2011: Smart Fasteners result in "Under defined" assembly. 2

[CU001]

Hi, I am new to Solidworks. I started using the Smart fasteners feature and when the right fastener gets aligned with the hole, the assembly is "Under defined". If I add an additional "Mate", it says, "Over defined". What's the issue here? Why is it under defined and how to make it "fully defined"?

Thanks.

 

[JMirisola]

Fasteners are usually given a concentric mate and a coincident mate, which still allows for rotational movement. More often than not, that is left free as it's one less mate that has to be solved during rebuilds.
As for your over defining mate, what sort of mate are you adding? Chances are the issue is simply adding an unnecessary mate.

Jeff Mirisola
My Blog

 

[CU001]

Thanks. That was it. I wasn't sure what kind of mates it uses. I added a parallel mate (to constrain rotation) and, now it is fully defined.

 

[Updraft]

CU001,

As Jeff stated, you are much better off leaving that parallel mate off, since it is just another item that has to be resolved. This may not seem like much now, but when you get into big and complex assemblies you: a) won't want to be bothered with these trivial constraints, and b) will be looking for all that you can do to simplify the assemblies for faster and trouble-free execution.

If the orientation really doesn't matter then let it rotate.

- - -Updraft

 

[SnowCrash]

Parallel will work but if things are slightly out of whack, perpendicular is more tolerant of misalignment.

--
Hardie "Crashj" Johnson
SW 2011 SP 4.0
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