Chapter 14: Getting More from Mates
A thorough understanding of mates (and their editing and troubleshooting techniques in particular) makes the difference between a real assembly artist and a user who struggles through or avoids certain tasks. Much about mates is not straightforward, but with practice you can understand and master them. You can put assemblies together quickly, with a focus on rebuild performance and Dynamic Assembly Motion.
Although best practice concepts should not dominate your designs, they are great guidelines from which to start. To avoid making big mistakes, watch out for the pitfalls outlined in the section in this chapter that summarizes mate best practices to follow.
- Master It SmartMates are a key to putting assemblies together quickly in SolidWorks. Practice using SmartMates in a single assembly window, and also between a part and assembly in tiled windows. Practice using the Tab key to flip the orientation of the mate.
- Solution Successful SmartMates...
