ok, there is probably several ways, but what is the right way to stop a bolt etc. rotating in a hole?
I have some shaped tubes that need to be locked in a particular rotational position…
ok, there is probably several ways, but what is the right way to stop a bolt etc. rotating in a hole?
I have some shaped tubes that need to be locked in a particular rotational position…
MarkKaiser 6:47 am on January 7, 2009 Permalink
It can be done with mating planes or faces of the bolt to the assembly or other parts, with coincident or parallel mates. But, the fewer mates you have, the faster your assembly will run. That being said, you may want to get the bolts into position, and use the fix or lock mates.
I personally lock the rotation of my bolts with coincident or parallel mates and don’t have trouble with them, but I only do small assemblies, fewer than 100 parts usually. If you’re using the bolts to control rotation of other parts, you may have to do this.
JeffM 8:02 am on January 7, 2009 Permalink
That’s the thing, there is no “right” way to do it. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, there tends to be a half dozen ways to get from A to B in SolidWorks. Granted, there are some “best practices”, but not necessarily right and wrong.
MACH4 12:25 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink
Thanks for the replies!
What are your views on slightly deforming a part to make them easier to mate?
Is it a cardinal sin?
I’m thinking of placing a micro flat or curve on the tube flanges, I could then mate the tube-flat to to plate edge! I have done this already on offset mates to good effect and the flat only needs to be tiny, say 0.1mm long?
Chris Serran 12:29 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink
Can you not use planes instead of modifying the part?
MACH4 1:19 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink
The tubes curve out radially so that would mean a new plane for every tube
brian 1:36 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink
I would consider deforming parts to help mate VERY bad modeling practice. I never modify parts to help mating.
I want my geometry to represent exactly what I want from the shop. Anything else will cause confusion and questions down the road.
MACH4 4:22 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink
I’ll give an example of where I thought it was used to good effect.
You have a piston and a wrist pin, the Wrist pin has a domed end and its length is less that the piston diameter. You want to locate it centrally. The offset mate doesn’t work with two curved surfaces, so I created a very tiny flat on the domed end of the Wrist pin. This worked fine, and the flat area was microscopic.
I’d like to hear if there is an alternative way…
Chris Serran 4:30 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink
I would either use a mid-plane extrude on the pin or in the revolve have it symmetrical about one of the main planes.
In the assembly mate this plane to the piston plane.
The piston would also have to be modeled so it is symmetrical about a default plane.
Anna Wood 10:36 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink
You can mate to sketch entities. I may add construction geometry to a sketch and mate to that.
There are probably a hundred ways to get from here to there. Hard to state an absolute without being able to see the entire context of a particular design conundrum.
The only absolute in SW is that there are no absolutes.