Aligned Vs Linear constraints

[Fleiscal01]

Hello,

I'm really hoping you guys can help me as I haven't gotten great advice yet. Let me preface by saying I'm a newbie so lay-man's step by step help would be helpful (I've been getting a lot of "just do it" kind of help from other sources).

I am trying to parametrically draw A V-slide plate. I have all the constraints in EXCEPT- the linear distance between the 2 parallel lines should be 1.625. No matter what I do whenever I try to enter this constraint I loose my tangents.

Also, can  someone explain the difference between a linear constraint and an aligned constraint? Either one I use I cannot get the constraint value to match the value in the dimension (I just have the dimension in there for now so I can see if the constraint matches the dimension). I have been playing around with the shift>right click to bring up more constraint point options but I get a lot of errors when I use that.

Also, the center point of the bottom right radius needs to be 1.375 away from the vertical center. I had that set earlier but when I trimmed the circle, now it is off. What constraint would I use to reset it? I tried linear but I got an invalid point error when I tried to select the center point of the radius.

Any help or resources you have, I would be eternally grateful.

Thank you,

Abbey

[leeminardi · Accepted solution]

"Collinear" (yes, it is spelled with two l's) is a geometric constraint whereas "aligned" is a type of linear dimension that established a dimensional constraint.  To create the linear dimensional constraint of 1.625 you need two vertices that you can reference with an aligned dimension line that lie on an imaginary line perpendicular to the sloped "V" line.

In the following illustration I added two lines (gray) the are collinear with two different edges and their ends have a coincident constraint.  The aligned dimension references the vertices circled in red.

  

[Fleiscal01]

That makes a lot of sense! Thank you so much! Basically I shouldn't be trimming off my construction lines so that I can constrain properly, and then hiding them at the end instead?

I think I finally got it! Thank you so much, I've been working on this one for a few days!