How to model a sheet metal nut in SolidWorks?

Question

I want to know how to model and how to use an injection nut in SolidWorks.

The problem starts with me not knowing the correct term in English for them thing I want to model (Einpressmutter).

I'm referring to a metric nut (with metric thread, if course) which exposes a circular, radial notch at one end. This end is to be forcefully inserted into sheet metal with a hole slightly smaller in diameter than the nut's end.

Penn Engineering nuts for sheet metal

There is no problem for me in modeling such a part. What I want to have, is like a combination of a part and a forming tool. I.e. I want to drag this part into a closed sheet metal area and the holes for the nut should be created automagically.

Google didn't reveal anything useful. I found only tutorials in creating regular nuts, yawn. The SW tutorials weren't helpful either. But this, again might be caused by using the wrong search term.

I'd appreciate a link to a tutorials as well as a better search term or a basic outline of the method.

further clarification

• Yes, "press nut" was the word I'm searching for.
• Yes the nuts I want to use need holes drilled/punched/lasered into the sheet before insertion.
• I probably need different nuts of different sizes and threading, so I'm here for an abstract solution
• I know the hole wizard. I know how to place a part into an assembly and to align it.

What I want is this behaviour: Upon manually placing a press nut into an assembly and aligning it in its recommended position on a metal sheet, the necessary hole shall be generated automatically in the metal sheet.

Answer 1

You might be interested in Smart Components / Smart Features. This technique will associate parts with features.

As for the naming, we call those "Press Nuts", or more generically "Press Hardware"

Answer 2

I can't tell what you want.

A combination of a part and forming tool

What?

I want to drag this part into a closed sheet metal area and the holes for the nut should be created automagically

So, you want the hole wizard? Go to the hole wizard, pick the size hole you want, then go to the "Positions" tab, click a face and you're able to drop holes of the spec you chose wherever you want.

You linked the entire PEM nut catalog for press nuts (as S Barry correctly called them), so I don't know which one you're talking about specifically.

That said, as far as I know, all of those nuts have you drill one hole in the sheet. Specification varies by nut, but if you look at any of the pages on the site you linked, for a specific nut, you can see the hole size and tolerance you need to specify to the sheet metal fabricator. It's that big column labeled, "Hole Size in Sheet."

You can specify a custom hole size and tolerance when you're in the hole wizard. If you want to re-use that hole wizard setting repeatedly without having to type the values in every time, then you could add the custom hole settings to the wizard to save those settings.

If this isn't the functionality you're looking for, or if you have a specific part you're referring to that couldn't use this method then please link to the specific part.