Solidworks 2010: Mating a fairing to a sweep

[vctech]

Hello,

I am attempting to mate a fairing part to a sweep (my cable). The path of the sweep is a spline to simulate the free movement of the cable. I am having a difficult time getting the two to mate properly. Any suggestions? Thanks for the help.

 

[Eltron]

"...a difficult time..." doesn't really give us much to go on. Have you tried adding sketch geometry or reference geometry to your parts?

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[Theophilus]

Can you not put a point on the guide curve of your swept part and then mate the planes of your other part to that point?



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

A people governed by fear cannot value freedom.

 

[vctech]

To clarify:


I think it is best to open the attached image to see what I am trying to accomplish then read the body of this post.

I am modeling fairings that are attached to a cable. I have created the cable using a sweep that will follow a equation driven line. There are over 800 fairings so I am trying to use patterns to model this. The fairings are linked together like a chain. What is the best way to accomplish this rather that individually mating all the links together? I had several thoughts: 1) Create a small section of 6 links fully mated together and pattering or repeatedly inserting that sub-assembly 2) Insert the path sketch into the fairing part file and use a curve driven pattern. The end goal is to show several configurations of different link lengths and fairing spacing. Is there a better way to do this? Is there a SW tool that will help me do this? Thank you.