Mates: Standard Mates
Mates tie components together so they stay put. Open Mate from the Assembly tab or the component menu. The Mate window has three tabs: Standard, Advanced and Mechanical. Assemblies need the Pro plan.
Step by Step: Make a Mate
- Open an assembly with at least two components.
- Click Mate. The window opens on the Standard tab, which holds the everyday mates. For cam, gear, hinge and the others, click Advanced mates at the right end of the tab row; the Advanced and Mechanical tabs then appear.
- Click a face, edge or corner of the first component in the view. It appears in Mate Selections. You can also click a Front, Top or Right Plane or an Origin row in the Model tree.
- Click a face, edge or corner of a second component. Click a pick again, or press Delete in the list, to remove it.
- The parts move to show the result. Only the mates that fit your picks are lit, and a small Quick Mate pop-up offers them near your pointer. Click one, or press Enter to accept the chosen mate.
- If it needs a value (Distance or Angle), type it.
- Click the green check to add the mate. The window stays open for the next pair. Close it with the X or Esc.
You cannot add mates while the assembly is exploded. Collapse it first.
The Standard Mates
Click a name for its own page.
| Mate | What it does |
|---|---|
| Coincident | Makes the two entities touch or line up |
| Parallel | Keeps them parallel |
| Perpendicular | Keeps them at a right angle |
| Tangent | Keeps them touching along a line |
| Concentric | Shares one center line |
| Lock | Holds the two components together as one |
| Distance | Keeps a set distance apart (type a Value) |
| Angle | Keeps a set angle between them (type the angle in degrees) |
Options
- Mate alignment: Aligned or Anti-Aligned.
- Lock rotation (Concentric, and Profile Center on round faces).
- Flip dimension (Distance and Angle).
- Use for positioning only: places the part without keeping a mate.
- Make first selection transparent.
- Multiple mate mode, with Create multi-mate folder and Link dimensions: the first pick is the common reference, each further pick is on its own component, and one mate is made for each. They are grouped in one folder (MultiMate1, MultiMate2 and so on).
SmartMates
To skip the window, hold Alt and drag a face, edge or corner of one component onto another. The pointer shows the mate it will make. Press Tab to flip the alignment, then drop to add it. Two flat faces make a Coincident mate, two circular edges make a Concentric mate (with a Coincident on the faces when they are found, called Peg in hole), and a round face on a round face or edge makes a Concentric mate.
Tips
- Mate the first part to the assembly's own planes, or fix it, then mate the rest to it.
- Finish a part with as few mates as you can. The tree shows what is left, for example "free: 1 rotation".
- To fix a mistake, see Mates: Fixing Mate Problems.
Common Problems
- A mate you want is grey. The picks do not fit it. Remove a pick and try another entity.
- You cannot find the cam, gear or hinge mate. They are not on the Standard tab. Click Advanced mates at the right end of the tab row of the Mate window.
- "Pick the second entity on a different component." Both picks were on one component.
- The Over defined prompt appears. See Mates: Fixing Mate Problems.