Mating parts at their surfaces?

Caroline_Bowers

I'm currently working on a project and for some reason I am struggling to fasten four cylindrical pins to a plate in the exact position I have placed them in assembly. If I try to fasten it to the surface it moves to points on the surface which are not the desired location. How can I get them fastened in the specific position desired? I can attach the link if needed.

MichaelPascoe

Hey @Caroline_Bowers, a link will be helpful. Usually some well placed mates or sketches will help with mates, but it's hard to tell for this specific instance without a link.

martin_kopplow

@Caroline_Bowers

It is hard to tell without looking at the model, but in general, if you want something to be at an exact location somewhere on a face, you should consider creating means to precisely define that location, like sketch points on said surface, or like the offset of a mate connector, or such. Usually there are features that interact with the pins, like holes to push them into.

Most faces will e.g. provide a mate in their middle, so you could use that or a deliberate corner point to position each of your pins on. They will all hop to that location first, but don't let that disturb you, because you can then define X/Y offsets for each pin in their respective mate dialog, to position them, wherever you want them. You could also position only one pin and create a pattern to bring the others in, in case they were identical.

Example: 

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/70bd180f04de8d5115c55577/w/0b113bc4eaf78bec7260cfaa/e/c7de10b3824f385f3fd78cd2?renderMode=0&uiState=657b4e197f0f1e68cdf49f36

MichaelPascoe

Hey @Caroline_Bowers, a link will be helpful. Usually some well placed mates or sketches will help with mates, but it's hard to tell for this specific instance without a link.

martin_kopplow

@Caroline_Bowers

It is hard to tell without looking at the model, but in general, if you want something to be at an exact location somewhere on a face, you should consider creating means to precisely define that location, like sketch points on said surface, or like the offset of a mate connector, or such. Usually there are features that interact with the pins, like holes to push them into.

Most faces will e.g. provide a mate in their middle, so you could use that or a deliberate corner point to position each of your pins on. They will all hop to that location first, but don't let that disturb you, because you can then define X/Y offsets for each pin in their respective mate dialog, to position them, wherever you want them. You could also position only one pin and create a pattern to bring the others in, in case they were identical.

Example: 

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/70bd180f04de8d5115c55577/w/0b113bc4eaf78bec7260cfaa/e/c7de10b3824f385f3fd78cd2?renderMode=0&uiState=657b4e197f0f1e68cdf49f36