Reference Section > Shape Library > Rectangular Shapes

The Rect with N holes is a rectangular plate with a grid of equal round holes – a base plate, mounting plate or bracket with a bolt pattern. You set the number of columns and rows, the hole diameter and the pitch between holes; the grid is centred on the rectangle and can be moved off centre with the two hole offsets. All corners of the rectangle are sharp.

It appears in the shapes library under Rectangular Shapes and Gussets. The Rect with 2 holes and Rect with 4 holes shapes are variants of this shape with their own default hole counts: 2 columns by 1 row, and 2 columns by 2 rows.

Insert point and orientation

The insert point is the bottom left corner of the rectangle. Width is built to the right along X and Height upwards along Y. Columns are counted along X and rows along Y.

With both offsets at 0 the hole grid is centred on the rectangle: the centre of the first (bottom left) hole is at ((Width – (Num. of Cols – 1) × Horiz. Pitch) / 2, (Height – (Num. of Rows – 1) × Vert. Pitch) / 2) from the insert point, and the other holes follow at Horiz. Pitch to the right and Vert. Pitch upwards. The offsets are added to every hole.

Properties

Lengths are in the current units (mm or inches). The value in brackets after each default is the one shown when the program is set to inches. Defaults are for a new shape.

Property	Description	Default
Width	Overall width of the rectangle, along X. Cannot be negative.	100 mm (4 in)
Height	Overall height of the rectangle, along Y. Cannot be negative.	75 mm (3 in)
Num. of Cols	Number of holes in each row, along X. Whole number, minimum 1.	3
Num. of Rows	Number of rows of holes, along Y. Whole number, minimum 1. The total number of holes is Num. of Cols × Num. of Rows.	2
Hole D	Diameter of every hole. Cannot be negative. If Hole D is 0 no holes are cut; a single point is placed at each hole centre instead.	12.5 mm (0.5 in)
Horiz. Pitch	Centre-to-centre distance between neighbouring holes in a row, along X. Cannot be negative. Has no effect when Num. of Cols is 1.	25 mm (1 in)
Vert. Pitch	Centre-to-centre distance between neighbouring rows, along Y. Cannot be negative. Has no effect when Num. of Rows is 1.	25 mm (1 in)
Hole Offset X	Moves the whole hole grid along X from its centred position. Positive moves it right, negative moves it left. The rectangle does not move.	0
Hole Offset Y	Moves the whole hole grid along Y from its centred position. Positive moves it up, negative moves it down. The rectangle does not move.	0

The dimensions drawn on the shape are Width, Height, Hole D (as a diameter), Horiz. Pitch and Vert. Pitch.

Limits

The shape does not check that the holes fit inside the rectangle or that they stay apart, and no property has an upper limit. Keep these conditions yourself:

•Holes overlap if Horiz. Pitch or Vert. Pitch is less than Hole D (when there is more than one column or row).

•With the grid centred, the holes stay inside the rectangle only if (Num. of Cols – 1) × Horiz. Pitch + Hole D is less than Width, and (Num. of Rows – 1) × Vert. Pitch + Hole D is less than Height.

•With an offset, the clearance on one side of the grid is increased by the offset and the clearance on the other side is reduced by it.

If building the shape raises an error, the property page shows the red line Warning: Cannot build shape from these parameters. The code has no explicit check that raises it for the values above. Holes already added to the shape may be left on it when this happens, so check the outline.

Check the part outline after changing the hole count, pitch, Hole D or the offsets. The shape does not trim or join holes that touch or cross the outside edge, or each other; each hole stays a separate full circle.

Every 2D shape also has the Transform properties (Base X, Base Y, Rotation, Scale, Mirroring X) and the Polar Array properties, listed after the shape's own properties.