Part I: SolidWorks Basics
- Select the inside face of a hole on the part, as shown in Figure 3.47. This creates an
axis on the centerline of the hole. You should note that a temporary axis already exists for
all cylindrical faces, but making a true axis feature helps this one stand out as different
from the other holes on the part.
FIGURE 3.47
Making one hole stand out by creating an axis featureThe selection of the Cylindrical/Conical Face option should be automatically activated by
your selection of the cylindrical face of the hole. Accept the result with the green check
mark when the selections and settings are complete.- Click the Plane toolbar button from the Reference Geometry flyout on the Features
tab of the CommandManager. - Select the large cylindrical face of the part as the First Reference and the axis you
just created as the Second Reference. Make sure the First Reference uses the Tangent
constraint and the Second Reference uses the Coincident constraint. This makes a plane
tangent to the main cylinder in the part that goes through the patterned hole, as shown in
Figure 3.48.
Click the green check mark to accept the result.
- Open a new sketch on the new plane.
- Click the View menu and activate the Temporary Axes option. You should now see
blue axes (without names) appear along the centerlines of every conical or cylindrical face
on the model (except for faces created by fillet or chamfer features).