Fix or Float Components in Assembly | SolidWorks Assembly Tutorial-2

Welcome to SolidWorks Assembly tutorials for beginners and in this assembly tutorial, you are going to see how to fix or float component in graphics area. This is one of the important step in your model assembling process. In the earlier tutorial, you learn to insert component or model into the assembly interface. Here, you are going to see how to use fix or float wisely and other important things you should remember before applying fix or float feature.

Important Factors should remember before fixing component:-

1. Stationary Component or Part

You should consider the component which is stationary or fix part in design. It is best to fix base part to origin of the assembly graphics area. It will be very helpful for adding other mate functions and constrains. Once, you fix component, it should mentioned (f) in Featuresmanager design tree, before its name.

2. Default Fix Component in Assembly

In SolidWorks assembly, when you first insert a component will get automatically fix by default. So always insert component which is base or stationary part in your model.

3. Single Instance of Component Pattern Can’t be Fixed

These are the main factors should remember before applying fix component in SolidWorks Assembly.

How to Fix Component in SolidWorks Assembly

Already created two components to show the fix or float feature in assembly. It is shown in below images.

One of the part is stationary or base part and other one is moving part into it.

First, you have insert stationary part into the assembly interface and will get automatically fix by SolidWorks. You can fix component anywhere in graphics area. It should got fix with respect to the origin of the graphics area. So, it is better to place to origin.

Click on the origin to select the fix point as origin.

This way you can fix component to origin in assembly area. You can also make it float by accessing the Featuresmanager design tree.

So, insert another component and place it anywhere in graphics area. You can say it is a floating component. That means, you can move, rotate or having degrees of freedom in assembly area. You can see (-) before its name in Featuresmanager design tree.

To change the fix or float, go to featuremanager deign tree. Select and right click on the component’s name for changing the fix or float condition. Select fix or float from the appearing menu as per your requirement.

This way you can fix component or float it in solidworks assemebly interface. These are the very basic tutorial, you should have better idea on it. So that you can learn different types of mates and its application in SolidWorks assembly.

Save the assembly file by using the “save” command for future solidworks assembly tutorials. In the next tutorial, you are going to learn how to assemble these two components using the mates feature.

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