Hole Match Command

Matches the holes that are on the first ply of material that you select to subsequently selected other plies of material that previously did not have holes.
  • Step-By-Step
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Related Tools

1 . Invoke Hole Match using one (1) of the following methods:

Method 1: Click the Hole Match icon, which is pictured above. The icon can be found on the Material page > Holes section. Proceed to step 2.

Method 2: Preselect a material you want to match holes to. This enables the Materials contextual page. Click the Hole Match icon found in the Holes section. Skip step 2.

Alternative: Invoke Hole Match using the Find Tool by searching the command name and clicking the Hole Match icon, which is pictured above. Proceed to step 2.

2 . The status line prompts, "Select material:" Select - Pan - Menu mouse bindings become active.

2a: Left-click ( Select ) the material you want to add holes to.

3 . The status line prompts, "Locate material for matching holes:". Select - Pan - Menu mouse bindings become active.

3a : Left-click ( Select ) the material you want the holes matched from. You can also hold down the Shift key and left-click ( Select+ ) multiple materials. As long as the materials have holes on them and are surface-to-surface with the selected material you are matching them to, you can select as many materials as you like.

Alternative: Right-click ( Menu ) with your mouse pointer ( ) hovering over the material(s), then choose the submaterial mark of the material you want on the context menu .

3b : When all the materials you want are selected, press the Enter key or right-click and choose " Return " on the context menu.

4 . The Change Options window opens with warning messages about the members affected by the changes you are making.

Alternative 1 : Make selections to this window (if applicable) to add the holes to materials in addition to those selected in step 3, then press the " OK " button.

Alternative 2 : Press the " Cancel " button to end the Match Holes operation and keep everything as it was before Step 1.

5 . The status line prompts, "Add bolts to new holes?" and Yes-No mouse bindings become active.

Alternative 1 : Left-click ( Yes ) to add bolts through all matching holes. See step 6.

Alternative 2 : Right-click ( No ) to not add bolts. This ends the command.

Note: If you are not prompted to add bolts, make sure User and Site Options > Modeling > " Add bolts when matching holes " is checked.

6 . If you selected ( Yes ) in Step 5, Match Holes inserts bolts through the holes in the selected material. Yes-No mouse bindings become active and the status line prompts, "Verify bolt direction."

Alternative 1 : Left-click ( Yes ) to place the bolts as you see them (head side up). This ends the command.

Alternative 2 : Right-click ( No ) to flip the bolts so that they go into the holes from the opposite side (e.g. nut side up). Match Holes then prompts you to verify their placement again. If you right-click ( No ) a second time, no bolts are placed. This ends the command.

  • If materials without holes are face-to-face with the layer of material to which you just added holes, you may want to repeat this operation to match holes onto those materials.
  • If you did not add bolts, you can at this point Mark for Processing the affected members. Process and Create Solids will automatically add bolts through matching holes.
  • Matching holes is typically done so that the materials with matching holes can be bolted together.
  • Match Holes does not work when a hole is set to not matchable (" Matchable "). Also, the materials must be face-to-face and touching for hole matching to take place. Furthermore, you cannot match holes to a material that is part of a member that has its " Model completed " date set.
  • If you are matching a ' Standard round ' hole, each copy of that hole will be an exact replica of the original. If you are matching a ' Short slot ' or ' Long slot ' or ' Oversized ' or ' User slot 1 ' or ' User slot 2 ', the new hole will be a ' Standard round ' hole.
  • It is not necessary to match holes to the main material of a beam, column, brace, stair, legacy girt or purlin. Match holes takes place automatically during the Create Solids phase of Process and Create Solids .
  • User and Site Options > Modeling > " Show hole group reference point ," " Hole surface ," and " Show hidden lines in 3D wire frames " affect the appearance of a hole when it is selected.