Determining Orientation of Pipe Elbows

[ptc-4658262]

Hello, I am currently trying to create a model of a ROV made out of cPVC.

I have tried constructing this with pin constraints, however once I get further in the model I start to get numbers that are off by very small amounts.

The small errors prevent me from attaching segments of the model across certain segments.

Is there a way I can orient a PVC elbow in a certain direction instead of leaving it as a pin constraint?

Thanks

[Dale_Rosema]

You could do an insert mate for aligning the elbow with the pipe. You can do an align/mate with an offset fromt he edge of the elbow to the edge of the pipe (for how much the part will be inserted). Make sure that allow assumptions is off. Finally, I would change from placement to move tab (and motion type to rotate) and rotate the elbow more than 90 away from where it needs to be. Go back to placement and mate the plane of the elbow to the plane of the pipe and it should give you a orientation (in degrees) that you can set or tweek to get the correct alignment for the elbow.

I hope this helps.

[ptc-4658262]

I ended up creating an angle offset between the datum plane of the attached PVC pipe and the outside-facing end of the elbow bracket, that allowed me to specify an angle and make the model accurate.

Thanks for the help!