I am having some problems configuring a limit mate.
The basic setup of what I'm trying to do:
assembly 1 uses a rod that is 63" long, so the concentric parts can move along the rod 0" to 58" from one end.
assembly 2 uses a rod that is 100" long, so the limits would be 0" to 95".
I can change the limits per config just fine. However, say I go to assembly 2 and drag the concentric parts out to let's say 80" (or any number greater than the 58"). Then I activate assembly 1 again. The mate seems to reset the 0 point. I mean, it puts in larger values in the max and min to satisfy the mate rather than move the parts back into the range of 0" to 58".
I'm worried if I leave it as is, someone else working on this assembly later won't know not to drag the parts out like that and will drag the parts around while working on it, then go back to the first config and it will be all screwed up.
(not sure if this should be in the "Configurations" category or the "Assembly" category)
Angela
I'd like to offer something constructive and helpful to say, but really your problem just seems typical of the shoddy state of SW mates in general and limit mates in particular. I find that limit mates break far too easily. The only thing worse are angle mates, which break all by themselves.
You might want to control the extension with a linear dimension mate and configure the dimension.
Dwight
Limit Mates work better if you use design tables to set up the parameters.
For your example, I made a rod part with two configurations, Short & Long. Then I made an assembly with two configurations, Short & Long.
The assembly design table looked like (ignoring the mismatch in spacing):
$CONFIGURATION@swPART1 D1@LimitDistance1 $TOLERANCE@D1@LimitDistance1
Short Short 0 LIMIT;58;0
Long Long 0 LIMIT;95;0
So this table always sets the D1 distance to 0 as well as the tolerance limit values to their appropriate settings whenever you select the configuration.
This works no matter where you move or leave the second part.
Also needed is to make sure the design table has the "block model edits that change table" tick mark.
Don