Replacing Multiple Mates

There are cases where users may want to replace multiple mates between components in an assembly. This article discusses how to replace multiple mates simultaneously. For the sake of this guide, a block with identical cylinders with their corresponding holes will be used.

To begin, select the desired mates to be replaced and left click the highlighted mates to select the “Replace Mate Entities” as shown in the image below.

After selecting the “Replace Mate Entities” the property manager for that feature will appear. There should be a list of faces or edges pertaining to the selected mates. There will be a pair of either edges and/or faces for each mate. For example, a concentric mate will show two faces, one for the initial selection and one for the secondary face or edge selection. For the three mates selected in this guide, the six faces can be seen in the image below.

The selected face will be illuminated in the graphics area. The second cylinder’s mate will be replaced so that it is concentric with the second hole and not the third one. To do this, select the face of the mate geometry you want to replace which in this case would be the inside face of the third hole. After selecting the face or edge, right click the blue selection box and select “Clear Selections”. This is demonstrated in the image below.

After clearing the selections, select the desired face or edge for the mate to reference. In the case of this guide, the inner face of the second hole will be used. After selecting and replacing the desired faces or edges, select the green checkmark to complete the replacement. The final product is shown below.