SOLIDWORKS 2017 Add Configurations from within the Mate Controller

The Mate Controller had been a handy tool in past releases that could be used to review the positions of an assembly when attempting to drive multiple mates at one time.

SOLIDWORKS 2017 provides us an additional outlet to explore our designs as we can take those positions and save each position to an individual configuration for later use (perhaps a drawing).

In order to generate configurations from the Mate Controller Dialog:

1. Open the Mate Controller (Insert > Mate Controller).
2. Collect all the supported mates (or mates required)
3. Leave “Position 1” at a time of zero and select “Add Configuration”
4. Change the position of a desired mate to move the assembly into a new position
5. Save a new Position as “Position 2”
6. Select the “Add Configuration” while you have “Position 2” selected in the drop-down list.

Mate Controller Configurations Button

Continue to repeat steps 4 through 6 in order to continue on saving multiple configurations.

Make Controller Configurations added

Once complete, the results of the configuration creation will be available from within the configuration manager. They can then be applied anywhere you would use a regular configuration.

PLEASE NOTE:  Be careful with other mates that may be driving your assembly, that were not included in the Mate Controller during the setup of the configurations. It may be necessary to individually configure these mates, so that they do not conflict with the positions generated by the Mate Controller, when the configurations are first activated.

SOLIDWORKS 2017 Resources

Access our resources page to get everything you need to learn what’s new in SOLIDWORKS 2017; including tech tips, demonstrations, and upcoming product webinars.

WHAT’S NEW RESOURCES