Mates Overview

Mates create geometric relationships between assembly components. As you add mates, you define the allowable directions of linear or rotational motion of the components. You can move a component within its degrees of freedom, visualizing the assembly's behavior.

Some examples include:

• A coincident mate forces two planar faces to become coplanar. The faces can move along one another, but cannot be pulled apart.

• A concentric mate forces two cylindrical faces to become concentric. The faces can move along the common axis, but cannot be moved away from this axis.

Mates are solved together as a system. The order in which you add mates does not matter; all mates are solved at the same time. You can suppress mates just as you can suppress features.

Other topics about mates include:

• Adding Mates

• Mate PropertyManager

• SmartMates

• Best Practices for Mates

• Solving Mate Problems

• Advanced mates, including:

• • Limit Mates

  • Path

  • Linear/Linear Coupler

  • Symmetric

  • Width

• Mechanical mates, including:

• • Cam

  • Gear

  • Hinge

  • Rack and Pinion

  • Screw

  • Universal Joint