configurations and part numbers

[cmm]

As far as I know the is no way to assign a configuration a part number that the BOM part number field AND a drawing's title block can link to. I can go to Configuration Properties and select User Specified Name from the pull down menu and enter a part number in the "Part number displayed when used in a bill of materials" field, but I can't link my drawing border to this part number. At my company we typically enter the part number as the part's Title property (Properties > Summary > Title), which a drawing title block can link to ("SW-Title&quot, but there is no way to assign a title to a configuration. Our workaround so far has been to use the base part feature. That is, we make one part (the base part) with many configurations and then make many new derived parts, each referencing a configuration of the Base Part. This is a cumbersome solution, and the derived parts leave out cosmetic threads. Any suggestions? Anyone know if this problem will be solved in 2003? I am currently using SW2001+ SP5.1.

 

[macPT]

cmm, I will describe the design process I use:

- The parts have a 10 digit code. Example: part 1234667800
The last two digits are for variants (the basic shape and manufacturing process is the same but the parts have some differences).
- Each of variants are designed as configurations of the base part. The name of each configuration is the code itself. Example: configuration 1234567801, 1234567802, 1234567803...
- The part file is saved with file name 12345678XX.sldprt
- I have some custom properties, for each configuration,and one of them is the part CODE. This CODE as the same value as the configuration name it refers.
- Then I make a drawing for each configuration. The sheet format calls the property $PRPSHEET{CODE} (the name must be the same as the custom property). This way the sheet format returns the value of the configuration you selected to draw (in fact, I call other custom properties like weigth, area, revision number,... and the sheet format allways returns the values of the selected configuration)
- The drawings are saved with file names equal to the configuration names: 1234567801.slddrw, 1234567802.slddrw,...
The drawing 1234567855.slddrw is the drawing of the configuration name 1234567855 of the part 12345678XX.sldprt

Hope that this can help you

 

[cmm]

Thanks for your response macPT. What about BOMs though? I don't know how to get a custom property to show up in a BOM's "PART NO." column.

 

[CajunCAD]

You will need to add a custom field to your BOM template file. If you use CODE to keep track of the part numbers in configurations as suggested by macPT you will need to add a column named CODE. Do not delete the existing columns in the SolidWorks BOM template file, this will prevent them form functioning properly. To get your BOM to display correctly Hide the unwanted columns.

I handle multiple configurations of parts in this manner. I created a custom file property called PART_NUMBER which is added to each configuration. I name each configuration with the desired part number and then add additional information in parenthesis.

12345 (material)
12346 (material, feature)
12347 (material, feature, feature)

This allows me to easily identify the desired configuration to display in an assembly or drawing.

Hope this helps.

 

[SBaugh]

I have made an example of what I think it is your looking for.

You can Download it at:

http://www.3dmca.com/Design_Portfolio/Custom_Bom.zip

I hope this is what your looking for.

Best Regards and good luck, Scott Baugh, CSWP
credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com

http://www.3dmca.com

http://home.insightbb.com/~scott.baugh/

*When in doubt always check the help*

 

[macPT]

I really do not use the SW BOM. I have an Excel macro that reads configuration dependent properties across all the assembly and subassemblies and list the properties for each component. This Excel file will serve for data import into our production management system. cmm, you can have a good start by downloading this macro

http://solidworks.cad.de/mm_02.htm

and learn to develop one that suits you. You should extract not only the MassProp(5) to Excel, but also all the Model.CustomInfo2(configname, propertyname)of your interest.