Error Message - Mate Errors

Potential Error Messages

  • One of the entities could not be created. The geometry may have changed or may be unsuitable for this mating relation.
  • One of the entities of this mate is suppressed, invalid, or no longer present.
  • Planar faces are parallel but misaligned.
  • Planar faces are not parallel. Angle is <n>deg.
  • Planar faces are not the correct distance apart. Actual distance is <X>, desired is <Y>.
  • This mate cannot be solved. Consider:
    • Deleting this mate.
    • Moving the assembly closer to the desired solution with dragging.
    • Adding more mates to further define the assembly.
    • Changing the mating scheme.
  • This mate is over defining the assembly. Consider deleting some of the over defining mates.
  • The following error and warning icons in the FeatureManager design tree indicate the type of mate error.
    Icon Description
    When it appears on the Mates folder, it indicates that one or more mates are not satisfied.
    When it appears on the Mates folder, it indicates that all the mates are satisfied, but one or more mates are over defined.

    Expand the Mates folder to see each mate error icon and mate status.

    Icon Mate Status
    <none> Satisfied. Mate entities exist and a valid mate is possible.
    Not satisfied. A valid mate is not possible for geometric reasons, or mate entities do not exist, which results in dangling mates.
    Satisfied, but over defines the assembly.

Potential Reasons and Fixes for These Error Messages

Potential Reason for Error Message Potential Fix
All mate errors Use MateXpert for guidance when fixing mate errors. See MateXpert.
Conflicting or redundant over defining mates

Delete or edit the mate that causes the problem. The best practice is to fix over defined mates when they occur, and not later.

When mates conflict, one approach is to suppress the over defining mates one at a time until the assembly is no longer over defined. This can help you identify the cause of the conflict. Delete or edit the offending mate to resolve the conflict.

See Example: Conflicting Mates.

Dangling mates

The mate cannot find one or both of its references. The referenced component may have been suppressed, deleted, or changed so the mate cannot be solved.

The most common way to fix these errors is to select a replacement reference. See Mated Entities PropertyManager.

See also Example: Mates to Dangling Geometry.

Design errors such as inaccurate or incorrect geometry or relations

A common problem involves concentric relations of two parts with hole features.

In the example below, the right side holes of the two parts have a concentric relation. When you try to add a second concentric relation to the holes in green on the left, the sketch is over defined because the distance between the holes on one part is not the same as the distance between the corresponding holes on the other part.

See Example: Design Errors and Mating.

In-context mating conflicts

You deleted an Inplace mate, then added a mate between a part that was created in the context of an assembly and another component.

Such conflicts only happen if the mate conflicts with an existing in context relation. You can create parts in the context of an assembly without referencing other geometry. These types of parts no not cause a conflict if you delete the in place mate.

See Example: Conflicts Between Mates and In-context Features.

Mating conflicts with sketch relations