SolidWorks Toolbox has a plethora of available mechanical hardware for machine designers to choose from. In fact, the estimate is that there are over 2 millions distinct sizes of hardware to grab. In playing around with Toolbox today, I rediscovered a trick to rapidly insert screws into an assembly. The normal process to insert a screw is to drag and drop the appropriate screw into an assembly model and drag it close to a hole. Then it will SmartMate itself into position and ask for the size and length of the screw.
The rediscovered shortcut is to pre-select the edges of the holes that you wish to add hardware to. These can be on completely separate surfaces, or on separate parts. After you choose the edges, go ahead and right-mouse button click on the part in the Toolbox browser and choose “Insert into assembly” Then it will happily go on its way to placing the hardware in exactly as you will it. At the end of the process, it will then prompt for the size and length, which you can select in the PropertyManager or dynamically on-screen with the drop down list and green arrow. See the YouTube video below for more.
