Using SW 2014.
I know you can mirror components then dissolve them and it will give you an option to move the mates between parts to the top level assembly. Does such a thing also exist for dissolving linear patterns?
Using SW 2014.
I know you can mirror components then dissolve them and it will give you an option to move the mates between parts to the top level assembly. Does such a thing also exist for dissolving linear patterns?
Do you mean when you dissolve the pattern you want mates that hold the distance and direction from the pattern? I don't think that is possible, because I don't think the pattern actually uses "mates" so there would be nothing to move up. If you want the patterned components to stay where they were then I don't know why you would dissolve the pattern. If you want them to move then you can just make new mates to locate them in the new positions.
yeah thats what i meant. and im dissolving the patterns because in the end i dont want patterns in the assembly due to the complex way this project is structured. When the assembly im working on goes into an upper level assembly as flexable its almost as if solidworks treats any patterned parts as nonexistant and forgets anything mated to these patterned parts in upper level assembly.
(someone had thought that it was a good idea to have a sub assembly as a "box of hardware") So its a pain to get an assembly of "floating bolts and nuts" to mate to parent assemblies
If the pattern puts the parts in the correct spot and you want to dissolve it without the parts moving you could just fix all of the parts after you dissolve the pattern. If you need the parts to move around when the assembly is flexible in an upper level assembly you could have a separate configuration without all the components fixed.
good idea i overlooked using configurations for this purpose. Thanks for the suggestion!
Do you mean when you dissolve the pattern you want mates that hold the distance and direction from the pattern? I don't think that is possible, because I don't think the pattern actually uses "mates" so there would be nothing to move up. If you want the patterned components to stay where they were then I don't know why you would dissolve the pattern. If you want them to move then you can just make new mates to locate them in the new positions.