problem with identical mate refs on same part

Hi all,

I am having mixed success with mate references. What I would like to
do is to create two mate references with the same name on a single
part. I have gotten this to work on larger parts (In which case, I've
created as many as 8 of the same kind / name on a single part). But
this seems to get twitchy when dealing with small components.

Specifically, I would like to place a mate reference called connect at
each end of a tube fitting. The reason for the identical constraint
names at each end is that I may need to daisy chain these fittings. In
which case, I need to insert the male end of one fitting into the
female end of another and so on. As far as I can tell, if I gave the
male end one name and the female end another, the constraints would
not be applied when I tried to used the mate refereneces.

The problem comes in when I try to switch which end is mated to the
previous part. What I cannot seem to do is to toggle which one of the
mate references is used. I know you can use the tab key to toggle
which direction the part is pointing but I can't seem to find the key
which toggles which of the multiple mate references (and therefore
which end of the fitting) is used for the placement of the part.

I am primarly using the alt drag method to activate the mate
references. Also, all of the mate ref definitions are referencing the
same entity types, constraint type, and alignments

Thanks for your help,

Roger James
Erie Engineering
Troy, Michigan