Enter properties for 2D contact joints

Add properties to 2D contact joints after creating the joint. You can select whether you want to show action or reaction forces and the types of force (normal, tangential, or resulting) you want to display. If you like, you can scale and/or color the normal, tangential, and resulting force vectors so they are easier to see.

1. In the Dynamic Simulation browser, right-click a 2D contact joint and select Properties.

   Although there is now only one 2D contact in Dynamic Simulation, any legacy contact disc-curve or contact point-curve joints are automatically converted to 2D contact joints immediately after you open Dynamic Simulation.

2. If you want to exclude the joint from all calculations without totally removing it from the mechanism, select Suppress joint.
   Note: The joint is active by default; that is, Suppress joint is not selected.
3. If you must invert the normal of the curve on the first component, click the first Invert normal .
   Note: The normal of the curve, given by the Z axis of the 2D contact joint coordinate system , defines the outside of the curve. If this axis was inverted during joint insertion, the joint may behave incoherently during simulation .
4. If you must invert the normal of the curve on the second component, click the next Invert normal .
5. If you want to change the restitution coefficient, enter the value in the Restitution box.

   By default, the restitution coefficient is .8.

6. If you want to change the coefficient of friction , enter the value in the Friction box.

   The default is 0.15.

7. Click More to see properties that affect only the display of the force vector in the graphics window.
   • Click Action if you want to show the action force on this 2D contact joint.
   • Alternatively, click Reaction if you want to show the reaction force.
   • Optionally, click Normal to show the normal vector of the force.
   • Optionally, click Tangential to show the tangential vector of the force.
   • Optionally, click Resulting to show the resulting vector of the force.
   • If you want to scale one or more of the three vectors, enter the scale factor in the box to the right of the vector type.

     Scaling a vector can make it easier to see the entire vector in the graphics window, but has no effect on results.

     The default is 0.01.

   • If you want to change the color of a vector, click the color to the far right of the vector type to open the Microsoft Color window and then select the color.
8. Select OK.

   The program applies the properties and closes the dialog box.