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When a mate is moved from a top-level assembly to a subassembly, the mate is no longer solved in the top level, which means you may not be able to use Dynamic Assembly Motion on the parts you just moved from the top level to the subassembly level. You may need to employ a flexible subassembly, which solves the subassembly's mates in the top level. The drawback of this technique is that more mates to solve means more time to rebuild the assembly document, and thus a slower working environment.

FIGURE 13.16

Read warning boxes when they are displayed; they could be important.

Evaluating Assemblies

Having the ability to change your assembly is not very useful unless you know what you need to change. This is where evaluation techniques come into play in SolidWorks. Evaluation tools help you to gain a better understanding of what your starting point is so that you can be more efficient with your changes.

In the sections that follow, you will learn some new ways to look at and evaluate your SolidWorks assemblies.

Using the AssemblyXpert

The SolidWorks AssemblyXpert is also described in Chapter 7 but is reviewed here as well to keep related information together. The AssemblyXpert is an informational tool that offers statistics about how many parts, subassemblies, lightweight parts, and so on are in the assembly. It also offers some advice about assembly performance and various settings. Figure 13.17 shows the AssemblyXpert window.

Notice the eyeglasses icon in the right column for one of the information entries. If you click this icon, SolidWorks displays the dialog box in Figure 13.18, which displays the Rebuild Report. This is a list of the parts that take the most time to rebuild in this assembly.

FIGURE 13.17

Using the AssemblyXpert to gain information and important statistics about your assembly

FIGURE 13.18

AssemblyXpert rebuild time analysis

Identifying FeatureManager symbols

You may be wondering what certain rarely seen symbols in the FeatureManager signify. Here is a list of some of the ones that users often ask about.

Flexible subassembly

Lightweight

Out-of-date lightweight

Path to ground is a mate that is between the part and the fully defined part

Part made in the academic version of the software

Toolbox part

Following are some additional symbols in the FeatureManager that are part of the text name.

(f) Indicates the part is Fixed. The opposite of Fixed is Float.

(-) Indicates the part is underdefined. There are not enough mates to lock its position.

(+) Indicates the part location is overdefined. Overdefined parts typically need to have one or more mates removed. This is a situation you should fix in any case.

–> External Reference. There is a reference to a file outside of the current document.

–>? Out of Context. There is an external reference, but it is not currently loaded in memory.

–>* External Reference is Locked. You can unlock locked references.

–>X External Reference is Broken. You cannot repair broken external references.

Using the Isolate function

Isolate is a tool that enables you to display only selected components. If you right-click a subassembly and select Isolate, you can have it set so that all the other parts are shown as wireframe, transparent, or hidden. This is a nice method to draw attention to a couple of parts or a subassembly while still being able to see the rest of the assembly for reference.

Figure 13.19 shows the Isolate tool in use. To activate Isolate, right-click a part or a selection of parts and click Isolate in the menu.

FIGURE 13.19

Using Isolate in an assembly

When you use Isolate, the small toolbar shown in Figure 13.19 appears and gives you the option to show the rest of the parts in the assembly in one of three modes: Wireframe, Transparent, or Hidden. As long as you have the part or parts isolated, the Isolate toolbar remains on the screen.

The Save icon on the Isolate toolbar enables you to save the current display as a Display State. This enables