SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Chapter 13: Getting More from Mates

FIGURE 13.21

Repairing mates with missing references

Troubleshooting assembly mates

It is best to troubleshoot an assembly mate problem as soon as it appears, and not after it has time

to become complicated by other issues. Failed mates also cause performance problems because

SolidWorks keeps trying to solve the mates that are in conflict with one another.

Assembly problems often appear to be far larger than they actually are. For example, the entire tree

may light up with warnings and error symbols when one extra mate is applied. You can use several

approaches to troubleshoot situations like this. In fact, I sometimes purposefully over-define mates

just to locate a leftover mate or a mate that is not supposed to be there.

Two types of symbols may help you distinguish the kinds of errors that are present in different

mate features. The yellow triangle that contains an exclamation point is really not an error; it is

actually more of a warning. It tells you that this mate is in conflict with other mates (this symbol is

used for a variety of warnings), but that the mate is still satisfied. One of the other mates with

which it conflicts is probably not valid, and so this type of warning is usually accompanied by an

actual error symbol where the mate is not satisfied.

The red circle containing the X is a failed mate. This is a mate that is in conflict and is invalid. If it

is also a Coincident mate, then the two Coincident entities are not coincident.

Distinguishing between warnings and errors

You can use the following troubleshooting techniques:

l Last in first out. When a mate is added that causes warning and error signs to appear

throughout the design tree, you can usually correct the problem by removing this last

mate.

l (^) Single elimination. If you are sure that the last mate added is correct, then you may want
to go backward up the tree starting at the bottom, suppressing individual mates until you
find one that causes the warning and error signs to disappear from the tree.
l Single addition. It may be easier to take the opposite approach, by suppressing all but
the mates that you are sure of, and then gradually unsuppressing mates until the conflict
reappears.
l (^) Suppress a part. With all the mates active, try suppressing an individual part to see
whether this makes a difference. If it does, then unsuppress the part and look at the mates
for that part in the Mates folder under the part.