Solidworks mate question

[Rookie machinist]

I am working on a steam engine and would like to add rivets to the tender drawings. Only problem is I don't want to do it one at a time I know there is a way to automatically assign a mate just not sure how. Any ideas?

Thakns,

Steve

[Brian H.]

If you open the part file for the rivet, then go to the Insert menu, you should find an option called Mate References. Select the faces you want to mate with, then click the green check mark. It will probably be easiest to add your rivet to the Design Library, then you can drag and drop them into your assembly. The faces you specified as mate references should mate to the faces your cursor is positioned over.

-Brian

[pgp001]

Use the hole wizard to create your pattern of holes
Insert a library part rivet into the first hole.
Then create a feature driven pattern to populate the rest.

Its dead easy once you figure it out.

Phil