When you click one or more elements in the graphic-area, Assembly-Tree or Kinematics-Tree, they show in the Selection-Window.

You can delete the element using the Selection-Window.

Here, the element we will delete is a Pin-Joint.

STEP 1: Delete the Pin-Joint

1.Mechanism-Editor: Click the Pin-Joint

Look in the Selection-Window.

It is possible, and even likely, that you will select more than one element.

In this case, we have clicked the Pin-Joint and a CAD-Line.

2.Selection-Window: Right-click the Pin-Joint in the Selection-Window.

A contextual-menu shows.

3.Selection-Window: Click Delete in the contextual menu

You will delete the Pin-Joint.

After you delete the Pin-Joint, you will see that the Part-Outlines of the Parts become Blue.

Blue Parts are not kinematically-defined.

Notes:

MechDesigner will also delete the Motion-Dimension FB - it is bug!

Because we delete the Motion-Dimension FB when we delete the Pin-Joint  - which is a bug - we will add it again now.

STEP 2: Re-add the Motion-Dimension FB

1.Mechanism-Editor: Click Kinematic-FB toolbar > Add Motion-Dimension FB

Click the Pin-Joint

Click the Line in the Base-Part

Click the Line along the short Part.

Click in the Command-Manager

First, we will replace the Pin-Joint that we deleted above.

Note: Occasionally, you can only make a Part-Outline red if you hover above the arc near the start-Point of the Part.

STEP 1: Replace the Pin-Joint

1.Mechanism-Editor: Click Edit menu > Undo, or the Edit Toolbar > Undo icon

- or -

1.Mechanism-Editor: : Do CTRL + Z key combination

- or -

1.Mechanism-Editor: Click Kinematic elements toolbar > Add Pin-Joint, | Click the two Points again again

In the graphic-area, you can see the Pin-Joint is in the model again. The Parts are Green Parts again.

Parts with Green Part-Outlines are Kinematically Defined.

STEP 2: Delete the Pin-Joint - again!

1.Click to the left of the graphic-area - the Assembly tab

2.Explore the Assembly-Tree to find the Pin-Joint that you want to delete -

Here Pin-Joint7 - see Note 2 below.

3.Right-click the Pin-Joint in the Assembly-Tree -

4.Select Delete in the contextual-menu.

In the image to the left, we can see the Part-Outlines of the Parts have become Blue.

The Parts are now not kinematically-defined.

Because we delete the Motion-Dimension FB when we delete the Pin-Joint  - which is a bug - we will add it again now.

STEP 3: Re-add the Motion-Dimension FB

1.Click Kinematic-FB toolbar > Add Motion-Dimension FB

Click the Pin-Joint

Click the Line in the Base-Part

Click the Line along the short Part.

Click in the Command-Manager

STEP 1: Re-add the Pin-Joint

1.Use Edit menu > Undo, or the Edit Toolbar > Undo icon

- or -

1.Use the CTRL + Z key combination.

The Parts-Outlines are now Green, again, as they are now kinematically-defined.

STEP 2: Delete the Pin-Joint - again!

1.Click on the Kinematics tab in the Project-Explorer to open the Kinematics-Tree.

2.Expand the R-R-R dyad.

You can see the list of three Pin-Joints and two Parts.

3.Click the Pin-Joint that has the Grounded Pin-Joint Symbol

The Pin-Joint is in the Selection-Window.

Again, you will see, as in the image to the left, the Part-Outlines are Blue (see Step 2.1A)

Blue Parts are not kinematically-defined.

Because we delete the Motion-Dimension FB when we delete the Pin-Joint  - which is a bug - we will add it again now.

STEP 3: Re-add the Motion-Dimension FB

1.Click Kinematic-FB toolbar > Add Motion-Dimension FB

Click the Pin-Joint

Click the Line in the Base-Part

Click the Line along the short Part.

Click in the Command-Manager

The kinematic-chain in the model has Pin-Joints only.

To remind us:

•A Pin-Joint is between two Points

•Each Point must be a child to a different Part

Imagine Point 1 is the Bearing Shaft (on Part 1), and Point 2 is the Bearing Housing (on Part 2).

Introducing the Slide-Joint

•A Slide-Joint is a joint between two Lines

•Each Line must be a child to a different Part

Imagine Line 1 is a Slide-Rail (on Part 1), and Line 2 is a Slide-Block (on Part 2)

To add a Slide-Joint, we need a Line in two different Parts. We are going to add a Slide-Joint between an Added-Part and the Base-Part.

We will use:

•The CAD-Line along the center of an added Part.  

•A new Line in the Base-Part,

Note: We can use any Line we add to a Part and the Base-Part.

STEP 1: Add a Slide-Rail to the Base-Part. We will edit the Base-Part to add a new Line

1.Mechanism Editor: Double-Click the rectangular Part-Outline to edit the Base-Part with the Part-Editor.

2.Part-Editor: Geometry toolbar > Add Line | Drag from left to right and slightly upwards to add (the drag direction becomes important later)

3.Part-Editor: Geometry toolbar > Add Dimensions to specify the position of the Line

When the Line is fully defined - Green in my color scheme to the left.

4.Exit the Part-Editor...

To exit the Part-Editor, we can use the Edit Part icon above the Geometry toolbar (left of Graphic-area).

4....continued... Click the Edit Part icon, , to deselect it, and return to the Mechanism-Editor.

Note:

The Base-Part is ALWAYS a kinematically-defined Part.

The Lines are Green in the Mechanism-Editor because each Line is a child to a kinematically-defined Part – the Base-Part

STEP 1: Add a Slide-Joint

1.Mechanism-Editor: Click Kinematic-elements toolbar > Add Slide-Joint

A Slide-Joint needs two Lines.

2.Mechanism-Editor: Click the CAD-Line along the Part

3.Mechanism-Editor: Click the Line that we have added to the Base-Part

See the mouse-pointer in the image to the left.

The Lines are now collinear. There is a Slide-Joint (see below: The Slide-Joint in the Graphic-Area)

The Slide-Joint has replaced the Pin-Joint.

STEP 2: If needed: Change the Dyad-Closure

We look at Dyad Closures in much more detail in the next STEP 2.4 Dyad Closures

There are four possible closures when you add the Slide-Joint:

•The Parts may jump to a different position

•AND / OR when you use Run menu (or toolbar) > Cycle, the Parts in the Dyad do not move as the Rocker moves.

1.Mechanism-Editor: Click Kinematic-element toolbar > Change Dyad Closure

2.Mechanism-Editor: Click on of the two Parts in the Dyad

3.Click in the Command-Manager

Do 1-3 again, and again, until the Parts are in the same position as the image to the left.

STEP 3: Expand the Kinematics-Tree

The Parts that were in the R-R-R Dyad are now in an R-R-P Dyad.

The three Joints in the R-R-P Dyad are:

•Two Revolute-Joints, (R-R-P), - or two Pin-Joints

•One Prismatic-Joint (R-R-P) - or one Slide-Joint

There are a three symbols to represent a Slide-Joint.

In the image we can see:

A Wide rectangular box: It is along the CAD-Line of the sliding- Part.

A Narrow rectangular box: It is along the Line of the Base-Part.

A small arrowhead at the start-Point of one of the Lines that you select for the Slide-Joint

The arrow-head shows the Positive Direction of the Slide-Joint.

The Positive Direction is important if you want to add a Motion-Dimension with the Slide-Joint.