Parallel Mate
Keeps two entities parallel without making them touch. The parts can still slide along each other.
What you get: the two picked faces or edges stay parallel while the part can still slide, one mate named Parallel1 in the Mates folder.
When to Use It
- Keep a shelf parallel to a base while it slides
- Keep a rod parallel to a rail
- Hold a bracket face parallel to a wall face with a gap between
What It Does With Each Pair
The Parallel button is lit for these pairs of picks:
- Two flat faces
- Two round faces
- Straight edge with flat face
- Two circular edges
- Two straight edges
- Round face with straight edge
- Circular edge with flat face
- Two conical faces
- Conical face with round face
- Conical face with straight edge
For faces it keeps the normals parallel, for edges and round faces it keeps the lines or axes parallel. A flat face with a straight edge means the edge is parallel to the face.
Step by Step
- Open an assembly (assemblies need the Pro plan) with at least two components in it. See Assemblies: Start and Insert Parts.
- Click Mate on the Assembly tab (or right-click a component and choose Assembly tools, Mate...). The Mate window opens on the Standard tab.
- Click the first entity on one component in the view. It appears in Mate Selections. You can also click the Front Plane, Top Plane, Right Plane or Origin row of a component or of the assembly in the Model tree.
- Click the second entity on a different component. After the second pick the parts move to show the result, and a small Quick Mate pop-up by the pointer lists the mates that fit. Leave it, or press Esc to close it; your two picks stay.
- Click Parallel in the Standard Mates list of the Mate window. Click the other buttons in the list to compare; only the mates that fit your two picks are lit. (A click on a button in the Quick Mate pop-up adds that mate straight away, as it stands, with no further steps.)
- Check Mate alignment. Aligned keeps both pointing the same way, Anti-Aligned keeps them opposite.
- Click the green check (or press Enter) to add the mate. The message reads "Parallel1 added." and the window stays open for the next pair.
Options
- Mate alignment: Aligned points the two faces' normals (or the two axes) the same way. Anti-Aligned points them opposite ways. The choice shows only when both picks have a direction (a face, an edge or an axis), not when one is a corner. For two flat faces that touch face to face, Anti-Aligned is the usual one. The window picks the one closest to where the parts are now. You can also press Tab during a SmartMate drag, or right-click the mate in the tree and choose Flip Mate Alignment later.
- Use for positioning only: moves the parts as the mate would, but no mate is kept. The message reads "Positioned. No mate was added."
- Make first selection transparent: the component you picked first turns see-through so you can reach what is behind it.
- Multiple mate mode: the first pick is the Common reference, every further pick is a Component reference on its own component, and one mate is made for each. Create multi-mate folder groups them (MultiMate1, MultiMate2 and so on).
Tips and What to Expect
- Parallel takes away only the turning, so the part can still move sideways. Add a Distance mate to set a gap.
- Two parallel mates on different pairs of faces can fix the full orientation of a part.
- Faces are compared by their normals (the direction each face points), not by where their outlines are.
Common Mistakes and Messages
- The mate you want is grey. The two picks do not fit it. Remove one pick (click it again, or press Delete in Mate Selections) and pick a different entity.
- "Those entities have no mate in common." Every mate button is grey because no mate fits the two picks, for example two corners for Parallel. Remove one pick (click it again, or press Delete in Mate Selections) and pick a different face or edge.
- "Pick the second entity on a different component." Both picks were on the same component. A mate always joins two components, or a component and the assembly's own planes or origin.
- "Collapse the exploded view to add mates." Mates cannot be added while the assembly is exploded. Collapse it from its row in the Exploded Views folder. See Exploded Views.
- "This mate over defines the assembly. Force it to solve? Yes breaks the conflicting mate. No keeps it unsolved." The new mate fights the ones already there. Click No to keep it unsolved and look at it, then delete or change one of the two. See Mates: Fixing Mate Problems.
- Nothing moves. A fixed component does not move. Right-click it and choose Assembly tools, Float, or fix the other component's side on purpose.