CAD Forum

Hello Guys
The part is symmetrical, I don't understand why it can't mirror normally. As I want only one option, the room creates a new part. I don't need to create a new piece, I designed the same piece to fit 4 corners.
Is there something I don't know?

There are many times where mirroring doesn't do what I want it to, so I just bring in another instance of the part/assembly and move on. I find in solidworks it frequently makes more sense to choose the known good workaround over bashing my head against the wall of something that should work but doesn't.

If the part is not symmetric then the mirror has to create a new part/configuration in order for it to display how you want it to.

You can see it here in my model - the hole doesn't shift to the other side since it has to be the same part If you want it to truly be a mirrored part it has to make a new one because the hole has to move to the other side Your not mirroring a feature, you are mirroring a part in the assembly. If your part is not symmetric about the mirroring axis then it has to create a new one.

TTevolve wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 10:00 am If the part is not symmetric then the mirror has to create a new part/configuration in order for it to display how you want it to.
...

yes, I am using the same part by re-attaching it to the assembly, this is normal, but I think it should be able to do such a simple operation (at least I think it is simple).
Maybe i should research a macro.

Again thanks for the replies.

Ömür Tokman wrote: ↑Sat Jan 14, 2023 6:23 am yes, I am using the same part by re-attaching it to the assembly, this is normal, but I think it should be able to do such a simple operation (at least I think it is simple).
Maybe i should research a macro.

This isn't that simple for the software. Your part is symmetrical only if you rotate it, not flipped around to the other side which has holes instead of slots. You want the part mirrored around the assembly plane, then rotated 90° along the bracket's Z axis (Not your part z axis, but z in relation to your mirror).

TTevolve wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 10:00 am If the part is not symmetric then the mirror has to create a new part/configuration in order for it to display how you want it to..
...
You're not mirroring a feature, you're mirroring a part in the assembly. If your part is not symmetric about the mirroring axis then it has to create a new one.

OMG... This actually makes a lot of sense. I never really did figure out the logic behind it.
To be fair, I never really looked into it either. I just assumed that it works how it does as a "feature" to compliment the Pattern Command.
I kinda just read the word Mirror and assumed (again) my understanding of what that nomenclature "ought" to mean and figured it was somewhat broken.
Of course I do understand others may use this functionality. But I have had little use for it.

When I first came across this I did not much like the extra parts the assembly mirror feature created either.
This is why I made all my mirrored parts as configurations in the part level.
I've been doing it this way for sooo long now I only ever use the assembly mirror feature for non-essential components that won't be fabricated in our shop.

Damo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 5:39 pm OMG... This actually makes a lot of sense. I never really did figure out the logic behind it.

Yea, it took me some playing around to figure this out. I will usually model a right hand/left hand version of parts separately since it never fails that someone wants to modify one or the other later on. In the case of the original poster I would have to make all 4 parts in his instance as we would need bending drawings for all 4 feet since bends would be reversed on all of them.

I submit that mirroring is broken in SW2022. Or at the very least, not doing what is shown in the icons.

Here is a simplified assembly I am putting together for some FE work. The column on the left is correct. The column on the right is a "mirror". There is no explanation that I can come up with that would explain the top block being inverted when using the option.
I can get it to work using a different option, but it isn't what I expect based upon the icon representing the choice. Maybe I don't understand what those icons mean.

I am a gif. Click me!