How do I mate a round ball so it is resting on a smaller hole in SolidWorks?

We had this question submitted to us via CATI Chat Support: I have a round ball sitting above a hole with a mate lining up the axis so it is in position. How do I set the ball into the hole so it is just resting on the rim of the hole and not above it or below it in SolidWorks. The ball is bigger than the hole.

This reminds me of a cup and ball toy I once had. It was a wooden cup with a handle and a ball attached to the cup by a string. You had to try and catch the ball in the cup, but the cup was smaller than the ball. It could be done, but it was very difficult.

Our SOLIDWORKS Support Technicians at CATI put their minds together and came up with various solutions. Try it yourself. How would you do this?

Scroll down for one answer…

SOLIDWORKS Cup in Ball

Answer:
I found the easiest way was to create a point on the circle that you use to create the hole in the base part. Then you can just add a coincident mate between the point and the face of the ball.

SOLIDWORKS Mate Sphere to Hole

There are several ways to do this. Another of our SOLIDWORKS Support Technicians at CATI was able to place a 3d sketch point on the surface of the ball, and then mate it to the edge of the hole. Let us know how you were able to mate the ball to the top of the cup in SolidWorks.

Neil Bucalo

Certified SOLIDWORKS Support Technician 2013
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

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