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Mate connector on a center of coordinates
glib_kotelnytskyy
Member Posts: 23 ✭
I've modeled a wood slab to be used as a tabletop https://cad.onshape.com/documents/4e977f253699bbbd0b23d3cb/w/f8db6fb7e22a04be3f53f989/e/15997342aa89ba885161d885
Now I want to insert it into my table design - https://cad.onshape.com/documents/d00ceaba15e3ae5795e20cc8/v/493982667bb9689f6b4092fe/e/5b289bdfe74c787a08ec07e3
I need to place the tabletop at the center of coordinates with a certain orientation, to reference it in other parts.
I've made a mate connection on a tabletop, but now when I want to put a mate connector at the center of coordinates to transform a tabletop -- Onshape doesn't allow me to.
Am I understanding the idea of mate connectors wrong, how am I supposed to place my tabletop from the start?
Now I want to insert it into my table design - https://cad.onshape.com/documents/d00ceaba15e3ae5795e20cc8/v/493982667bb9689f6b4092fe/e/5b289bdfe74c787a08ec07e3
I need to place the tabletop at the center of coordinates with a certain orientation, to reference it in other parts.
I've made a mate connection on a tabletop, but now when I want to put a mate connector at the center of coordinates to transform a tabletop -- Onshape doesn't allow me to.
Am I understanding the idea of mate connectors wrong, how am I supposed to place my tabletop from the start?
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Jake_Rosenfeld
Moderator, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 1,646 
@glib_kotelnytskyy
Maybe I am misunderstanding what you mean by "center of coordinates"? Can your workflow be improved by:- Making a sketch
- Placing a point in the sketch and dimensioning it so that it is in a position that you like
- Placing a mate connector on that sketch point
- Transforming the table top to that mate connector
The piece of information I am missing is where you are trying to move the table top to. What conditions are you trying to achieve?Jake Rosenfeld - Modeling Team5
Answers
I'm having a bit of a hard time understanding where you're held up, maybe a screenshot of the problem will make it more clear? Once you have the mate connector on the table in the right place, and the mate connector on the mount in the right place, you can use the "Transform by mate connectors" feature to move the tabletop around:
https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/transform.htm
As a series of steps:
The reason you may be experiencing some difficulty here is that Mate Connectors are mainly designed to be used in the Assembly for assembling components together. They are useful for Part Studios, but not designed to be the center of the Part Studio workflow.
I design "mount" part based on the dimensions and configuration of the tabletop, so it does not exist at this point.
Maybe I am misunderstanding what you mean by "center of coordinates"? Can your workflow be improved by:
The piece of information I am missing is where you are trying to move the table top to. What conditions are you trying to achieve?