Distributing a series of parts

steve_groom
steve_groom Member Posts: 5 ✭
in Community Support
I have created a design for a large box, the bottom of the box is made up of thirteen boards that are spaced out across the width of the box. The box has a mate connector aligned with a rabbet across the boxes’ width. I then have 13 parts (the boards) matched to the same mate connector using a slider mate.

This allows me to slide the boards into position - there is a slight gap between each board. But the spacing is not easy to get 100% even.

This was a lot of steps and I was wondering is there is a better way to evenly distribute a number of parts along a slider mate
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  • steve_groom
    steve_groom Member Posts: 5 ✭
    Thank you for the quick response. I had not come across Linear Patterns. That gets pretty close to a solution, but the resulting parts are not mated, so if I move the back of the box, the base boards are left behind. 
  • bruce_williams
    bruce_williams Member, Developers Posts: 842 EDU
    @steve_groom

    Can you use Group?  If you do not need the boards to move independently that should be perfect.
    www.accuratepattern.com
  • john_mcclary
    john_mcclary Member, Developers Posts: 4,115 PRO
    https://cad.onshape.com/documents/28050bca2b1ddeb0acbab720/w/72369ffa7faabbf84de28ab1/e/2ac9b2d481dcced12fc4252f

    See above link for an example of linear pattern in assembly.
    You will need to mate the "seed" part to the back board you want to move with
  • steve_groom
    steve_groom Member Posts: 5 ✭
    Thanks’ for all the responses. In the end I created a subassembly with three parts - end board, mid board, end board. I then used a fastened connector to connect end board to first mid board, then a linear pattern to repeat the mid boards and finally another fastened connector to complete the subassembly.

    best
    Steve 
  • steve_groom
    steve_groom Member Posts: 5 ✭
    bruce_williams said:
    @steve_groom

    Can you use Group?  If you do not need the boards to move independently that should be perfect.
    If I were to start from scratch and the parts started out aligned, the group would have been the easiest option. I find the mates approach allows me to get everything neatly oriented. So much more to learn.

    Regards
    Steve

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