newbie: mates

Is there some kind of limit to the number of sub-assemblies you can mate
together?

I have made 3 sub-assemblies of 6 or so parts each. The main shaft has two
sub-assemblies mated (sliding up and down and rotating) to it, and should
have enough degrees of freedom to be joined with a link with a spherical rod
end on each end. I can't seem to get the link to join the two assemblies
together. Even if i drag the link right close to the spot where its
supposed to join, I still get an error that says can't solve, drag parts
closer, etc. Also, I can't reliably drag the link and move it around.
Occasionally, I get rebuild errors on all the sub-assemblies just by adding
a mate. I have found a work-around by just attaching the spherical parts to
each of the linkages to be joined, and putting a distance mate between the
two spheres, I get the motion I want, and just don't bother putting the link
with the two spherical rod-ends modelled in to the assembly at all. It
would look nicer to have all the parts in though.

I have made all the sub-assemblies "flexible"

There may be something I am missing about mates. Does anyone have any
ideas?

Bill
SW2005

 

Flexible sub-assemblies can be tricky. I'm thinking I read somewhere
that if you have more than one instance on a sub-assembly, that you can
only make one of them flexible.

My $0.02, stay away from flexible sub-assemblies and use configurations
instead.

Ken

 

Flexible sub-assemblies can be tricky. I'm thinking I read somewhere
that if you have more than one instance on a sub-assembly, that you can
only make one of them flexible.

My $0.02, stay away from flexible sub-assemblies and use configurations
instead.

Ken

 

Bill -

I use spherical rod end bearings in assemblies all the time. Make sure
your rod ends are subassemblies themselves (flexible)in your link
assembly and the rod end and ball are only mated by their origins (or
whatever point you use that's the centers of the spherical features) and
your rod end link assembly is also flexible. If you're not using 2004 or
newer, then if you have more than one instance of a link subassembly
that you want flexible, then you need to make a different configuration
for each subassembly, and make each of those flexible.

Did any of that make sense?

 

Yes it makes perfect sense. I can grab the ball and roll it around, so I'm
pretty sure that part is ok. I have a flat on each side of the ball, which
I mate parallel to the place where it mounts, then put in a distance mate
from the thickness of the ball away from the mounting surface. When I try
to mate the hole in the ball concentric to the hole in the mount, it fails.
I select the surface of the hole, (cylinder) and the surface of the mounting
hole (another cylinder)- it fails. Same with selecting the round edges of
the holes and trying to mate concentric.- it fails.

Does any of that make sense ;-) ?