assemblies

introduction to  assemblies

Mobirise Website Builder

What is assembly and their structure?

A SolidWorks assembly is a compilation of discrete components or sub-assemblies that are combined to depict a whole product or system.

importance of assemblies

  1. Facilitate the design and management of complex products.
  2. II. Enable functional testing and validation of the complete assembly.
  3. Simplify design changes by allowing individual components to be modified without affecting the entire assembly.
  4. Support the creation of assembly instructions, maintenance procedures, and technical illustrations.
Mobirise Website Builder

inserting components in an assembly

Step 1: Open the assembly file.
Step 2: In the assembly, click the "Insert Components" button.
Step 3: Browse to the location of the part file.
Step 4: Select the part and click "Open" to insert it into the assembly.
Step 5: Click on “OK” to place the parts.
Step 6: Repeat the process to add more parts to the assembly as required.

Mobirise Website Builder

Positioning and Orienting Components

Step 1: Click on the component in the graphics area or the FeatureManager design tree. Take note that the first components that inserted in the assembly file will be fix in place and cannot be move (indicated by (f) on the component name at the FeatureManager design tree).
Step 2: To move the component, simply left click and drag to reposition it.
Step 3: To rotate the component, use right click and drag to the desired rotation.  

Mates and constrains

Importance of mates in assemblies

Mates are a fundamental aspect of creating functional assemblies in SolidWorks, and they play a crucial role in the design and analysis process. They help to constrain the movement and position of individual components within an assembly, ensuring that the components fit together correctly and behave as intended.


Mates define the relationships between components, allowing the assembly to move and interact as a cohesive unit, which is essential for simulating the real-world behavior of the assembly. Certain mate types, such as revolute or slider mates, enable specific degrees of freedom for components, allowing for the modeling and analysis of assembly motion and animation.


Properly applied mates can also help identify and resolve potential design issues, such as over-constrained or under-constrained components, providing feedback that allows designers to refine the assembly and ensure its functionality.


Furthermore, mates play a vital role in downstream processes, such as generating assembly drawings, bills of materials, and manufacturing instructions, ensuring that the assembly information is correctly communicated to other stakeholders. Mates are also essential for setting up accurate boundary conditions for finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, ensuring that the virtual model behaves similarly to the real-world assembly.


Finally, the flexibility of mates, which can be modified or removed to allow for design changes or alternative assembly configurations, helps to streamline the iterative design process.

Exploring different mate types

Mobirise Website Builder

Coincident mate

Aligns the selected faces, edges, or vertices of two components.
Ensures the components are in direct contact or at a specified offset. 

Mobirise Website Builder

Parallel mate

Ensures the selected faces or edges of two components are parallel to each other.
Maintains the orientation of the components while allowing relative movement. 

Mobirise Website Builder

Concentric mate

Aligns the centrelines of two cylindrical components, such as a shaft and a bore.
Allows the components to rotate relative to each other while maintaining concentricity. 

Mobirise Website Builder

Angular mate

Sets an angular relationship between the selected faces or edges of two components.
Useful for aligning angled components or creating hinged connections. 

Mobirise Website Builder

Distance mate

Specifies a distance between the selected faces, edges, or vertices of two components.
Allows for precise positioning and spacing between components.
 

Mechanical Mates

Mobirise Website Builder

Cam and slot mate

Allows one component to slide along a curved path defined by another component.
Useful for modelling cam and follower mechanisms, where the follower component slides along a cam profile. 

Mobirise Website Builder

Gear mate

Establishes a gear-like relationship between two cylindrical components, such as gears.
Ensures the components rotate at a specific gear ratio.
Allows the gears to mesh and transmit rotational motion. 

Mobirise Website Builder

Rack and pinion mate

Creates a rack and pinion mechanism between a linear component (the rack) and a cylindrical component (the pinion).
Allows the pinion to rotate and translate the rack in a linear motion 

Mobirise Website Builder

applying mates for the assembly

Properly applying mates is crucial for creating functional and well-constrained assemblies in SolidWorks. To apply mates for your assembly, follow along these steps:

Step 1: Click the Mate icon in the CommandManager or go to the Assembly tab > Mate. 
Step 2: The Mate PropertyManager will appear. This is where you define the type of mate you want to apply.
Step 3: Choose the specific faces, edges, or vertices you want to mate and select the appropriate mate type (after you have chosen the specific faces, edges, or vertices, SolidWorks will recommend the most rational type of mate for the components).
Step 4: Click "OK" to apply the mate to the selected components.
Step 5: Repeat the process to add additional mates as needed to fully constrain the assembly.

Once all mates are applied, the assembly components should move together as a cohesive unit. You can always go back and edit the mates by selecting them in the FeatureManager and using the Mate PropertyManager.

support video

Mobirise Website Builder

exploded view

exploded view and its benefits

Exploded View is a feature that separates the individual components of an assembly, displaying them in a visually organized way.
Exploded view come with numerous benefits such as:

I. Exploded views in SolidWorks help users understand how the parts of an assembly fit together, making the assembly process much clearer.
II. Exploded views in SolidWorks provide clear visual guidance for assembling the product, making them useful for communicating the assembly sequence to end-users or manufacturing teams.
III. Exploded views in SolidWorks aid in understanding how to disassemble and reassemble the product, ultimately helping technicians perform repairs and maintenance more effectively.
IV. Exploded views in SolidWorks provide a clear visual reference for product components, helping users and technicians quickly identify individual parts.

Mobirise Website Builder

creating exploded view

The Exploded View feature in SolidWorks provides a lot of flexibility, allowing the user to customize the visual representation of their assembly to best suit their needs. To create an exploded view, follow along these steps:

Step 1: Open the assembly file in SolidWorks.
Step 2: Click on “Exploded View” on the CommandManager. 
Step 3: Select the components you want to explode.
Step 4: Adjust the explosion direction and distance for each component.
Step 5: Click “Done” button.
Step 6: Repeat all the previous step until all the components are selected.
Step 7: Click “OK” button. You can also add more than one configuration for your assembly.
Step 8: You can view the exploded and collapse of the assembly on ConfigurationManager. You can also view the animation for both views. 

support video

Mobirise Website Builder

© Copyright 2025 Mobirise - All Rights Reserved

‌

Offline Website Software