One of the biggest benefits of multi-part modeling is the ability to easily create geometry that relates to several parts at once. One great example of this is Onshape’s ability to create a single hole through multiple parts in your Part Studio. Let’s take a closer look.
There are many situations where you may need a single hole to pass through several parts. Here is a simple example:
This is a housing for a hydraulic pump. You can see that the three parts that make up the housing were modeled together in one Part Studio. Now I need to add a hole that passes through all three parts.
To start off, click the Hole feature from the toolbar. Then define the hole type, size, and sketch points as you normally would when creating any hole. If you are creating a “Through” hole, Onshape will automatically recognize that you have multiple parts and will create a hole through all of them. So you don’t need to do anything special for through holes, but if your hole has a blind termination in one of the parts, you will need to choose “Blind in last.”
This option will allow you to create a blind hole that terminates in the last part defined in your Merge scope. In the case of tapped holes through multiple parts, it’s even smart enough to create a clearance hole in the first part (or parts) and only tap the last part. In our finished example below, you can see there is a clearance hole through the first two parts, and the final part is tapped.
So it’s that easy to create holes through multiple parts. Give it a shot!