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The rules for which point is positioned are not spelled out, and are realistically too difficult to follow. When using this option, you should only position origins or points, and if you change between origins and points, you should cancel the command and restart it.

You can choose multiple parts by selecting them from the assembly FeatureManager, but if you do that, it does not appear to allow you to select points to position anymore.

If you select a point on a part and then want to change to a different point on the same part, there does not appear to be a way to do that. You have to first select a point on another part, and then select a different point on the original part.

In general, this option appears to be underdeveloped. What that means to you is that it may not have all the flexibility you are looking for, or it might appear to have quirks if you don't follow the perfect workflow process every time. If you need the functionality of this tool to get your job done, the tool does work, and there are few options for workarounds.

Using the For Positioning Only option

The Mate PropertyManager has an option called Use for Positioning Only, shown in Figure 7.5. This option has been available in SolidWorks for a long time, but it may not be taught in the standard SolidWorks reseller class or demonstrated in most tutorials. This option essentially allows you to go through the motions of creating a mate; however, when you are done, the part you are positioning will be in place, but there will be no mate.

The result is similar to using any of the tools described in the previous section, but you don't have to calculate a position or movement amount — the new position is driven by geometry on another part.

People tend to use this option for visualization — to help see the part in position before they really commit to a method of attaching it. Usually people who use the positioning only option do end up mating the part completely later, but may be considering multiple mate strategies that achieve the desired goal more efficiently or cleanly.

Why would you want to go through all the work of creating a mate but in the end not have a mate to show for it? Possibly to avoid deleting it later, or to avoid conflicts that it might cause later. Also, you may possibly be working in reverse — the part you are placing without the mate should be the fixed part, so you place it, fix it, and then mate other parts to it. Sometimes with animations, you want parts placed correctly without a mate to interfere with the animated motion of the part.

FIGURE 7.5

Selecting the Use for Positioning Only option

So why wouldn't you create the mate and then just suppress it? Well, configurations can be complicated enough without adding a configuration just to remove a mate. This function is available; some people use it in limited situations, and it does work.

Building parts in place

Building parts in place is a relatively easy way to place parts without mating them. This is a technique that might be called top-down, or in-context, and is dealt with in other chapters of this book.

Cross-Reference

Chapter 10 covers in-context techniques, and Chapter 19 covers master model techniques, both of which describe building parts in place and locating or placing them without mates.

Using Proximity Tools

In order to detect proximity between parts in an assembly, SolidWorks offers several tools:

• Interference Detection

• Clearance Verification

• Collision Detection

• Physical Dynamics

• Sensors

Using Interference Detection

Interference detection is available through the menus at Tools⇒Interference Detection. You can also find it in the Evaluate tab of the CommandManager. It is a stand-alone tool that finds existing interferences in an assembly. The PropertyManager for Interference Detection is shown in Figure 7.6, after detecting interferences in an assembly.

FIGURE 7.6

Finding interferences in an assembly

You can use two different