Mating of Holes 1

[chancey]

I recently worked with a Jobber who mated holes with coincident mates – Axis to Axis. At the time I thought good idea…until after he left and I had to go back into his work and troubleshoot some mating issues and all I see are coincident mates. It’s not terrible but probably took me a bit longer overall. How do other feel about this method?


Thanks in advance

 

[J-C]

Not sure it's all that different than mating them by surfaces. Mating the surfaces though give you a concentric mate which makes searching through the mates easier.

Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2005 SP5.0 on WinXP SP2
SolidWorks 2006 SP1.0 on WinXP SP2

 

[Standing]

I agree with Jason, searching for concentric mate is a lot easier.

Bradley

 

[ctopher]

I don't use Axis to Axis. Concentric seems to make more sense to me and other users understand it better.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
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[CorBlimeyLimey]

I usually use axis to axis coincidents. Mainly so that I don't have to zoom in to the graphics area to pick the surfaces ... the axes can be selected from the FM. Also, I believe the axes are more stable when compared to surface IDs.

I create the axes using two of the main reference planes, NOT from a cylindrical surface ... again for surface ID stability reasons.

The only time I don't mate with axes is when I use the ALT-select placement metod for fasteners.


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[chancey]

CoreyBlimeyLimey, that was my initial thought. Similar to mating planes over surfaces so you don’t lose surface Ids. Everyone has valid points. It was a new idea to me and thought it had some merit. If there's a better way I always want to know it.

Cheers

 

[ctopher]

That's one of the nice features of SW, there is more than one good way to work with features. Use whatever works best for you.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
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[TateJ]

...Mainly so that I don't have to zoom in to the graphics area to pick the surfaces...

Sounds like somebody needs a SpaceBall...

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SolidWorks 2006 SP01.0 / SpaceBall 4000 FLX
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[yanceman]

Chancey,

I use axis mates as well. More from preference than
the instability of cylindrical surface mates. The
axis remains, regardless of changes to hole diameter
and depth. Also, as far as searching through mates, if
you hold the control key, select two components in the
assembly, pick the Property Manager (center tab), the
mates between the components selected will be BOLDED
text.

Jeff

 

[wgchere]

I'm lost here. I understand creating an axis on a cylindrical part using the intersection of two planes. but most of those parts are going to mate to a cylindrical feature, and the only axis of a hole (in a field of holes) is a temporary axis, which is as changeable as the surface that generates it. Or am I wrong?

In any case, most of the axial coincident mates I have encountered are temp-axis-to-temp-axis. I find that the troubleshooting is harder—they are indistinguishable from other coincident mates when looking at mates in the feature manager tree, and they don't highlight very clearly on the model when selected. As far as zooming in to the model too much, I keep as high a resolution as I can (right now 1280 X 1024 on a 21" monitor) and filter for surfaces. This allows for more of the model/drawing clearly seen on the screen, and allows for easier mating surface selection with minimal zoom. But then, I rarely work on a model with more than 100 components and usually in an envelope less than a cubic foot.

 

[ctopher]

If you don't like temp axis, you can add your own axis to the hole and mate to it.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[TateJ]

I've never known cylindrical mates to be unstable. I don't want to to add extra features (axis-es) to a model - just so it can mate.

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[CorBlimeyLimey]

wqchere ... It depends on how far you want to take the use of layout sketches & planes. A hole could be positioned at the intersection of pre-placed planes & an axis made from those same planes.

Regarding temporary axes, I dont know if the axes ID changes when/if the cylindrical surface it relates to, changes.

TateJ ... The cylindrical (concentric) mates aren't unstable. But if the cylindrical surface gets modified or loses its ID for some mystical reason, the mate could become broken.


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[wgchere]

CoreBlimeyLimey,

I'd like to see that done with even a moderate population of holes, say 20? Let alone something with dozens of holes or hundreds.

It seems that such a practice would seriously clutter a model and require the movement of too many features to modify a few holes.

wgchere

 

[TateJ]

If any surface - connected to a mate - goes away... the mate breaks... Nothing special about cylindrical mates.

Windows 2000 Professional / Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
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[CorBlimeyLimey]

wgchere ... Like I said, it depends how far you want to take it. If there are many holes, I would probably locate only one using pre-placed planes (& axes) & make a Sketch Pattern for placement of the others. That way the mating part would also only be mated to the first holes axis & a Component Pattern (using the "sketch patterned" features) would be used to place the other components.

There are many ways to skin the proverbial cat.


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[CorBlimeyLimey]

TateJ ... That's why I am trying to use planes more often.


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How to get answers to your SW questions faq559-1091

 

[TateJ]

I want my mates to error out if something changes that might change the way my assembly is structured. I's really not that much trouble - for me - to edit the mate(s) & point to the new feature(s). I thnk if you try to work-around that - it defeates the fndamental purpose of the assembly. But - I have no idea what insustry you're working in. So your needs & priorities are very different than mine.

Windows 2000 Professional / Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
SolidWorks 2006 SP01.0 / SpaceBall 4000 FLX
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[ctopher]

Industry or priorities don't make a difference. Use mates that work. No errors...no problems. There is more than one way to do it.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716