Slot Mates

You can mate bolts to straight or arced slots and you can mate slots to slots. You can select an axis, cylindrical face, or a slot to create slot mates.



To create a slot mate:

  1. Click Mate (Assembly toolbar) or Insert > Mate.
  2. In the PropertyManager, on the Mechanical tab, select Slot .
  3. For Mate Selections, select a slot face and the feature to mate to it:
    • The face of another straight or angular slot
    • An axis
    • A cylindrical face
    You can select overlapping features.
  4. Select a constraint option:
    Option Description
    Free Allows the component to move freely in the slot.
    Center in Slot Centers the component in the slot.
    Distance Along Slot Places the component axis at a specified distance from the end of the slot.
    Percent Along Slot Places the component axis at a distance specified by the percentage of the slot length.
    • To change the endpoint from which the distance is measured, select Flip dimension.
    • For slot-to-slot mates, you can select only Free or Center in Slot.
    • To specify a default slot constraint, click Options > Document Properties > Mates. Under Slot mates, select an option for Default constraint.
  5. Optional: Click Lock Rotation to prevent the components from rotating.
    Locked slot mates have the icon in the FeatureManager design tree.
  6. Click .