Hello all,
I'm getting some inconsistent behaviour with Solidworks' Smart Fastener tool. Examine the following assembly:
The cube in the middle is just a simple cube with several Hole Wizard holes in it. These were created in one step by applying the hole properties to different sketch points. These are M3 tapped holes.
The brackets are all the same part. There are two sets of holes: the holes on the sides are M4 screw clearance holes. The holes on the bottom are M3 screw clearance holes. Like the cube, each set was created using one Hole Wizard function.
I've tried to use the Smart Fasteners feature in the assembly and have come across the following problems:
1- The "Populate all" feature doesn't work. It only populates the 2 M3 screws holding the left bracket to the cube. This happens regardless of whether I have any parts selected or not.
2- The M3 screws for the left bracket were automatically configured to 6mm in length. However, when manually adding the fasteners for the other two brackets, Solidworks automatically configured them to 4mm, even though all the holes in the cube are identical and can certainly take 6mm screws.
3- When adding the M4 screws across the bracket, only the bracket on the left is done correctly, with Solidworks automatically recognising how to mate the screw correctly and where to put the nut. For all the other brackets, the concentric mate is done correctly, but Solidworks is unable to mate the screw head correctly and places the nut on top of the screw head. If I have a look at the "Edit Grouping" dialog, Solidworks tells me that it is "Unable to completely mate the fastener to the hole".
What's interesting is that it seems that the bracket on the left is the only one that works properly. I've just tried recreating the assembly from scratch, mating the parts in different orders, but the situation is the same: only the left bracket gets the fasteners added correctly.
Very confusing!
Any thoughts?
--Amr
I'm getting some inconsistent behaviour with Solidworks' Smart Fastener tool. Examine the following assembly:
The cube in the middle is just a simple cube with several Hole Wizard holes in it. These were created in one step by applying the hole properties to different sketch points. These are M3 tapped holes.
The brackets are all the same part. There are two sets of holes: the holes on the sides are M4 screw clearance holes. The holes on the bottom are M3 screw clearance holes. Like the cube, each set was created using one Hole Wizard function.
I've tried to use the Smart Fasteners feature in the assembly and have come across the following problems:
1- The "Populate all" feature doesn't work. It only populates the 2 M3 screws holding the left bracket to the cube. This happens regardless of whether I have any parts selected or not.
2- The M3 screws for the left bracket were automatically configured to 6mm in length. However, when manually adding the fasteners for the other two brackets, Solidworks automatically configured them to 4mm, even though all the holes in the cube are identical and can certainly take 6mm screws.
3- When adding the M4 screws across the bracket, only the bracket on the left is done correctly, with Solidworks automatically recognising how to mate the screw correctly and where to put the nut. For all the other brackets, the concentric mate is done correctly, but Solidworks is unable to mate the screw head correctly and places the nut on top of the screw head. If I have a look at the "Edit Grouping" dialog, Solidworks tells me that it is "Unable to completely mate the fastener to the hole".
What's interesting is that it seems that the bracket on the left is the only one that works properly. I've just tried recreating the assembly from scratch, mating the parts in different orders, but the situation is the same: only the left bracket gets the fasteners added correctly.
Very confusing!
Any thoughts?
--Amr
