Copy Assembly & Drawings?

[MikeInSoCalif]

I know I can use the File>Find Referances to copy a complete assembly to another location. Is there a way to also copy the drawings? I would like the copied assembly and drawings to be associated with eachother, but be completely disassociated with the source assembly and drawings.

Mike Puckett
Group Leader
Los Angeles/Orange County
Solidworks User Group

 

[dezignstuff]

Not yet unless you're using PDMWorks. I heard a lot of people suggesting that one, though.

 

[rockguy]

Mike,

If your files (parts, assemblies, drawings)are all contained within one (top level)folder you can copy the entire folder in win Explorer. Then go the SW explorer and rename the part and assemblies files. You can also rename the drawing files in SW explorer or win explorer. this will give you 2 seperate files (projects) with all the parts assemblies and drawings with unique names in seperate locations (folders). Its easier to do this in PDMWorks and it looks like SW 2007 is going to make this easier also.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP
President: Northern
Vermont SolidWorks User Group

http://www.robrodriguez.com

(updated 1/30/06)
SW 2006 SP 3.0

 

[ctopher]

I prefer using SW Expl. Renaming SW files in Win Exp will break links. I agree with the others that PDMWorks is easier.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[SnowCrash]

What I have done in the past is save a new assembly in a new directory, changing the names of all the parts using save as. I then copy the drawings to the new directory with Windows Explorer, renaming them to match the new part numbers.
Temporarily change the name of the original assembly host directory so the parts cannot be found by SW.
Open each of the drawings in turn. The part will not be found, you find it yourself by clicking to the new part number. It should open correctly and each of the drawings can then be saved. When you are done, rename the original host directory back to what it should be.
This is crude, but has worked since SW98 or so.

--
Hardie "Crashj" Johnson
SW 2005 SP 4.0 (reluctant to change)
Matrox Millenium G550
AMD Athalon 1.8 GHz 512 Meg RAM

 

[MikeInSoCalif]

Yeah, looks like there isnt an easy way to do this untill 2007 comes out. Also not much of a chance of getting PDMworks either. Looks like Rob's idea is the quickest.

Thanks for the input.

Mike Puckett
Group Leader
Los Angeles/Orange County
Solidworks User Group

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Another way, using SW Explorer, is to copy the assy drawing(s) & select the Copy Children option, deselect any standard (library) parts which need not be copied. Then copy the part drawing(s) again using the Copy Children option.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[rockguy]

I should clarify. You will want to rename your files using SW explorer (always do this). It is possible however to rename drawings files with win Explorer and their refrences remain intact.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP
President: Northern
Vermont SolidWorks User Group

http://www.robrodriguez.com

(updated 1/30/06)
SW 2006 SP 3.0

 

[cadman1997]

One option would be CopyProject. It copies all
Assemblies, Models and Drawings associated with the main
Assembly. It will copy the File Structure if you wish.
Plus you set it to rename the new files. That is what I
use to copy one project to another location and it works
o.k. for me.

Cheers,

Ralph Wright, CSWP
SolidWorks 2005, SP5.0
P4, 2.53Ghz
1.5 Gb RAM
ATI Fire GL8800 Card
Windows 2000 Pro

 

[neilc78]

I have just been looking at the very same thing. PDMworks is the best option that comes as part of the SW package. You use the copy project option. It isn't a perfect piece of software by any means so if you are trying to justify it to management then try and get a trial version of it first.

 

[mncad]

It's fairly simple to copy the drawings. After you have copied the parts and assemblies (I do it using SW itself, right in the open file screen using the references) all you have to do is copy and paste the drawing while you are in the SW open file screen. After pasting the the drawing file rename it to what you want, highlight the name of the new file then click on references in the open file screen, browse to the new model or assembly that you want, then open the file. I generally make sure that I don't have any files open when I start this.

mncad