SolidWorks Hole Callouts for Hole Wizard Holes on Cylindrical Faces

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A question I have seen come into support lately is how to get a Hole Callout on a SolidWorks Drawing for features created with the SolidWorks Hole Wizard Tool.

Problem:

When you try to select what looks like the edge of a hole we get the following feedback from SolidWorks.

There are several different Solutions that I have seen work and which one you use is dependent on the size of the hole, size of the part and location of the hole on the part.

Solution1: Add a Countersink to the hole.

My suggestion for this solution is to make it larger than what you need, add your call out to the drawing then go back to the part and shrink the countersink to just above the minimum that SolidWorks says is possible. The reason this works out well is because with curvature of the part when you shrink the countersink to just above the min. you can barely see it on the drawing view.

Solution2: Add a Reference Plane.

You can add a reference plane to the outside of the part. The downside to this is that you will not be able to select the new Plane while creating the Hole Wizard hole. To get around this limitation I added my tap to the end of the part then edited the Sketch Plane for my placement sketch and I am then able to add any additional features to the Hole Wizard feature and I get the proper Hole Callout in my drawing.

Just like everything in SolidWorks I am sure there are several other ways to get the job done but these are two options me and my team came up with and our customers were happy with both options.

Good Luck and please feel free to add anymore workarounds to the list.

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Josh Altergott is Support Manager at Computer Aided Technology, a SolidWorks Value Added Reseller with locations in Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. He is a regular contributor to the CATI Tech Notes blog.

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Josh Altergott

Josh Altergott

Josh Altergott is Support Manager at Computer Aided Technology, a SolidWorks Value Added Reseller with locations in Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. He is a regular contributor to the CATI Tech Notes blog. https://blog.cati.com/