Degree of Freedom

[Phadreus]

It seems to me that there was at one time a way of easily displaying the degrees of freedom that any part within an assembly had available after mating the part. I am currently using SW 2006, SP 4.1. Does anyone know of a command to allow me to graphically see the degree of freedom of a component?

Thanks in advance.

M.B. Price

http://www.assembly-testww.com

Automated Assembly & Test Systems

 

[ctopher]

I have never seen this done in SW. Not sure if you can.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)

 

[smcadman]

SW doesn't have a way of showing DOF, you just have to try and move the part and see which way it moves. I'm surprised that an enhancement request hasn't been made for this. I would think a symbol similar to the "Move with Triad" would work.

Flores
SW06 SP4.1

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

The Feature Manager shows whether a component is fully mated or not by the (-) symbol prefixing the component name.

It would take just as long (or longer) to select a command icon and then the component under investigation, than to simply grab and move the component to see which DOF exists.

If this is important to you, submit an ER to SW. However, if an ER hasn't been made for this, that's a pretty good indication that it hasn't been seen as a problem by most users.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[Reaper2561]

Phadreus,

I occasionally use the move component command. Under options, I check collision detection and stop at collision, and then I move the part. When the part hits the proverbial walls, I measure. Probably not what you are after, but a close, fairly easy work-around.

Reaper.

 

[Stoker]

If you are coming from a Mechanical Desktop background, you may be recalling this feature from there. SolidWorks has never had an indication of the specific degrees of freedom for an incompletely constrained part.

 

[smcadman]

I read that Inventor also has a DOF indicator. I just think it tells you more visually than a "-" symbol. I guess you can't miss a feature you've never used...

Flores
SW06 SP4.1

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

... or never needed to


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[smcadman]

touché

Flores
SW06 SP4.1

 

[d0c]

As a MDT convert, it took me a while to get used to not having such a handy visual tool whilst building assemblies when I first started using SW.
But now, whenever I (occassionally) have to do something in MDT, the DOF symbols seem to be more of a burden than a benefit.

-d0c-