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part follows any existing mates, and moves the part in 3D space. For a part that is completely unconstrained, it moves in a plane parallel to the screen. If you are viewing the assembly such that the screen isn't parallel to any standard plane, the part you are moving may be moving in and out of the assembly, or in some other unexpected manner. If you have some mates applied to the part, it is less likely to do something odd. You might consider using the Four View option to move parts using this method.

Free Drag is not a great method to precisely position parts, but it is okay if you are just trying to position something visually as a prop for a rendering.

Moving with Along Assembly XYZ

When you drag a part in an assembly with the Along Assembly XYZ option enabled, the part can only move along the X axis, the Y axis, or the Z axis at one time. It can't move at an angle. To use this option properly, you should use an orthogonal view so that it is easier for you to move the part in the correct direction, and to see which direction it is going in. Again, using the Four View display option is also helpful.

If you want to change directions, you have to stop dragging and then restart the drag, moving in the initial direction of the drag that you want to move the part.

Moving with Along Entity

The Along Entity option for Move Component is similar to the Along Assembly XYZ option except that you select a custom direction, and the part can only move back and forth along that direction. The custom direction has to be either linear or planar, and can be an edge, axis, face, plane, sketch line, and so forth.

Using By Delta XYZ

The By Delta XYZ method is the first one that offers direct numerical input for moving parts. The “delta” means “change,” so the numbers you enter change the position of the part along the specified axis. Figure 7.3 shows the PropertyManager interface for this option.

FIGURE 7.3

Using the By Delta XYZ option to move parts

Because this is the first move option that uses an Apply button (shown in Figure 7.3), you can move a selection of parts multiple times just by entering a number in one of the boxes and clicking Apply multiple times. Each time you click Apply, it moves by the amounts listed in the three boxes, labeled ∆X, ∆Y, and ∆Z.

This does not work like the Modify dialog box for dimensions, where if you change the number and click the check mark, the dimension changes from, say, 3 to 5. If you type 3 in the ∆X box, and click Apply, it moves 3 units. If you then change ∆X to 5 and click Apply again, it moves 5 units for a total of 8. If the second time you type –5 instead of 5, then the total movement would be 2 units in the opposite direction from the original 3 units.

Also notice that the interface does not have a selection box to tell it which parts you want to move. To select a part to move, you can select a face from the graphics window, or select a part or subassembly in the FeatureManager. Clicking Apply moves all selected parts.

You can even change selections while the command is active. For example, you can move one selection of parts and then move a different selection.

Using To XYZ Position

Using the To XYZ Position option is different again from the By Delta XYZ option. You may find that this option has a few quirks. First, it is intended to move the selected point of the selected part to the x,y,z location you typed into the x, y, and z boxes shown in Figure 7.4.

FIGURE 7.4

Positioning a part using the To XYZ Position option

Again, this PropertyManager does not have a selection box to list parts to move or points to move to the specified XYZ location. That makes this interface slightly more limited than some of the other options.

If you do not select a point, SolidWorks assumes you want to move the origin of the part. If you have multiple parts selected, it assumes you want to move the center of gravity (CG) of the combined parts.

If in a previous move you did have a point selected on an instance of the part, and you then move a different instance, SolidWorks assumes