Library
Put standard screws, bolts, nuts, washers, dowels, hinges and electronics into your design, made to their real sizes, at sketch points or on a face.
- Library AdvancedPart Studio toolbar
| SchoolCAD | Onshape | Fusion | SOLIDWORKS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Library | Insert standard content | Insert McMaster-Carr Component | Toolbox Design Library |
The Library puts standard hardware into your design: wood screws, bolts, nuts, washers, dowels, hinges, shelf pins and electronics (a 5 mm LED, a small DC motor, a micro servo and AA battery holders). SchoolCAD makes each one to its real standard size, so you can check that it fits, that it is long enough, and that it does not poke out the other side. Each one is a part, like your own parts, so you can move it, mate it and see it on drawings.
Hardware is bought, not made. The parts list shows its size (such as 8g × 30), and the cut list and shopping list count how many to buy, instead of working out timber to cut.
How to use it#
- Make the holes first with Hole: put a point in a sketch where each screw goes, then drill with a preset such as 8g screw, countersunk (4.5 mm).
- Click that sketch in the feature tree, then click Library. One screw goes at each point of the sketch.
- Choose the Type (such as Countersunk wood screw), the Size and the Length.
- Check the preview. If a screw points the wrong way, click Flip direction.
- Click ✓.
To put one part on a face instead, choose On a face and click the face where it goes. Origin puts it at the origin, to move later with Transform or Mate.
Options#
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Type | Countersunk or pan head wood screw, hex bolt, socket head cap screw (Allen bolt), hex nut, flat washer, dowel, shelf pin, butt hinge, 5 mm LED, DC motor (130 size), micro servo (SG90 size) or AA battery holder. |
| Size | Screw gauges 6g, 8g and 10g; metric sizes M3 to M10; dowels 6, 8 and 10 mm; hinges 50, 65 and 75 mm; the LED's colour; how many cells a battery holder takes. |
| Length | The standard lengths for that size, in mm. Countersunk screws are measured overall; the others from under the head. |
| Material | Steel, brass or nylon (dowels: maple, pine or paulownia). The colour and mass follow it. |
| Fluted | Dowels only: glue grooves along the dowel. |
| Open angle | Hinges only: 180° lies flat, 90° is a right angle, 0° is closed. |
| With batteries | Battery holders only: puts the AA batteries in too. Each one is a part, and the shopping list counts them. |
| Placement | Sketch points: one at each point of a sketch (they move with the sketch). On a face: where you click. Origin: at the origin. |
| Flip direction | Turns it round to point the other way, for example a nut on the underside. |
| Rotate | Turns it about its own axis, in degrees, for example to line up a hex head. |
| Offset | Moves it along its axis, in mm (+ out of the face, − into it). |
Under the options, the dialog says which Hole preset fits the part you chose, such as the 8g countersunk hole and a 2.5 mm pilot hole for an 8g screw.
Tips#
- A countersunk screw's head sits flush with the face, in its countersink. Pan heads, bolts, nuts and washers sit on the face. A dowel goes half into the face. An LED's rim, a hinge, a motor's back and a battery holder sit on the face; a servo's tabs sit on it, with its body through an opening.
- A hinge is two parts, one for each leaf, so in an Assembly one leaf can turn against the other.
- Use a sketch with points for screws in a row: when you move the points, the screws move too. For more copies, use Pattern on the Library feature or its parts.
- Check says when a screw goes into another part. That is expected: a screw bites into its pilot hole. Make sure each one has a hole.
- Threads are not drawn on screws and bolts, only their outside size, as on most engineering drawings.