Is there a workaround to get "limit mates" (i.e. offset/angle constraints with a range of values) in CATIA?
If you're familiar with the concept of "limit mates" in SolidWorks, you'll know what I'm asking about.
Essentially, I'm looking for a way to constrain a pair of planar faces in a CATProduct such that in "Manipulation", when "with respect to constraints" is checked, I want to be able to move one of the planes within a given range of values offset from the other. For example, if I had two planes - one of which is fixed - I could move the other one around in "Manipulation" + "with respect to constraints" on (or, even better, in Kinematic Workbench) within a range of, say 10mm to 12mm.
Any idea how to do that? A workaround, or even an untested theory would be really appreciated.
1 Answer
As you probably know, CATIA does not have similar capability to the Limit Distance mate in Solidworks. I like the way Solidworks lets the part "float" between the max and min distances - CATIA does not behave the same way.
A CATIA workaround would be to add a Parameter with a max and min range, and then use that parameter to define the distance of an Offset constraint. To re-position the parts would require editing the parameter value to a new value within the range, which does not effect the Manipulation or Kinematics operations
