Moving constrained parts?

Just to make sure I'm not insane or just ignorant.

If I place a part in an assembly and mate it's front, top and right planes to the same planes in the assy. is there any way I should be able to still move that part?

Because I've got a couple assemblies that show all the components 'constrained' but when I move a part that is mated with only one or two mates to the assembly, the entire assy flies apart... a bit disconcerting. I can also move the base part which I just mated to the planes.

I'm taking a copy of one of them to my reseller later today.

Does your reseller ever visit you guys, when problems like this arise? I sometimes wonder about the level of service we get for our subscription fee.

Reply to
hayduke
Loading thread data ...

Forgot to mention, happens in SW2005 sp2, sp3 & sp3.1...

Reply to
hayduke

Couple thoughts. Do you have more than one configuration? If so, maybe the mates are suppressed in the current one. Have you restarted SW?

WT

Reply to
Wayne Tiffany

Sometimes when that happens, the next rebuild will pull everything back into place.

I used to get much more of that sort of behavior when I relied on the mate solver to real with redundant mates. In your example, 3 sets of coincident planes constrains 9 degrees of freedom when only 6 are required. SW knows this, and allows the extra 3 because they don't conflict geometricall with other mates. Sometimes the mate solver seems to get confused and things start moving strangely. Redundant mates are also easier to troubleshoot when legitimate problems exist.

You might try this: for any component with the 3 mates to the assembly planes you describe, delete the mates and fix the component. It should (theoretically) solve faster, and will probably calm things down.

Anyhow, can another user or your VAR reproduce this?

Reply to
Dale Dunn

Nope just one config, I've restarted SW numerous times, it happens at home and here at work.

Originally I placed the base part at the origin of the assy and it was Fixed, then these wacky things began happening about a month or so ago, I thought I'd fixed the problem when I rebuilt the assy a couple weeks ago by inserting another copy of the base part and deleting the original. I mated it to the assy planes at something like 500,500,500 rather than 0,0,0 so that I could make sure everything was mated "properly", when everything was attached, I moved the new base part back to "0,0,0"

I have only a few parts with (-) to the left of the part name ,and they are meant to swing on an axis, when I try to move them the whole thing blows up...

bad mojo

Wayne Tiffany wrote:

Reply to
hayduke

I'm the only user here, and my VAR, well I'm still waiting for the 'Value Added' part to kick in...

I've been using UNDO to get things back in shape, and thankfully so far that's worked, but...

Typically I would have simply fixed the part, but I used the 3 coincident mates to "make sure" it would stay put. Those mates were way down on the list of mates, like #'s163,164&165 so I moved them to the top, it didn't help...

Thanks for the input.

Dale Dunn wrote:

Reply to
hayduke

Ironic. I've never seen a fixed part move, and I don't remember accidentally floating a part. Whatever works.

Reply to
Dale Dunn

...have you taken any assembly training? That might answer some basic questions. The advanced assemblies class is actually one of the better ones to take.

How many incontext features do you have? (with the -> after the part)

How many busted mates do you have?

How many Fixed parts do you have? (with the (f) in front of the part)

How many overdefined parts do you have (with the (+) in front of the part)

Do you have assembly features or component patterns?

Do you have mates to assembly features or component patterned instances?

Reply to
matt

I submitted a similar bug last month SPR259499 it's still open -- not even assigned to anyone as yet, along with several others I have submitted

I'm glad you're taking this one to your VAR it may, if a few others submit it, get assigned to someone!

The workaround for me is just to CTRL Q, assembly flies back together.

On another tangent, when SolidWorks RX was announced at the release of SWX 2005. We were told it would reduce the the number of service packs and make the service packs that were released of better quality. Hence I think we'll only see SP4 or SP4.1 as It would make someone at SolidWorks look if they don't no what they're doing, since SWX2004 went as high as SP5.1. -- I hope to be proven wrong.

Regards

John Layne

Reply to
John Layne

Until now, neither have I. I have an avi of it happening, I'd be happy to send it to you if you want to see the chaos in action. :o/

Dale Dunn wrote:

Reply to
hayduke

Yep, most recently 3 solid days 'Advanced Productivity Training'... now retention, thats another matter ;o)

Just two out of 94 unique parts.

None out of 273 top level mates, one suppressed.

None... but read below, I think I found the "bug"

None

No.

I have 4 'air cylinders', paired up, as Flexible Assemblies, they're querky, but I think the problem is in the mating tof the base part to the three base planes of the Assy, they're "not holding" .

When I looked for Fixed parts and found none I tried suppressing the 3 mates "holding" the base part, then I Fixed it, now when I try to move the part I get the message "The selected component is Fixed and cannot be moved". And moving other- free to move parts is not causing the assy to explode- yet. Hmmm......

Thanks

Reply to
hayduke

It sounds like a similar problem, was your fully defined part 'Fixed' or mated into place?.

Thanks

Reply to
hayduke

That's ok. I believe you.

Reply to
Dale Dunn

All parts in assembly were mated into place except the one I was in process of mating. Moving final part caused existing mated parts to move . Moving the part caused some of the other parts to get the - symbol next to them. Hitting CTRL Q returns everything to normal including removing - symbol on the the fully constrained parts.

This was in SWX 2005 SP3

Reply to
John Layne

Yup, sounds familiar... Did you try Fix-ing the base part into place rather than mating it into place? That seems to have cured mine, for now.

John Layne wrote:

Reply to
hayduke

I would also see if changing the flexible subs to rigid would influence it. Maybe not acceptable, but sometimes an action like that will shed some light on something else.

WT

Reply to
Wayne Tiffany

No flexible subs in mine, but I agree flexible subs do strange thing to me sometimes. This bug is at least repeatable hence I RX'd it and submitted it.

John Layne Solid Engineering Ltd

Reply to
John Layne

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.