Solidworks mating/animation problem?
Hi,
I've been recently working with a model which I wanted to create some animation with.
But for some reason unknown to me whenever I started to rotate the engine the assembly comes apart.
The model is a simple shaft with a reciprocating motion.
The only thing out of ordinary is that there is a free part (a nut) on the shaft which can slide up and down when the shaft is moving.
I have no problem while I am creating the motor rotation manually but as soon as I want to build the motion in animation mode it becomes problematic.
I am an amateur in SolidWorks and greatly appreciate your help.
The file is also attached and the assembly file name is : holder3.SLDASM
I am using SolidWorks 2014.
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EDIT:
Based on your instructions I started building the assembly from the start.
Since I started this project I've had problems mating the Free Nut!
Right now I have mated the nut to a point drawn on shaft part.
What is the correct way to mate the nut?
I want the nut to be free but restricted to middle part of the shaft.
In this file, everything works just fine in the model environment but in the motion study all parts get stuck and nothing moves and all this happens after I mate the nut.
How can I mate the nut correctly so I would be able to generate an animation?!
The new file is set5.
5 Answers
At first glance everything looks OK.
Looking more closely at your mates, and I think more care should be used.
ALWAYS use faces and planes for mates. If you have to use edges, lines, and axes, then that can be OK sometimes. NEVER use points or vertices unless there is no other solution.
Only someone with SW2014 can upload a SW2014 model for you. Backwards compatibility between different releases is not something they have figured out.
Your settings weren't okay. Your fps were too low and your engine speed too high, it was setted to 8fps at your motion study and your setted rpm's were 100. See the attached files for the good study.
You can send me a message if it won't succeed again.
The video has to be opened with windows media player
Based on your instruction I started building the assembly from the start.
Since I started this project I've had problems mating the Free Nut!
Right now I have mated the nut to a point drawn on shaft part.
What is the correct way to mate the nut?
I want the nut to be free but restricted to middle part of the shaft.
In this file, everything works just fine in the model environment but in the motion study all parts get stuck and nothing moves and all this happens after I mate the nut.
How can I mate the nut correctly so I would be able to generate an animation?!
I only looked at the first two mates. They still reference points and edges.
That is a bad practice.
What FredSwug is saying is true, it;'s better to don't use points or vertices. But in this case, isn't that the malefactor. Besides that, you better can make 1 assembly with parts. Not a assembly with more subassemblies. The mates in this subassembly cause almost always problems when trying to move the model. It's possible to work with subassemblies, but some experience with Solidworks is required when trying to. So you better should make 1 assembly only filled with parts.
Knowing that; I've been searching in the subassembly mates, i did found the problem within 1 minute. It's the limitdistance mate in the subassembly of the shafty. I did suppress this mate and everything worked well. I haven't done research, but i think that is the limited distance with the free nut. Try to add this mate in the first assembly, not in the subassembly. It should be working well, otherwise the distances aren't correctly filled in.
Look at the screenshot and video in the attached files for what i'm meaning.
To prevent these 'problems', you should make 1 assembly only with parts. Don't use subassemblies unless you really understand Solidworks. And it's easier to work with planes,faces,edges,lines and axes as FredSWUG already said.
