interesting animation problem

I've been presented with an interesting request/problem. As part of a
sales demostration, a client would like to show Solids Works animation
of a cable traveling through a winding pipe with a plethora of bends.
Not only that, but they would like the ability to change the trajectory
of the cable or the path (i.e. pipe)that it is traveling through. I've
experimented with various approaches, but none were successful.

Part of the problem I'm having is that there doesn't seem to be a way
of assembling a section of the cable to the curving centerline of the
path. For some reason, Solid Works doesn't take to kindly to datum
points being assemble to anything other that a straight line. I've
tried using Datum points, sketched lines, splines, and axis. None of
them are a valid assembly references. So, I'm starting to think my
approach is incorrect. At this point all and any help would be greatly
appreciated. Many thanks.

 

You can successfully mate a sketch point from one part to the face of a
surface. I use this often when I need to move something along a
splined or other path type. Just sweep a simple surface along your
centerline path.

Zander