Creating Custom Thread Tool Profiles in Solidworks

The Thread tool in Solidworks comes with many standard thread sizes available. However, what if you need to model a size that isn’t already included? This article will walk you through the process of adding a new custom thread size to the thread tool.

Finding Your Thread Profiles File Location

To find the file location where your thread profile data is stored, follow the below steps:

1. Go to Tools->Options->File Locations and set the dropdown to “Thread Profiles”.

2. Browse to the file location listed. The default location is in the ProgramData folder, which is hidden in windows by default. If you do not see the ProgramData folder on your C drive, you may need to enable hidden items in your Windows Explorer settings.

3. These SLDLFP (Library Feature Part) files contain all the data for the different thread sizes available in the Thread tool. They will always open as Read Only in Solidworks.

Adding New Custom Thread Profile Data

To add new thread sizes to the existing files, follow the steps below:

1. Open Solidworks, go to File->Open, and browse to your thread profiles file location.
2. Open the existing file that most closely matches the type of thread you are adding. In this example we will use the Inch Die file.

3. You will see a warning about Read Only access. Select “Open Read-Only” in the dialogue. The default thread profiles MUST be opened Read Only, so any changes or edits you make will be saved as new files with new file names. 

4. Once the file is open, go to the Configuration Manager and delete all but one of the configurations. 

You may get a warning about making changes to a Read Only file. This is expected. Because the files are Read Only, none of these changes will affect the original thread profile file. Press OK on the warning to continue.

5. Go back to the Feature Manager, right click on the “ThreadProfile” sketch and select “Configure Feature”

6. Right click the name to rename the existing configuration to whatever name makes sense for your custom thread size. 

7. Enter values for the Pitch, Profile_Land, and Profile_Height dimensions. See the image below for where these dimensions correspond to on the thread profile sketch.

8. If you need to add multiple thread sizes, you can add more configurations to the table by clicking in the “Creates a new configuration” box and typing the name of the new configuration.

9. Once you have added all your custom data, click “Apply” and then “OK” to close the configuration window.

10. Go to the Configuration Manager again, and confirm that all your new configurations have been added.

Saving and Testing the New File

1. Go to File->Save As and give the file a name. This is the name you will see under the “Type” dropdown in the Thread tool.

2. Close the thread profile Library feature part
3. Open a new or existing part with a cylindrical body in it, and start the Thread tool.

4. Select the new file in the “Type” dropdown and test out the new custom sizes in the “Size” dropdown.

For further assistance, please contact our HawkSupport team at 877-266-4469(US) or 866-587-6803(Canada) and support@hawkridgesys.com.