Why not mate axis permendiculair to plane

Hi,

Why is it not possible to mate an axis perpendiculair to a plane (flat)?

Johnny

 

It is. Or was, as of SldWks 2003 SP3.1

 

I'm using 2004 and actually should correct myself. It was not a plane
but a flat face. Probably that is the problem and should I create a
plane on this face and use that for mating.

Johnny

 

Typically enough, HELP does not indicate that this is possible.

Regrettably, it is necessary to treat Help as an approximate guide to the
art of the possible. Sometimes it overstates the case, others (as here) it
understates.

If they want to keep Online Help concise, that's fine by me, but there HAS
to be, in behind it, a detailed reference manual, carefully compiled for the
purpose and regularly checked for accuracy, which lays out how the software
is supposed to work in every respect. What's the point of slaving over a
keyboard coding wonderful capabilities which the user will only ever stumble
across by accident?

Take the example (which came up recently on this NG) of mirroring
assemblies.

Help blithely states that "Mates between the original components can be
preserved in the copied or mirrored components."

Because it doesn't tell us about the (fairly stringent) limitations on what
sort of mates can be preserved, any reasonable person is likely to quickly
decide that this functionality does not work.

If this was an isolated example it would be perfectly understandable.

Perhaps someone with the hard-copy Manual could check whether it rectifies
either of both the above lapses? My understanding is that it is not a
re-write, simply a pulling together of pre-existing documentation.

 

Because it doesn't tell us about the (fairly striassertiontations on

Unfortunately, I'm never able to quickly make this conclusion, which results
in a major time drain. In this particular case and many others, I assumed I
was at fault and then spent an inordinate amount of time perusing the
incomplete documentation and trying a bunch of different methods before
finally giving up.

The holes in the documentation mean I'm never able to tell if I'm doing
something wrong, or if I've encountered a bug, which only compounds my
frustration and makes me inefficient.

-JL

 

Should still work between an axis and a face; certainly does work for 2003

 

Just a thought: maybe the face you are trying to mate to is not strictly
flat, unbeknownst to you?
Test it by clicking the "Sketch" icon and then clicking on the face in
question.

 

Works fine here ....both on plane and face...SW2004 Sp 4.1

Krister L