Creating Assembly faster with SolidWorks Assemblies SmartMates

Posted on May Wed, 2018 by Do Thai Quoc Dung

The SmartMates command has been saving time for countless engineers around the world, yet many may have never heard of it. The SmartMates functionality allows you to create commonly-used mates without using the Mate Property Manager. The type of SmartMates created depends on the geometry used to drag the component, and the type of geometry onto which you drop the component. The SmartMates types includes:

Ways you can trigger SmartMates:

Desired Mate Action	What to Do?
Mate two components already in the assembly.	·         Press Alt and drag one component onto another. ·         Move Component, SmartMates toggled on.
Mate a new component while adding it to the assembly.	Drag a part from another window onto another part in the assembly. ·         From a part file: Select an entity and drag. ·         From an assembly file: Hold down Shift, then select an entity and drag.
Fully mate a commonly-used component while inserting it in the assembly.	Drag a part with mate references from Windows Explorer or the Design Library into the assembly. This method can fully mate a new component, but you must set up mate references beforehand.

Peg-in-hole SmartMates

One of the most efficient SmartMate type is the Peg-in-hole, as this particular SmartMate creates both coincident and concentric mate in one action. It is perfect for scenarios where you have to insert a knob into a given hole just like the example given below. Remember to drag on the edge to enable the Peg-in-hole SmartMate.

This SmartMate efficiently creates Two mates in one go.

Try SmartMates the next time you work on your SolidWorks Assemblies!

Source: Keith Seah – Application Engineer at SeaCAD