Multiple Mate References in One SOLIDWORKS Part

Recently a customer asked if they could create multiple mate references on a part, so that it would position itself as desired when dropped into an assembly. That is to say that a mate would be created for not only the primary mate reference, but the secondary and tertiary as well.  The answer is yes – and here’s how you do it.

The trick is that you have to (also) have a Mate Reference in the part you are mating to and it has to be the same name. That’s the secret sauce here. The rest is just making sure you have your desired mate types and the aligned/anti-aligned settings specified so that the new mates position the inserted component properly.

Inserting and positioning standard parts in an assembly just got a whole lot faster.