arc tool, draw the tangent arc, and press A to switch back to the Line tool, and so on. Although you can press the A key to toggle between the line and arc functions, you can also toggle between a line and a tangent arc by returning the cursor to the line/arc first point.

• Rectangle and arcs. Draw a rectangle, place a tangent arc on both ends, and then turn the ends of the rectangle into construction entities.

• Thin feature cut. As you did earlier with the groove, you can also create a Thin Feature slot, although you need to follow additional steps to create rounded ends on it.

• Offset in Sketch. By drawing a line, and using the Offset with Bi-directional, Make Base Construction, and Cap Ends settings, it is easy to create a slot from any shape by drawing only the centerline of the slot.

• Library feature. A library feature can be stored and can contain either simple sketches or more complex sets of combined features. The library feature is a good option for the counterbored slot used in this example.

Hole Wizard: Using 2D versus 3D Sketches

Hole Wizard holes use either a 2D or a 3D sketch for the placement of the hole centers. You can define the centers by simply placing and dimensioning sketch points. Starting with SolidWorks 2010, the 2D sketch type is used by default, with the 3D sketch type only being used when you specify it in the Positions tab of the Hole Wizard tool.

The following image shows a part with various types of holes created by the Hole Wizard, including counterbored, countersunk, drilled, tapped, and pipe-tapped holes. The part is shown in section view for clarity; however, the drilled hole is not shown in the figure.

Holes created by the Hole Wizard

To cut slots in your part, follow these steps:

1. In this case, use the Centerpoint Straight Slot option. Slots are easiest to create with the Click-click method rather than Click+drag. Click near where you want the center of the slot. Click again for the center of one end; then click a third time for the width/end radius. The Slot PropertyManager is shown in Figure 4.15.

Create a horizontal sketch relation between the origin and the centerpoint of the slot. Add dimensions as shown in Figure 4.15.

Note

Using the Add dimensions option in the Slot PropertyManager can help you size the slot more quickly. This does not require the Enable on screen numeric input option to be turned on.

2. From this sketch, create an extruded cut that extrudes up to the surface of the counterbore in the holes. The through hole for the counterbored slot is also a slot, and so you can use the same technique.

3. Open a sketch on the bottom of the previous slot, and draw a straight slot. Make the new slot 0.05 inch smaller than the first slot. You can create a cut using the Through All end condition.

Figure 4.15

Creating a slot

Tip

Picking up relations automatically may seem difficult at first, but with some practice, it becomes second nature. When trying to find the center of an arc, the centerpoint is usually displayed and is easy to select. However, when making a relation to an edge, the centerpoint does not display by default. To display it, hold the cursor over the arc edge for a few seconds; a marker that resembles a plus sign inside a circle will show you where the center is, thus enabling you to select it with a sketch tool and pick up the automatic relations.

In Figure 4.16, the first centerpoint has already been referenced, and the cursor is trying to find the centerpoint of the other end of the slot.

FIGURE 4.16

Applying automatic relations to a circular edge

Creating fillets and chamfers

As mentioned earlier, it is considered a best practice to avoid using sketch fillets when possible, using feature fillets instead. Another best practice guideline is