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Threaded Bolt

Creating a 3/8”-16 bolt in Solidworks involves: 1. Setting the units to IPS and sketching a hexagonal bolt head with a diameter of 9/16". 2. Extruding the bolt shank to 1.25" diameter and adding a fillet and chamfer to the end. 3. Sketching a helix around the shank with a pitch of 1/16" and 16 revolutions. 4. Sketching a thread profile as a triangle and sweeping it along the helix to cut the threads into the shank.

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163 views

Threaded Bolt

Creating a 3/8”-16 bolt in Solidworks involves: 1. Setting the units to IPS and sketching a hexagonal bolt head with a diameter of 9/16". 2. Extruding the bolt shank to 1.25" diameter and adding a fillet and chamfer to the end. 3. Sketching a helix around the shank with a pitch of 1/16" and 16 revolutions. 4. Sketching a thread profile as a triangle and sweeping it along the helix to cut the threads into the shank.

Uploaded by

api-304901898
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Creating a 3/8-16 bolt in

Solidworks
Units
Go to Options at the top, select the Document Properties tab, on the left, select units, and under Unit System
select IPS.

Bolt Head
Select Top plane from the panel on the left. Select Extruded Boss/Base. Select the polygon tool and make sure
the number of sides is 6. Create any size hexagon starting from the origin and making sure the degree from
horizontal is lands on 0. Smart Dimension from one flat side to the opposite side. Set the size to 0.5625 (9/16). >
OK.
Exit sketch and in the left panel, set D1 = 0.2. > OK.
HEAD CONTOURS: Start a Sketch and select the top face of bolt head (away from the shaded side). Now you are
sketching on the top surface of the shape. Select the circle tool and make a circle starting at the center. Make
the outside of the circle tangent to an edge (edge will turn orange when its tangent). > OK, then exit the sketch.
Make sure that the last sketch is highlighted in the panel on the left, then click the Features tab then select
Extruded Cut and set the following parameters in the panel on the left: D1 = 0.05, Flip side to cut, Draft = 60
degrees.
Repeat Head Contours for bottom side of bolt head and exit the sketch.

Bolt Shank
Select Extruded Boss/Base. Select the top face of bolt head (w/o shadows). Create a circle beginning at the
center of the bolt head (any size within the head). > OK. Smart Dimension the circle to a diameter of 0.375 (AKA
3/8) > OK. Exit sketch and set D1 = 1.25 > OK. This creates the shank of the bolt.
Select the Fillet tool then select the edge between head and shank. Set the radius to 0.05. > OK
Select the Chamfer tool then select the circular edge at end of shank. Set the parameters to D = 0.05, A = 45
degrees > OK.

Helix
Start a new Sketch. Select the plane on the end of the shank. Use the circle tool to put a circle on the end-face
of the shank. Press escape. Smart dimension the diameter of the circle to match the width of the shank (3/8).
>OK. Stay in the sketch.
Select the Features tab, select Curves, then Helix/Spiral. Set the parameters in the left panel to: Constant Pitch,
Pitch = 0.0625 (1/16), Reverse direction, Revolutions = 16, Start angle = 90 degrees, CW > OK.

Thread Profile
Select front plane from the panel on the left then start a new Sketch. Right click where it says Front Plane and
select the Normal to option that pops up. Zoom into the end of the shank where the end of the Helix is. Use the
polygon tool to create a triangle near but not touching the end of the helix. Orient it so that a corner is pointing
toward the bolt (the angle will be 0 or 180). Make the sides about 0.05. The size and location arent important
yet. > OK.
Grab the line tool and make a line across the inside corner of the triangle (The corner near the bolt). Press
escape, then make that line vertical by clicking on it and selecting the vertical line that pops up or by selecting
the one that is in the panel on the left. This line will be referred to as the inside line. Press escape.
Make the far side of the triangle (away from the bolt) vertical as well. Press escape.
Select the Point tool and put a point on the midpoint of the far side of the triangle. You know youre at the
midpoint when the little orange or yellow midpoint dot shows up. Press escape. Click the point you just made and
the line that its on and make them coincident (use ctrl to select both). > OK.
Smart Dimension the inside line. Set its length to 0.0156 (This is the width of the bottom of the thread).
Smart Dimension the distance between the inside line and the point that you put on the far side of the triangle.
Set its length to 0.0338 (This is the depth of the thread.).
Create a 3-point arc on the inside line: The three points, in order, are: Bottom of inside line, top of inside line, and
the third point should want to snap to A = 90 and r = 0.01. (Set these dimensions in the left panel to make sure they
are right). > OK. Stay in the sketch.
You should have a triangle that looks like this:

Select the point that you put on the far side of the triangle. Hold ctrl and select the helix. Select pierce in the left
panel. > OK.
Select trim entities and power trim away the inside circle, inside line, and the inside corner of the triangle. > OK

The setup should look like this:

Swept Cut
Now the fun part. Exit the sketch, make sure that the sketch you just made is selected, and then select the
features tab. Then select the Swept Cut tool.
In the left panel under Profile and Path make sure the upper box (Profile) has the triangle sketch in it. Then click
in the lower box (path) and select the helix.
If all is well you will have a yellow ghost preview of the Swept Cut. > OK.

DIMENSIONS FOR A 3/8-10 UNC BOLT:


P = 1/16 = 0.0625
P/4 = 0.0156 (Matters for us)
H = 0.054126
H/4 = 0.01353
H/8 = 0.0067658
5H/8 = 0.033829 (Matters for us)

Image taken from Shigleys Mechanical Engineering Design 10th ed.

NOTES

If you want the threads to end cleaner on the upper part of the shank rather than coming to a sudden
stop, go back and select variable pitch for the helix sketch and play with the parameters.

The above image applies to FASTENERS in Imperial as well as Metric units.

Rounding the inside of the threads reduces the concentration of stress and therefore yields a longer
fatigue life.

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