We’ll cover two major areas in this post. First, we’ll look at assembly patterns which let you duplicate components automatically. Then we’ll explore interference detection, a tool that checks your assembly for overlapping or conflicting parts. Both of these are incredibly useful and widely used in real-world engineering workflows.
Assembly Patterns Overview
When you're building an assembly, you often need to reuse the same component multiple times. Rather than manually inserting and mating each instance, SOLIDWORKS lets you create assembly-level patterns to duplicate parts quickly and accurately.
The two most common types of patterns you’ll use in an assembly are the linear component pattern and the circular component pattern.
A linear component pattern creates copies of a part or subassembly along one or two linear directions. You control the distance between instances as well as the total number of items in the pattern.
A circular component pattern arranges copies of a part around a central axis or cylindrical face. Here you can set the total angle of rotation, the number of instances, and whether the spacing is equal.
These pattern tools are essential when working with evenly spaced features like mounting tabs, holes, braces, or fasteners.
Creating a Linear Component Pattern
Let’s look at how a linear component pattern works with a simple example. In this case, we’ve already added a mounting tab to a base plate and we want to add two more, all aligned along the front edge.
To begin, we go to the Linear Component Pattern tool in the Assembly tab. First, we define the direction by selecting an edge on the base plate that runs parallel to the desired pattern direction. Next, we choose the component to pattern, in this case the mounting tab. Finally, we set the spacing between each instance and define how many total instances we want. This number includes the original part, so make sure to count it in your total.
Once everything looks correct, clicking the green tick will confirm the pattern. Just like that, we’ve quickly added multiple components without needing to reinsert or remate them.
Creating a Circular Component Pattern
Now let’s take a look at how to apply a circular pattern. In this example, we’ve got a gusset already in place between a cylinder and a base plate, and we want to add two more gussets spaced evenly around the cylinder.
To do this, we open the Circular Component Pattern tool. For the direction, we select the outer face of the cylinder which provides a circular axis. Then we choose the gusset as the component to pattern.
We set the angle to 360 degrees to distribute the components around the full circle and enable the equal spacing option to make sure everything is evenly placed. Once applied, the gussets are positioned correctly. And because the first gusset was already mated into place, the copies inherit that positioning and no extra mates are needed.
Using Interference Detection to Check Fit
Now that we've added more components to the assembly, it's important to check that everything fits together properly. This is where the Interference Detection tool becomes incredibly valuable.
Even though your model may look fine visually, SOLIDWORKS will still allow parts to overlap or intersect in ways that wouldn’t work in the real world. This usually happens because of incorrectly applied mates or component placement errors.
To check for interferences, we head over to the Evaluate tab and choose Interference Detection. You can run this check on the entire assembly or limit it to a selection of parts. Once you click Calculate, SOLIDWORKS scans the model and provides a list of all detected interferences. You’ll also get a visual preview of each issue so you can investigate them one by one.
In this case, we find multiple interferences between the gussets and the base plate. This suggests there’s something wrong with the positioning of the original gusset that was used to create the pattern. Exiting the Interference Detection tool, we take a closer look at the mates for the first gusset. It turns out there’s a distance mate that places the gusset slightly below the surface of the plate, causing the overlap.
We fix this by editing the mate and changing it to a coincident mate instead, which properly aligns the bottom of the gusset with the top face of the plate. Running the interference check again confirms the fix and shows that there are no longer any conflicts.
Final Thoughts
By using assembly-level patterns, you can significantly speed up the process of adding repeated parts to your design. Whether you're arranging mounting holes, braces, fasteners, or any other repeated feature, patterns help you do it quickly and consistently. Combined with tools like interference detection, which help you identify and fix issues early, you can build more efficient and accurate assemblies.
These features are especially important as your projects become more complex. Taking the time to learn and use them effectively will save you hours of manual work and give you greater confidence that your designs will work the way they’re supposed to.
This brings us to the end of our SOLIDWORKS Assembly mini series. Whether you're just starting out or refining your workflow, we hope this has helped you feel more confident building assemblies in SOLIDWORKS.
