With the recent release of SOLIDWORKS 2016 there have been some really nice enhancements in the Assembly Mates arena. Some of these new enhancements are crowd pleasers and are sure to increase productivity for any user. Veteran users included.
The very first and probably the most productive one is when you are in the Mate command. The very first click you do on a face of a component turns that component transparent. This allows immediate visual and selection access to another component that was ‘underneath’ or ‘inside’ of it.
A simple 2 flat face coincident mate, without rotating around to get a visual on either face.
(The ‘select other’ command was used in both cases when necessary)
I’d say 50 percent less clicking on one of the most used features in the software is a win.
Second up is the addition of several new mate possibilities in the Quick Mates toolbar when simply control-selecting multiple faces/edges on your assembly components.
They include:
Here are a few screen shots to familiarize you with the new look of the icons:
Last but not least, there is a new command called Mate Controller that allows you to easily show your assembly in various positions and move between these positions without the use of configurations.
I couldn’t have said it better than our friends at SOLIDWORKS so check out their video below showing the new mate controller functionality.
As always, have fun with these new tools, and make yourself a few test assemblies to practice and understand how they work before diving right into your production files!
Happy Mating! Don't forget to