Symmetric mate and dissolving a sub-assembly

More than likely the problem is that one of the entities referenced in the mate is no longer valid. For example if you use the Right plane of the assembly as the symmetric plane then dissolve that assembly then that Right plane is no longer able to be referenced in that mate so the mate will fail. Try referencing entities that will not "disappear" when the assembly is dissolved.

I routinely use this technique, say I have parts A, B and C in assy D. I mate part A to the planes of D but mate everything else (B and C) to part A and not referencing anything from D. If I then dissolve assy D in context of another assembly then all the mates between A, B and C are still valid. I now only need to mate component A within context of the assembly that it was dissolved into and B and C will update according to the mate scheme.

hope that helps,

Sam

I double checked this and I understand what you are saying, but it still gives the warning and gets rid of the mate. it seems to be a limitation of the width/symmetric mate itself?

You may be right, you might not be able to over come this.

Good luck

the only work around bob z. can think of is possibly an equation to take place of the symmetry mate. bob z. just dummied up a test assy with a symmetry mate and dropped it into another assy. sure enough, when you dissolve the sub-assy, the symmetry mate dies. what the ...? just to clarify, bob z. had NO mates going to the assy itself. all mates were part to part. the first part in the assy was fixed.

thanks, solidworks! :~)>

bob z. p.s. 133r|\| to use swx NOOB

thanks for verifying that I'm not losing my mind Bob. I did try the equation idea as well. Guess what, equations go away when dissolving.... :-(

ownt

bob z. p.s. my sister got lucky, married a yuppie...

This kind'a stinks but you could apply a Fix mate to the components prior to dissolving so that after dissolving those components would at least be in the correct location even though that location is not parametric to the plane which you want them to be symmetric too.

Or of course just dont add the symmetric mate until after dissolving.

I am sure both of these are unacceptable alternatives.

Sam

Symetrical & Width mates have been this way since SW added them. Why they decided to delete the mates is anyones guess. Probably couldn't figure out how to keep em