Width Mate feature request 2021

[Anonymous]

I recently moved from Solidworks to Inventor, and the transition has been a smooth one in all ways but one: Inventor does not have a width mate feature to aid with assembly. A width mate allows the user to center a part, feature or component equidistant between two edges or planes on a different part, feature or component, without the need to sketch and mate additional center planes. It is not the same as the current Symmetry feature, because Symmetry does not allow the user to select different faces on the same part, e.g. centering a clearance hole between the top and bottom edges of a slot in another part. I've linked to a YouTube video with a demonstration of the width feature below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFiPxAMmxKc

Of course there are other methods of centering assembly components that yield the same result, but those methods require opening individual parts and sketching new workplanes, or measuring then adding or subtracting diameters of slots or holes for an offset mate, etc. Adding a width mate feature would streamline workflows by eliminating these extra steps. This feature has been requested repeatedly for a decade now, as shown by the archived Inventor Forum post from 2011 and the Inventor Ideas post from 2013 linked below.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/width-mate/td-p/2937346

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/introduction-of-width-mates/idi-p/4352019

I sincerely hope this post can reach the developers so that this incredibly useful feature can be added as soon as possible.

[SharkDesign]

You can do this with joints.

Sometime's you have to rotate the part to an odd angle to select the dot you want, but what you're asking is usually possible

[SharkDesign]

Also, if you have a feature request you can put it on the inventor ideas forum

[CGBenner]

@Anonymous 

If you do decide to add this as an enhancement request, here is the link to the >>Ideas forum<<.  Post the Idea, and then hit your netowrk or this forum to drum up votes for it.  Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm looking into how to use joints now. Seems good in theory, but I'll be doing some practice with joints to see if they can do what I'm after. I'll update this thread with my findings.

I also cross-posted my original post on the Ideas board as recommended.

[SharkDesign]

I made this for someone else, but it shows how I used joints to centre the part. 

Might not work as well on funky shaped geometry.

https://autode.sk/3ysCn7O

[Anonymous]

I like the look of that, thanks. By the way, another video I watched recommended pressing and holding CTRL so the alignment dots on a face don't disappear as you move your mouse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ4fH4BB7Fs around the 50 second mark).

[gmarken]

I have entered a width mate request several times over the 13 years that I have been using Inventor. It never makes it into the wish list ranking. It is such a nice simple mate and I do miss it but just learned to live without it.

[paul.hadleyEBN96]

Agreed the SW width mate is very powerful and quick, same as its symmetry mate

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Folks,

I also agree SWX's Width Mate is cool, easier to use than INV's Symmetric Constraint. In INV, you will need to create a mid plane in the middle part (edit the part -> Workplane -> pick the two side faces). Then it can be used as a the symmetry reference plane.

Many thanks!