Mate PropertyManager - Mates Tab

You add or edit mates on the Mates tab of the Mate PropertyManager.

To open the Mate PropertyManager, do one of the following in an assembly:

  • Add a mate by clicking Mate (Assembly toolbar), or Insert > Mate.
  • Edit a mate by expanding the Mates folder in the FeatureManager design tree. Right-click one or more mates, and select Edit Feature.

Mate Selections

For Advanced Mates and Mechanical Mates, other fields appear under Mate Selections, depending on the type of mate. See separate help topics for the type of mate you are creating.

Entities to Mate Select the faces, edges, planes, and so on that you want to mate together.
Multiple mate mode Mates multiple components to a common reference in a single operation. The following fields and options appear:
Common reference Select the entity to which you want to mate several other components.
  Component references Select entities on two or more other components to mate to the common reference. A mate is added for each component.
  Create multi-mate folder Groups the resulting mates in a Multi-Mates folder, where you can change the common reference, mate type, or distance for all mates in the folder in a single operation. Otherwise, a series of individual mates is added to the model.
  Link dimensions (Available only for Distance and Angle mates in a multi-mate folder). Links the dimensions. The variable name in the Shared Values dialog box is the same as the multi-mate folder name.
You can remove a mate from the multi-mate folder by right-clicking it and selecting Remove from Multi-Mate. You can remove all mates from a multi-mate folder by right-clicking the folder and selecting Dissolve Multi-Mate. The mates appear in the Mates folder, and no longer have a multi-mate association with each other.

Standard Mates

All the mate types are always shown in the PropertyManager, but only the mates that are applicable to the current selections are available.

Coincident Positions selected faces, edges, and planes (in combination with each other or combined with a single vertex) so they share the same infinite plane. Positions two vertices so they touch.
Align axes (Available when applying a coincident mate between origins and coordinate systems.) Fully constrains the component.
Parallel Places the selected items so they remain a constant distance apart from each other.
Perpendicular Places the selected items at a 90° angle to each other.
Tangent Places the selected items tangent to each other (at least one selection must be a cylindrical, conical, or spherical face).
Concentric Places the selections so that they share the same center line. To prevent rotation in concentric mates, after selecting the mating geometry, select Lock rotation.
Lock Maintains the position and orientation between two components.
Distance Places the selected items with the specified distance between them.
Angle Places the selected items at the specified angle to each other.
  Mate alignment Toggle the mate alignment as necessary.
Aligned Vectors normal to the selected faces point in the same direction.
Anti-Aligned Vectors normal to the selected faces point in opposite directions.
You can control the value of distance and angle mates in a design table. The column header in the design table uses the syntax dimension@mate_name (for example, D1@Distance1.) In the table body cells, type the value for the dimension. See Dimensions in Configurations.

Advanced Mates

Profile Center Center-aligns rectangular and circular profiles to each other and fully defines the components.
Symmetric Forces two similar entities to be symmetric about a plane or planar face.
Width Constrains a tab between two planar faces.
Path Mate Constrains a selected point on a component to a path.
Linear/Linear Coupler Establishes a relationship between the translation of one component and the translation of another component.
Limit Allows components to move within a range of values for distance and angle mates.
  Mate alignment Toggle the mate alignment as necessary.
Aligned Vectors normal to the selected faces point in the same direction.
Anti-Aligned Vectors normal to the selected faces point in opposite directions.

Mechanical Mates

Cam Forces a cylinder, plane, or point to be coincident or tangent to a series of tangent extruded faces.
Slot Constrains the movement of a bolt or a slot to within a slot hole.
Hinge Limits the movement between two components to one rotational degree of freedom.
Gear Forces two components to rotate relative to one another about selected axes.
Rack Pinion Linear translation of one part (the rack) causes circular rotation in another part (the pinion), and vice versa.
Screw Constrains two components to be concentric, and also adds a pitch relationship between the rotation of one component and the translation of the other.
Universal Joint The rotation of one component (the output shaft) about its axis is driven by the rotation of another component (the input shaft) about its axis.
  Mate alignment
Aligned Vectors normal to the selected faces point in the same direction.
Anti-Aligned Vectors normal to the selected faces point in opposite directions.

Mates

The Mates box contains all the mates added while the PropertyManager is open or all of the mates that you are editing. When there are multiple mates in the Mates box, you can select one to edit that mate.

To edit more than one mate at a time, select multiple mates in the FeatureManager design tree, then right-click and select Edit Feature. All the mates appear in the Mates box.

Options

Add to new folder When selected, new mates appear in a folder in the Mates folder in the FeatureManager design tree. When cleared, new mates appear in the Mates folder.
Show popup dialog When selected, the Mate pop-up toolbar appears when you add standard mates. When cleared, you add standard mates in the PropertyManager.
Show preview When selected, a preview of a mate occurs when you make enough selections for a valid mate.
Use for positioning only When selected, components move to the position defined by the mate, but a mate is not added to the FeatureManager design tree. A mate appears in the Mates box so you can edit and position the components, but nothing appears in the FeatureManager design tree when you close the Mate PropertyManager.
The Use for positioning only check box is an alternative to adding many mates, then later deleting those mates in the FeatureManager design tree.
Make first selection transparent Makes the first component you select transparent, to facilitate selecting from the second component. This option is useful if the second component is behind the first.