Tech Tip: Quickly Center Parts Using the Width Mate

Assembling symmetric or precisely centered parts can often require multiple steps and careful alignment. With Onshape’s new Width mate, achieving exact centering between parts is now simpler and more efficient than ever. This is especially useful in assemblies like handles, mounting brackets, U-joints, and other applications where symmetric placement and controlled motion are essential.

How the Width Mate Works

The Width mate allows you to center 1 or 2 parts precisely between two reference faces or surfaces. To apply it:

1. Select up to two Tab mate connectors located on the part (or parts) to be centered.
2. Select two Width mate connectors from the surrounding geometry. Typically these are opposite surfaces or edges of the component against which you are centering. Selecting 2 Width mate connectors is mandatory.

Onshape automatically calculates a mirrored center plane based on these Width mate connectors. The part stays precisely centered along this midplane, while still allowing translation and rotation parallel to the center plane, providing a clean and controlled assembly relationship.

Flexible Mate Connector Management

Onshape’s Width mate works seamlessly with both explicit (user-defined) and implicit (automatically inferred) Mate connectors, giving you maximum flexibility. A Mate connector can be edited anytime directly from the Mate dialog, allowing quick adjustments to its origin, axis alignment, and orientation, without unnecessary rework or complex adjustments.

Ideal for Complex and Asymmetric Geometry

Width mate also supports asymmetric geometry, which is traditionally difficult to align symmetrically. This significantly expands its usefulness, allowing you to center irregularly shaped parts without complex workarounds or compromises.

More Width Mate Use Cases

Width mates can be used with only 1 Tab mate connector as well. In that case, we center the tab in the width such that the Z-axis of the Tab mate connector lies in the mirror plane of the Width mate connectors.

Width mates can also be defined such that Width mate connectors can be on 2 different parts. This helps address use cases that are not resolved using the “Between entities” Mate connector, as we require both entities to come from the same part.

Enhance Your Workflow with Width Mate

Onshape’s mates are intentionally designed to streamline assembly creation, reducing the number of steps typically needed. With Width mate, we have introduced a powerful tool that not only simplifies centering multiple parts but does it uniquely within Onshape’s intuitive mating framework.

Check out the Onshape Learning Center for additional tips, tricks, and in-depth training materials. You might also enjoy exploring related assembly and mating Tech Tips here.

Ready to Design Using Width Mate?

Start your Professional Trial today and experience the efficiency of Onshape’s Width mate firsthand!