How to make a great fastener library for SOLIDWORKS

You need a good fastener library for SOLIDWORKS. But getting one is not easy:

1. Toobox fasteners are crap and have licensing issues
2. Randomly downloaded STEP files have no quality control
3. Making your own fasteners seems easy until you have to make a thousand unique models.

In this blog post, you’ll find

1. The problems with Toolbox fasteners
2. Our offer: a high-quality fastener library for SOLIDWORKS
3. Start with the standard
4. Create a fastener library with software
5. Fastener files should be dumb
6. Fasteners should have a material and a coating
7. All our files have custom properties
8. Don’t break mates when you switch between fasteners
9. Why do you only offer metric fasteners?
10. Buy and download fastener models in our shop
11. All our fastener downloads
12. Bonus: We can create a custom export for you
13. Bonus: Lightning makes working with fasteners fun again

1. The problems with Toolbox fasteners

Every company I talk to stopped (or is planning to stop) using Toolbox fasteners at some point. The Toolbox library is not complete and it does reference any ISO/ANSI/DIN standards. Sure it comes for free with a Premium license, but buying a couple of Premium licenses just for the Toolbox is expensive.

Because the Toolbox adds each size as a configuration, you need write-access to all fasteners. The files become large (I’ve seen parts with 1000+ configurations) and not all sizes follow the standards so you can’t actually buy the part.

I recently asked LinkedIn how we could fix fasteners and summarized the results in a second post. There are two approaches to using the Toolbox that both have real downsides:

1. You let engineers add the missing sizes. The downsides:
   • You need write-access to all fasteners
   • The library becomes a mess over time
   • Every time an engineer adds a size, all assemblies that use that fastener are marked dirty and need to be rebuilt
2. You make all fasteners read-only so only the admin can add sizes. The downsides:
   • It takes a mountain of upfront work
   • You need permission to add a size
   • Small companies don’t have the budget for a dedicated admin

2. Our offer: a high-quality fastener library for SOLIDWORKS

Five years ago, we started developing our own fastener library. By now, we have spent about 600 hours on our models and another 600 hours on Lightning, our optional fastener software.

You can check out the downloads in our Fastener Models Shop.

Our beliefs:

1. Start with the ISO or DIN standard
2. Do what is best for the engineer
3. Create the files with software, not by hand

This resulted in the following properties:

1. All files are native SOLIDWORKS models, recreated for every SOLIDWORKS version
2. One configuration per part
3. No fillets, just chamfers, to minimize the number of graphics triangles
4. No modeled threads, just cosmetic threads
5. No licensing, just dumb files
6. The files have mate references, custom properties and consistent face names
7. You get a copy for all sizes for each material/coating combo

3. Start with the standard

The first thing we do is to buy the relevant ISO, NEN (the Dutch arm of ISO and one of its founders) or DIN standard. Those documents are the only real source of fastener dimension data. We dig through the document, extract the relevant data and add it to our database.

We are even working with NEN to offer our fasteners in their webshop because it’s a practical application for those theoretical standards. That offering will likely become public somewhere in the next few months.

4. Create a fastener library with software

We have crafted software to create fasteners from scratch so we don’t have to touch any of the files. If we find a mistake, we delete all files, fix the software and create a new export.

Quality and consistency are our greatest benefits. To achieve that, our software checks every software function, every feature and every file for issues. When we find a new issue, we add another check to the software so we’ll never ship another file with that problem.

To avoid migration issues, we create a copy of all fasteners in every SOLIDWORKS version.

5. Fastener files should be dumb

You have probably seen Toolbox bolts blow up in size for no reason at all, or because you shipped an assembly to a supplier that didn’t have a Premium license.

These licensing issues are annoying and a waste of time. They are not what’s best for the engineer.

That is why we only create dumb files. You pay us once, we send you a ZIP file with parts and that’s it. No more licensing issues.

Source: Central Innovation

6. Fasteners should have a material and a coating

Every single one of our fastener files has a material to make sure the mass is correct.

You also get a copy of all sizes for each material/coating combo. The coating is stored in the filename and in a custom property only:

7. All our files have custom properties

We added lots of useful metadata:

• IsFastener: to make sure SOLIDWORKS ignores the fastener when it creates cross-section views.
• DIN withdrawn: stop using DIN standards that were withdrawn in 1992, people!
• Tap drill diameter
• Torx bit size
• Strength properties

We add properties to the Custom tab because there is only one configuration. Every fastener type has a different set of custom properties. ISO 14579 (Torx head cap screws) has these:

8. Don’t break mates when you switch between fasteners

You have probably cursed at your computer when you switched out a fastener for another type and the concentric and coincident mates broke. It’s very annoying to run into this problem a dozen times a day.

So we fixed it. Every important face in our models has a name and these names are completely consistent across all 50+ fastener types. So when you switch a hexagon bolt for a Torx bolt, the mates remain intact.

9. Why do you only offer metric fasteners?

Because metric is the future. Imperial standards are weird, inconsistent, hard to understand and are almost only used in the United States. But the world is bigger than just the US.

And to be completely honest, we Europeans avoid using imperial fasteners at all costs, so it will be hard to make good fastener files.

We will probably add some ANSI fasteners at some point, so get in touch if you’re ok with sharing the investment.

10. Buy and download fastener models in our shop

To make our great fastener library as accessible as possible, we are announcing our Fastener Models Shop today. You select only the standards you need, pay once and download all files. It’s just that simple. You can use the files within your company. Just don’t give them away on the internet, please.

11. All our fastener downloads

12. Bonus: We can create a custom export for you

Every company has its own preferences for fasteners. We understand that our preferences may not be yours.

So if you want to add, for example, order numbers, extra custom properties, unique filenames or materials, we can do that for you. Just send us an email and we’ll share the possibilities with you. Pricing is available on the product page.

Once we agree on the goals, we modify our software and our database and create a custom export for you.

13. Bonus: Lightning makes working with fasteners fun again

CAD Booster is on a mission to improve working with fasteners in SOLIDWORKS. But a great library is only one part of the equation.

The second part is about using fasteners inside SOLIDWORKS. I hated having to scroll through an endless list of filenames, just to find that one size you were looking for. But filenames should not be visible to the user, you want to see properties.

That’s why we built Lightning, a fast fastener filter for SOLIDWORKS. Here’s a nine-second demo:

We replaced the long list of filenames with a few simple steps:

1. Click Add Fastener
2. Pick a type, size and material
3. Drag the part into your assembly
4. We can add a washer and/or a pattern for you.

Lightning works with your own library, it comes without any files. And of course, it works absolutely amazing with our fasteners. To try it out, check out the Lightning product page.

No more endless lists of fasteners

Lightning: The fast fastener filter

• Pick a type, size and material
• Lightning adds a washer and pattern
• Change the diameter or length in 1 click

Try out Lightning