SOLIDWORKS 2015 has made it easy to mate two components at there centers.
Mate to Center automatically center aligns common component types such as rectangular and circular profiles to each other and fully defines the components.
Let's open profile_center.sldasm in SOLIDWORKS 2015, using the following path from your computer:
install_dir\samples\whatsnew\assemblies\profile_center_mate\profile_center.sldasm
Follow these simple steps:
1. Click Mate (Assembly toolbar) or Insert > Mate.
2. In the PropertyManager; under Advanced Mates, click Profile Center .
3. For Entities to Mate, select the faces shown.
The components align.
4. In the Mate alignment, click Anti-Aligned .
5. To rotate the component, in Orientation, click Clockwise .
6. Click ok or the green check mark.
You have just used Mate to Center using rectangular geometry.
Now let's use Mate to Center using cylinder and polygon geometry.
Follow these simple steps:
1. The PropertyManager remains open from previous mate command.
2. In the PropertyManager; under Advanced Mates, click Profile Center .
3. For Entities to Mate, select the faces shown.
The components align.
4. In Offset Distance, enter value 2.5.
5. In the PropertyManager, select Lock Rotation to prevent the components from rotating.
6. Click ok or the green check mark.
7. Click ok or the green check mark again to close the PropertyManager.
There you have it, Mate to Center, An awesome tool. SOLIDWORKS 2015 makes it easy. Enjoy.
Roger G. Ruffin Jr.
CATI Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.