Building the Foundation of the Design - Autodesk Inventor 2010: No Experience Required - page 99

Clearance Hole This is a personal favorite of mine. After years of keeping a
handbook or wall chart handy to be able to properly size the counterbore for a
hex head bolt, I enjoy being able to have the hole sized for me by simply select-
ing the fastener type and size.
Tapped Hole Tapped Hole is also a simple option to use. All you do is select
the thread you need, and Inventor sizes the hole based on the standard. Tapped
holes don't have actual helical threads placed in the model, but they do appear
threaded; Inventor uses a bitmap on the surface of the hole, and in drawings it
displays the major and minor diameter of the thread.
Taper Tapped Taper Tapped is the same as Tapped Hole but uses the tapered
standards like NPT and ISO Taper. Because of industrial standards, you aren't
allowed to place a taper tapped hole at the bottom of a counterbore.
Both types of threaded hole also let you control the depth of the threaded por-
tion of the hole, with an option to fully thread the hole by selecting Full Depth.
You can also choose whether the threads are Right Hand or Left Hand.
Let's use the Hole tool with a sheet metal twist to place the next feature:
1. Start the Hole tool from the Modify panel.
2. Using the Linear Placement method, pick the face on which you
sketched the rectangle to begin placing the hole.
3. You need to select two edges from which to position the hole. Pick
the edges shown in Figure 2.47. After you pick the second, set the
values to those shown in the fi gure.
4. Set the Diameter to .397, and note that the depth of the hole is auto-
matically set to Thickness.
5. Click OK to create the hole.
6. Save your work.
The Punch Tool
The Punch tool is a specialized feature that creates deformations or custom-
shaped holes in the part. The location points of these features can be extracted
for detailing in the drawing or for programming production machinery.
Figure 2.48 shows the PunchTool dialog box.