SOLIDWORKS 2016 What’s New – Mate Controller – #SW2016

Mate Controller is a NEW feature in SOLIDWORKS 2016 SolidWorks

Before SOLIDWOWRKS 2016, the mate controller is here to help you take control of your assemblies which may have many degrees of freedom. This can make changing positions of items in an assembly very challenging to control. In the past, configurations were created to help control the positions and display what we wanted to show which can be a pain to manage.

The Mate Controller is now your answer!

Let's look at how it works:

First, just gather all the mates you want to control.

The supported mates are: Angle, Distance, Limit Angle, Limit Distance, Slot and Width

The mates in this assembly have already been renamed, which I recommend because it will make the mates easier to recognize when you want to manipulate them.

SolidWorks

Once you gather the mates, you start to create positions for the assembly.

SolidWorks In this example, we've already created some positions.

The positions which were created are listed below:

  • Home
  • Position over object
  • Pick-up
  • Close jaw
  • Lift

We can manipulate our current positions by controlling the mates with either by selecting and moving the parts in the graphics area or typing in the exact dimension or manipulating the slider bar.

SolidWorks

SOLIDWORKS can calculate the transition from position to position to give you a complete understanding of the motion of the assembly and we can easily play this as an animation.

Calculation Animation

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SolidWorks

You can then save this animation out as an .avi file

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SolidWorks

If you have Photoview360 loaded, you can render them as well.

This Mate Controller motion can be imported into SOLIDWORKS Animator.

SolidWorks

Once you have you have imported Mate Controller into SOLIDWORKS Animator.

  • You can add more components
  • Or modify the key points as well
  • Or run a motion simulation, using motors, to extract kinematic data

The new Mate Controller will keep you moving along more efficiently in your design process.

We hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2016. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Support Team will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2016. All of these articles will be stored in the category of "SOLIDWORKS What's New." You can also learn more about SOLIDWORKS 2016 by clicking on the image below to register for one of CATI’s Design Summit’s.

Don Glaske

Sr. Application Engineer

Computer Aided Technology

SolidWorks

 

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