9 Replies Latest reply on Jun 1, 2018 10:51 AM by Matt Peneguy

    Indent feature breaking mates

    Piers Newberry
    Piers Newberry Jun 1, 2018 7:24 AM

      Indent feature.jpg

       

      I have an assembly where this blue brown slab protrudes into the purple body. It insists I have a clearance when I cut it out and I actually need some sort of clearance when the parts are injection moulded in plastic. So I have mated the parts, indented them with a little clearance, and then mated them again. I am a bit worried that moving them for the second mate will cause a 'second cut'. I have also got the clearance wrong and would like to expand it which will break a hundred mates all over again. I don't know what the correct procedure is for that. Any help welcome!

       

      Also how would you line that brown face up with bright purple face in an assembly?

       

      Huge thanks.

        • Re: Indent feature breaking mates
          Glenn Schroeder
          Glenn Schroeder Jun 1, 2018 8:01 AM (in response to Piers Newberry)

          It's a little difficult to follow what you're doing from the one screenshot, but you said "So I have mated the parts, indented them with a little clearance, and then mated them again."  Don't do that.  Mate components completely in their final position before using the Indent feature.  After doing that if you still need help be sure to reply back.

            • Re: Indent feature breaking mates
              Piers Newberry
              Piers Newberry Jun 1, 2018 8:29 AM (in response to Glenn Schroeder)

              So the faces are mated in the assembly (there is one edge to edge and point to point per piece) and because I indented with clearance the mates are broken because the edges and points move, so it needed to be mated again because the clearance pulled the mated surfaces apart. It actually seems impossible to mate these parts without having indent break the mates when it is applied. This is the weird thing having an assembly with parts which cannot be mated due the clearance.

               

              Unless I guess I can send the model to the injection moulders with broken mates??

                • Re: Indent feature breaking mates
                  Matt Peneguy
                  Matt Peneguy Jun 1, 2018 8:43 AM (in response to Piers Newberry)

                  Piers Newberry,

                   

                  the mates are broken because the edges and points move, so it needed to be mated again because the clearance pulled the mated surfaces apart.

                  No, the edges and points have disappeared and the original mates lose their reference.  You are not "moving" these edges, faces and points when you use indent, you are removing them and creating new ones. This is a fundamental issue that needs to be understood to produce robust models in SW.

                  If what I have stated isn't clear, please follow-up.  If you go about things the way you currently are doing things, I can guarantee you will have problems later.

                    • Re: Indent feature breaking mates
                      Piers Newberry
                      Piers Newberry Jun 1, 2018 9:08 AM (in response to Matt Peneguy)

                      Yes correctly I have destroyed the original edges and points and have created new ones. However when I remate the pieces they then move again - does this actually cause any problems in that the indent is recalculated and more clearance gap is cut away?

                       

                      Could I also ask whether this method is standard or do people do something else aside from mate, indent, remate. Thanks.

                        • Re: Indent feature breaking mates
                          Glenn Schroeder
                          Glenn Schroeder Jun 1, 2018 9:30 AM (in response to Piers Newberry)

                          Piers Newberry wrote:

                           

                          Yes correctly I have destroyed the original edges and points and have created new ones. However when I remate the pieces they then move again - does this actually cause any problems in that the indent is recalculated and more clearance gap is cut away?

                           

                          Could I also ask whether this method is standard or do people do something else aside from mate, indent, remate. Thanks.

                           

                          The reason I said above to not do that is because every time you move a component after using the Indent command it will change the Indent to match the new position.  So to answer your question, you're the first person I've ever heard of that used that workflow.  If you need to use one component to remove material from another one, then completely mate them first, so they won't move.  When you mate them don't use edges, vertices, faces, etc that will be removed by the Indent command.  Then, when both components are fully mated and won't move, do the Indent.