Mating rod to a slot

I am working on an assembly where I need to mate
a rod into a slot in a plate and have the rod move
within the slot. I mated the rod surface tangent to
the slot linear surface and this lets the rod move
length wise along the slot (desired) but does not
stop the rod from moving past the ends of the slot.
Seems like any other mate type fixes the rod to either
end of the slot. Is there a way to mate the rod to the
slot so the rod will only move within the slot?

Thanks.
Keith
SW99

 

[ecampos]

The motion generating software in Solidworks is used to make pretty pictures only. It is not a kinematics package. Although I do believe that there is a function called "Stop at collision", this option pops up when you drag parts around in a assembly or are animating something.
I will look into this more and get back to you.

 

[MikeDormanSDM]

It is true that you can't make the rod move and stop using any of the mates; however, the configuration manager can help you out some. Go to the configuration manager and create two new configurations, "up" and "down". Go into the up configuration and create a mate in the fully extended postion. Then go back to the configuration manager, select the down configuration, and mate the rod in the depressed postion. The mate made in the up postion is automatically suppressed for the next configuration, and when you go back to the default configuration, it will have neither mate.

Soldiworks doesn't allow for fully mobile objects, and with the configuration manager, you will make more accurate representations of motion than by moving components. Some mates behave stanglely beyond certain bounds.

Good day!! [sig][/sig]