Aviation CAD TechNotes

Fastener Library Update: AN/MS Standards (Updated Jan 2024)

Over the years I have been further developing my AN (Army/Navy) or MS (Military Standard) parts library and only this morning did I eventually get around to uploading all the new files.

This is the list of Standard Fastener Parts now currently in the library…over 300 parts.

I have decided to make these files available as the original Inventor iParts. I was getting requests for different conversions to STP, Parasolid etc, and also at different scales…doing all that on request takes a lot of time. Don’t be put off by the fact that they are Inventor files as Inventor is readily available as a 30-day trial product which gives you several options for working with these parts. You can even install a Read Only version of Inventor

It is really simple to work with these files…let me show you. For a start, an iPart is actually a normal IPT part file inclusive of a table of parameters so you can generate multiple variations of the part in one file.

Part Conversion: I would assume that many people who don’t use Inventor will wish to convert to a file format more suited to their application.

You can tell you have an iPart when the icon next to the part name in the model browser is shown as a table. To convert the file you simply expand the table folder; select the part or multiple parts and select generate files which will create a single IPT part file for each variant. This is placed in a subfolder named the same as the iPart filename. From there you can open this part file and Export whatever model format you want. Alternatively, if you would like to build your own version in a different CAD system it is useful to use the underlying sketch which can be Exported from this model; as shown in the second image which you can link separately to the Excel spreadsheet.

Table Editing: As I mentioned the part has an internal parameters table a bit like the format used by Excel which is fully editable. For the majority of the Library Parts, I also include the Excel table as a separate file.

Accessing the Table is as simple as right-clicking on the “Table” text and selecting what editing option you want…either “Edit Table” (which opens the part table itself) or “Edit via Spreadsheet” which will open this same table in Excel. When you save the table in Excel it will revert to the Cad Part file and update the model with any changes. Making changes is much easier in Excel where you can add new variants of the part or amend existing ones. The dimensions are all in inches but if you bring this part into an mm metric part it will automatically adapt the inch dimensions to mm…so you can be assured that the part will be correct regardless of which units you use.

These part libraries include the most commonly used sizes so you can add to this as you desire. A copy of the original specifications is also included for reference. If you are looking for Aviation-related specifications then check out this free site: http://everyspec.com/library.php.

This library is included in all the CAD/Ordinate datasets and is now also available as a separate package. See this page for more details: https://hughtechnotes.com/resources/

Manufacturers Standard Drawings:

Included in the many blueprint archives are manufacturers’ Standard drawings, some of which are commonly shared specifications between various aircraft by the same manufacturer. I have a spreadsheet listing those standards for both Grumman and North American Aviation. This is available free at this link:

Manufacturers Standards (NAA and Grumman)

In the top right-hand corner of each worksheet is a link to a separate download area where all those standard drawing files are stored. As usual, the spreadsheet is fully editable so you can add to the data record as you find more information. I am sure you will find this is a beneficial resource by having all these important standards in one location. If you find these useful please consider a small donation to help support my work.