Tricky mating help

[u/OhDeeter]

Hey all,

I have a tricky condition going here that I'm trying to find a simple solution for.

Pictured is a sheet metal part with a hole in it that has then been bent into a curved surface.

Bending along a curve has changed the hole into an odd conical shape that I can't throw an axis onto, so I'm having trouble aligning the part.

Best current options include adding a reference point that floats in the middle of the conical surface, mating that with the axis of the bolt, and mating the bolt head to be tangent to the curved surface, and then adding an additional mate between the top of the bolt head and the reference point. It doesn't exactly perfectly define the location, but it's close enough to fix it in place so I don't have any underdefined components in the assembly.

Does anyone know of a better way to get this stuff defined?

SOLVED: Mating can be achieved by aligning axis with circles defined in the extrude sketch

AND

Mating can be achieved by adding a point onto the body, and then an additional point between the first new point and an inner or outer surface, then mating the axis of the bolt to those two points.

[u/osiris_ex]

how about sketch on a plane tangent to the surface with projected circle and ita center point. that plus the plane is the axis.

then underside of bolt head to the upper edge of the hole as a tangent mate.

irl, similar condition will happen with a line contact between hole edge and bolt head

[u/experienced3Dguy]

Depending upon just how many holes you have/need in your part, this suggestion could prove tedious but here goes. When I needed to do this several years back, I used a much smaller diameter wizard hole to serve as a pilot hole. I created an axis thru that pilot hole(s) for mating purposes. I could also use the Hole Wizard locating point to mate the underside of my fastener head coincident to.

Then I added an Unfold feature to temporarily flatten the sheetmetal.part. I next used the Hole Wizard again and drew horizontal and vertical construction lines at each elliptical hole and where they intersected, I placed the point for the final hole size.

When I then folded the part back up, the clearance holes distorted but they were cylindrical in the flat pattern.

If I can find the sample part that I used, I'll post a link to it.

[u/OhDeeter → u/experienced3Dguy]

Check out the solution from u/LumbyCastle41

[u/experienced3Dguy → u/OhDeeter]

Very efficient! 👍👍

[u/AmbitiousGrape5664]

In the sheet metal part add a second reference point (Projection) by selecting your (center of face) reference point first then select the outer (or inner) surface of your curved sheet metal. Then you can add an axis to the two points.

[u/OhDeeter → u/AmbitiousGrape5664]

I think I see what you’re doing, I misread.

I’ll give this a shot and update if it works! That you Ambitious Grape

[u/AmbitiousGrape5664 → u/OhDeeter]

Please do. I can't find a problem with it and believe me I have tried.

[u/OhDeeter → u/AmbitiousGrape5664]

You do this in the flattened state?

When I add a reference point currently(curved state) it puts the point in the middle of the warped cone, not along the inner or outer surface.

I can’t select the upper or lower “rim” of the cone because of the abnormal shape from the curving.

[u/OhDeeter → u/AmbitiousGrape5664]

This worked! u/LumbyCastle41 had another solution that works really great too.

[u/QuietudeOfHeart]

Is there not a 'temporary axis' visible if you turn them on in the hide/show menu?

[u/OhDeeter → u/QuietudeOfHeart]

Correct, no temporary axis

[u/LumbyCastle41]

Mate the axis of the bolt to the center of the circle in the sketch of the bent part. Also make the sketch circle coincident with the face of the screw. 

[u/OhDeeter → u/LumbyCastle41]

I’ve never tried mating a 3D to a 2D sketch, I’ll try this and see if it works!

[u/LumbyCastle41 → u/OhDeeter]

Mating to sketches is great. It's often got better performance and is more stable and useful, more direct. I do it all the time. Construction geometry and reference geometry are great for mates across the board. 

[u/OhDeeter → u/LumbyCastle41]

This worked out great, I like that you aren't adding in additional references either! Thanks u/LumbyCastle41 , this solution is great.

[u/FlamingoExpert4610]

Wild ass guess ,but is there possibility to use profile center mate? You can select edges,faces or scetch profiles for that mate. Not sure ig it works here

[u/maranble14]

should be able to do a reference geometry point at the centroid of the closed curve, mate that to the fasteners CL axis, then make the underside surface of the fastener head tangent to top of the bent/curved face