SolidWorks 2016 includes an enhancement for creating and editing mates that will allow you to manipulate specific mates such as: angle, distance, Limit Angle, Limit Distance, Slot, and Width mates all in one convenient table called the Mate Controller.
In Mate Controller, you can show and save the positions of assembly components at various mate values and degrees of freedom without using configurations for each position. You can also create animations based on the positions you define in Mate controller.
Consider this assembly where a series of mates dictates the placement of each part. Go to Insert > Mate Controller, and in the Property Manager, under mates, click collect all supported mates.
Notice that three mates appear in the list. Under “position 1” you’ll see three current values for the mate.
Enter the mate values for the next position. You can see the components move to the new positions in the graphics area as you change the mate values. Under mate positions, click add position in the dialog box to name position enter position 2 and click ok.
Position 2 is created from the mate values you entered. Enter the mate values for the next position and click add position. In the dialog box, enter position 3 and click OK to create this third position.
As you can see, this enhancement to copying components will allow you to quickly recreate instances of components and mates in assemblies with many repeating parts.
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