I am trying to do a concetric mate, where SW refuses to take it saying that the distance between the axes is 0.0001 inches. Is there a way I can increase this tolerance, so that SW neglects it? I am using '06.
Thanks!
This can be vexing, especially when you know SW has the DOF needed to allow the mate. Try dragging your component to a new position. Also try suppressing other mates acting on the component and unsuppressing in a different order once your new mate is added.
I've also heard people say that that the order of the mates in the feature manager tree seems to make a difference to the speed/accuracy of solving them. I don't know whether this is true, but I've started to re-order mates for each component, so that the key ones that locate it are listed first. If nothing else, it makes diagnosing problems a bit easier.
I had a weird problem yesterday of mates flipping - nothing new in that in itself, unfortunately. However, what was happening was that when I altered an angle mate of one component, it caused a mate to flip on another completely unrelated component! What an unreliable POS.
John H
I also am finding that 2008 is baulky when it comes to mating components that might be close to where they have to be. You will get a message like "part cannot be mated. Part A is some dimension from Part B." Part A may not even have any constraints on it. Dragging the component a little closer sometimes will help.
Since 2006 mating has become much more iffy. 2008 has gotten much worse as far as mate stability is concerned. When you put unstable mates together with in-context features there is a recipe for trouble. I believe this is all tied in with SWIFT because this kind of behavior started about the same time SW started touting SWIFT.
I am still using 2004 and find that 2004 mating is a lot more stable and easy to debug than 2008.
TOP
I am primarily using SWks 2006 and have not seen the problem in hundreds of assemblies I've made once I saw what was causing my problems (maybe not yours), & my assemblies are small.
When I did mates to surfaces, is when I would get "issues" after a change due to draft added, corner radii or fillets, or other edits, and the surface mates died on me. That is why I deliberately use axes and planes wherever possible. I will construct special axes and planes, just for mating to keep my mates stable.
Over all, I have had zero mate problems, as I define primary or derived planes and axes & try to mate to them wherever possible.
Bo
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.