Question about Advanced Mates

[Dudeman]

I have a model of a battery box, and the battery packs are mated so they can slide in and out of the box. I'm using an advanced mate for min/max distance, which allows me to bottom out the battery inside the box, and take it out a certain amount.

I also have a hinged lid on the box, and I want to create a mate that will prevent the battery from coming out if the lid is closed. Right now, if I close the lid, and move the box, the batteries come out through the lid. I used collision detection, but that only works temporarily when the dialog box is open. I can't set it to be permanent.

Any suggestions?

 

[Cadasio]

I can't think of a way to get exactly as you want. You may be able to "hack together" an invisible linkage or path mate ut id have to have a play and still don't think you would get what you're after. I would recommend using configurations - e.g. have a door shut configuration where the batteries are in and a door open configuration where the batteries are out / free to move.

Personally, when I have been asked things like this before I generally ask why do you need to see it as you drag? Often (though not always) I have found that people don't actually have a good reason to do it other than it would look cool - you may be the exception. As you pointed out, you can check for problems with collision detection and if you are wanting to show how it works to someone I would recommend saving a real quick animation - that way you can send it/put it in a powerpoint and SW isn't even required.

That said, if you do find a solution that achieves exactly what you want, I would be interested to know

 

[Dudeman]

Thanks for the answer. Yes, I already have a configuration where I suppress the battery ability to slide, and it's just locked into position inside. It's not a big deal, I though it would be nice to show the everything moving soothly like the real McCoy during the presentation