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SolidWorks will not show me my mass properties

Question asked by Harrison Gardner on Apr 21, 2018
Latest reply on May 1, 2020 by Adam Larson

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Hello Internet,

I am currently modeling something for a class project and need to get my mass properties (Moments of Inertia specifically) and when I go to run the analysis by clicking the mass properties button in any part or assembly nothing happens. I get the purple axes that denote Ix, Iy, and Iz, but no dialogue box appears showing me their value. I have searched the forums for help and see that this is a common occurrence it seems, but have had zero luck at getting this fixed. I am running SW 2017 on windows 10, any help is appreciated!

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Harrison Gardner Apr 23, 2018 7:57 AM
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To add on to this making no sense at all, when I run section properties it works perfectly fine and shows me everything, but this is not what I need saddly...
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Steve Calvert Apr 23, 2018 8:07 AM
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Are you getting a zero value like this?

Or nothing at all?

Steve C
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Dennis Dohogne Apr 23, 2018 8:11 AM
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Harrison,
Without seeing your work it is hard for us to figure out what is wrong. I'll take a guess that your part is imported from a different CAD system and that it is a surface body and not a solid body. In order to get mass properties you need a solid body and you need to assign a material to it, or at least a density. I am only speculating as to what the situation is, but if you were to post your file we could give you more definitive advice.

Please also help yourself to get better results from the forum by looking through the great resources Dan has listed here: Some very important steps if you are a NEW FORUM USER....
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- Harrison Gardner @ Dennis Dohogne on Apr 23, 2018 11:18 AM
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  So this is what I am getting, I run mass properties and I get nothing, I run section properties and it works just fine. I don't see a way to upload my file, but I went on a school desktop and ran mass properties and it worked perfectly fine, however on my person laptop this is happening.
  
  Thanks!
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  - Dan Pihlaja @ Harrison Gardner on Apr 23, 2018 11:28 AM
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    See here for attaching a file:
    How can I attach a file to a forum post?
    
    As for the mass properties:
    
    In the first picture, it doesn't look like you clicked the mass properties button at all:
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    - Harrison Gardner @ Dan Pihlaja on Apr 23, 2018 11:39 AM
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      Its been clicked, other wise the principle axes wouldn't have shown up with the box around the glider
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      - Dan Pihlaja @ Harrison Gardner on Apr 23, 2018 11:41 AM
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        OK, I will bet it is off screen:
        If it IS off screen, then, after clicking it, hitting ALT + SPACE then hitting the M key will initiate the move window command. Then use your arrow keys and see if you can get it back on screen.
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        Harrison Gardner @ Dan Pihlaja on Apr 23, 2018 11:49 AM
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        I've already tried that one and nothing seems to happen, which leads me to believe its just not appearing in the first place. To me it would make sense that the mass property dialogue box would appear in the same place the section properties on would appear.
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        Jim Wilkinson @ Harrison Gardner on Apr 23, 2018 12:38 PM
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        Harrison Gardner wrote:
        
        I've already tried that one and nothing seems to happen, which leads me to believe its just not appearing in the first place. To me it would make sense that the mass property dialogue box would appear in the same place the section properties on would appear.
        So when hit Alt+space, this little dialog doesn't show up anywhere on your screen?
        If it does, then select Move and use the appropriate arrow key to move the dialog onscreen. For instance, if the dialog shows up on the right of the screen, that means the dialog is off the right side of the screen, so use the left arrow key to bring it on the screen.
        
        If that little dialog doesn't come up, then I would agree there is something wrong with your installation or perhaps your registry where the settings and dialog locations are stored. In this case, first try running SOLIDWORKS Rx and on the default tab, run the safe mode that overrides the Tools, Options. This will run a default setup ignoring your registry settings to help troubleshoot if it is indeed a problem with your registry.
        
        Post back what you find.
        
        Thanks,
        Jim
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        Adam Larson @ Dan Pihlaja on May 1, 2020 3:05 PM
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        I had a similar problem where the Mass Properties dialog appeared, but when I clicked "Options", that window appeared off screen. Alt + Space, M, Arrow Keys did the trick. I always forget that shortcut, thanks!
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  - Dennis Dohogne @ Harrison Gardner on Apr 23, 2018 11:30 AM
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    Harrison Gardner wrote:
    ... I don't see a way to upload my file....
    
    Harrison, when you write a reply you will see in the upper right corner Use advanced editor
    When you click on that you will still be able to write your response, but in the lower right corner you'll see this:
    Click on Attach and add a zip file of the assembly and all of its part files. An easy way to generate that file is to use Pack and Go from the top level assembly.
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    - Harrison Gardner @ Dennis Dohogne on Apr 23, 2018 11:41 AM
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      Also here is the zip file with everything
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      Glider.zip1.6 MB
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      - Dennis Dohogne @ Harrison Gardner on Apr 23, 2018 12:21 PM
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        This is what I get when I open the assy and click on the Mass Propeties:
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        Harrison Gardner @ Dennis Dohogne on Apr 23, 2018 12:25 PM
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        Yeah that's what I got too when I open my file on another computer, so I think I might have corrupted file in my program or something. I just left my design class and asked my professor and that what she thinks is going on.
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Josh Brady Apr 23, 2018 8:15 AM
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The dialog box is opening off your viewable screen area. Try hooking up a second monitor or messing with your display settings.
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Dan Pihlaja Apr 23, 2018 8:23 AM
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I will bet that it is off the screen somewhere.

See if the solution here will work for you:
My Measure Tool is stuck on millimeters. The window pop up when using the tool doesn't display the window to change units. Any ideas as to fix this?
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Ruben Balderrama Apr 23, 2018 12:28 PM
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I Found this information
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SolidWorks will not show me my mass properties

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