Identify Mate Selection

[zwei]

This had been bugging for me for quite a while now...

I had came across a lot situation where i need to change the selection for a mate in SWX...

However, a lot of time, I always had trouble identify which selection is which....

For example, I would like to change this pin from the left cylinder to the right cylinder

When edit the mate, I would like to remove the face selection of the left cylinder hole and replace it with the face of the right cylinder hole (while keeping the face selection of the pin)
As a lot of time i am dealing with file name that is purely number (eg: 12345, 12346, 12347), I could not remember what is the file name, hence i am not able to identify and remove the face selection from the property manager.

Although solidworks will "darken" the edge of the selected/highlighted mate selection, when the part is "overlapping", it is still very hard to know which part is which...
Take the below image as example, even though solidworks darken the edge, I will not know whether Face<1>@testPart2-1 belongs to the pin or the hole

In the end, I will just end up deleting the mate, drag out the part, and readd the mate....

So I was wondering is there a better way to identify and change the mate selection?

[mike miller]

Name your parts and you won't have this problem. Or is that too much to ask?

[AlexB]

If I know which component the mate belongs to, I will isolate the part and then edit the mate. This way, I know only the face that I care about is being shown so I can de-select the face and then pick the new locating face before finishing the edit.

The other indicator is the naming scheme. If you know the face you want to de-select is on Part1 then I can just right-click and delete the selection out of the blue selection window and then pick the new location face without worrying about having to isolate the part or make a funny section view so I can see all the surfaces.

[AlexLachance]

This had been bugging for me for quite a while now...

I had came across a lot situation where i need to change the selection for a mate in SWX...

However, a lot of time, I always had trouble identify which selection is which....

For example, I would like to change this pin from the left cylinder to the right cylinder
image.png

When edit the mate, I would like to remove the face selection of the left cylinder hole and replace it with the face of the right cylinder hole (while keeping the face selection of the pin)
As a lot of time i am dealing with file name that is purely number (eg: 12345, 12346, 12347), I could not remember what is the file name, hence i am not able to identify and remove the face selection from the property manager.
image.png

Although solidworks will "darken" the edge of the selected/highlighted mate selection, when the part is "overlapping", it is still very hard to know which part is which...
Take the below image as example, even though solidworks darken the edge, I will not know whether Face<1>@testPart2-1 belongs to the pin or the hole
image.png

In the end, I will just end up deleting the mate, drag out the part, and readd the mate....

So I was wondering is there a better way to identify and change the mate selection?

Be aware of your assembly's environment and parts. Go to your "cylinder" in your feature manager, and expand it, there's a mate folder in there that you can select your mates from. Just there, you'll know what the name of your cylinder is, so you'll know which of the face to remove to change the mate.

Cheers

[zwei]

Name your parts and you won't have this problem. Or is that too much to ask?

2021-06-30 08_56_34.jpg

Sadly yes
Whenever we create a part, we are pulling a numeric file name from our system instead of naming the parts in order to prevent non-unique file name in our pdm

If I know which component the mate belongs to, I will isolate the part and then edit the mate. This way, I know only the face that I care about is being shown so I can de-select the face and then pick the new locating face before finishing the edit.

This seem like a good idea
I just realize we can isolate parts base on mate in solidworks

Be aware of your assembly's environment and parts. Go to your "cylinder" in your feature manager, and expand it, there's a mate folder in there that you can select your mates from. Just there, you'll know what the name of your cylinder is, so you'll know which of the face to remove to change the mate.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try it out
I actually have the feature tree setup to show mate but i had gotten used to select and edit the mate directly from the breadcrumb without really paying attention at the feature tree.

image.png (13.27 KiB) Viewed 967 times

[Glenn Schroeder]

I rarely edit mates. Since I almost always use Quick Mates it's faster and simpler to delete it and create a new one instead.

[matt]

I rarely edit mates. Since I almost always use Quick Mates it's faster and simpler to delete it and create a new one instead.

AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

Yeah, but what about when it's a mate that takes a long time to set up, or if it's a named mate, or if you have mates organized in folders, or if you're driving a motion study, or it's a configured mate, or, or, or...

Coincident1127944

I edit mates. I don't care how long it takes, because it always saves me time fixing whatever deleting the mate is going to break.

[AlexLachance]

AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

Yeah, but what about when it's a mate that takes a long time to set up, or if it's a named mate, or if you have mates organized in folders, or if you're driving a motion study, or it's a configured mate, or, or, or...

Coincident1127944

I edit mates. I don't care how long it takes, because it always saves me time fixing whatever deleting the mate is going to break.

Same, I don't like the easy way out because the easy way out often removes part of the intelligence that we try to have in 3D designs. Also, often the person ends up deleting the mate and recreating it in his own interpretation, and then when you make a change to the assembly, the part assembly does not react as you'd expect it to.

[matt]

...
So I was wondering is there a better way to identify and change the mate selection?

Not sure if this will help you, but most people have forgotten that you can name faces and edges. I don't know if you do mates to sketch entities, or axes, or planes - everybody knows you can name those. But remember that you can also name faces and edges.

Right click on a face, then select Face Properties (you might have to hit the double down arrow at the bottom of the RMB menu to get it to show up, since it's one of those rarely used selections.

image.png (15.39 KiB) Viewed 939 times

And then you can enter a name. I believe these names can even be used in some automated mate functionality, so that if your bearing parts always have a face called "InnerRaceFace" or something like that, your mates will just snap together. That will require a little extra research, though, but I remember something like that working.

image.png (20.4 KiB) Viewed 939 times

[berg_lauritz]

And then you can enter a name. I believe these names can even be used in some automated mate functionality, so that if your bearing parts always have a face called "InnerRaceFace" or something like that, your mates will just snap together. That will require a little extra research, though, but I remember something like that working.

This also makes replacing easier, because the 're-attach mates' goes by name.

[zwei]

Not sure if this will help you, but most people have forgotten that you can name faces and edges. I don't know if you do mates to sketch entities, or axes, or planes - everybody knows you can name those. But remember that you can also name faces and edges.

Right click on a face, then select Face Properties (you might have to hit the double down arrow at the bottom of the RMB menu to get it to show up, since it's one of those rarely used selections.
image.png

And then you can enter a name. I believe these names can even be used in some automated mate functionality, so that if your bearing parts always have a face called "InnerRaceFace" or something like that, your mates will just snap together. That will require a little extra research, though, but I remember something like that working.
image.png

I had tried playing with named entities and the result seem a bit weird...
Even with named entities, in the mate edit property window it will still show as face

image.png (9.67 KiB) Viewed 931 times

It will only show when you click the Replace Mate Entity window

image.png (8.46 KiB) Viewed 931 times

One interesting thing is that, if you created a named entity AFTER you had create the mate, even if you go to Replace Mate entity, it will not update with the entity that you had created...


After playing around for a while, I had just realized that I should use "Replace Mate Entities" instead of edit the mate when trying to editing the mate...

It seems to be able to address most of the problem that i am having with identifying the selection when using edit mate...
It allow you to isolate, and the highlight is in different

[Glenn Schroeder]

Yeah, but what about when it's a mate that takes a long time to set up,

I don't remember a Mate that took a long time to set up.

. . . or if it's a named mate

I almost never name my mates.

. . , or if you're driving a motion study

I don't do motion studies.

. . . or it's a configured mate

You got me there. Those I will edit. Come to think of it, I also edit Distance mates, since I keep Instant 3D turned on, so I click on the mate to bring up the value in the graphics area, click on it, and enter the new value. No need to bring up the property manager.