How to lock Concentric Mate in an Assembly (New in SolidWorks 2014)

Lock Rotation Option with Concentric Mate (New in SolidWorks 2014)

You can prevent the rotation of components that are mated with concentric mates by selecting the Lock rotation option. Also the “-” symbol will no longer appear before the part in the design tree, thus indicating that the part has been fully constrained. We will understand this in detail using the below model.

 

To lock a concentric mate in an assembly:

1. Open the Mate PropertyManager for Concentric mate.

2. In the PropertyManager, select Lock rotation and click OK.

 

Locked concentric mates are indicated by different icon in the FeatureManager design tree as shown below. Green box shows a concentric mate without lock and Red box show with lock. (The inner circle in the concentric symbol is shaded when the lock rotation option is active)

 

 

To lock the rotation for an existing mate, in the FeatureManager design tree, select the concentric mate and click Edit Feature or Select the part to lock from the menu that appears on the screen and choose “View mates,“ a selection window will open with the concentric mate. Simply right click on the constraint and select the “Lock rotation” option.

 

Tip: To lock or unlock rotation on all concentric mates in an assembly, in the FeatureManager design tree, right-click the Mates folder and click Lock Concentric Rotation or Unlock Concentric Rotation.

Note: You cannot lock concentric mates when a referenced component is over-defined.