Handling Handed parts

[mrkoko]

Just wondering how others handle handed parts and assemblys in Solidworks; when it comes to things like naming them, making drawings for them and how they appear on the BOM?

 

[fcsuper]

Handed part?

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

 

[mrkoko]

Handed part = Right hand / left hand .... symmetrically opposite parts....

 

[daveparkinson]

Mr. Koko - so far I have created the left hand part of my product on the left side of plane and then mirrored it around that to create the right hand part. Then I use the add suffix or prefix option to label it RH or LH.

I'm not sure if this is the best way of achieving handed parts, so I'm very interested to see how other people manage it.

Some times I have trouble achieving the desired orientation of the mirrored part, although this is likely to be caused by my inexperience more than anything else.

 

[adampunch]

i've seen a couple methods for naming- adding R or L to the end of the part number, or adding -1 (for right) and -2 (for left).

Usually i make a drawing for the right-hand part and add a note that says the left hand part is opposite.

 

[fcsuper]

I usually give it its own part number and desc. However, in my work environment, we don't like linked parts, so will usually create the parts individually if possible.

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

 

[ctopher]

In the assy you can mirror the part. I would give them separate part numbers.
If they are complicated parts, I would link them and when updating one the other will update, but still a separate P/N.
Otherwise, I would do the same as Matt and model them separately.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 2.0
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)

 

[mrkoko]

Ok, how about this. How do you guy handle quantities of handed parts ? Lets say you need 2 rights and 3 lefts for some reason.... do you write the quantities right on the drawing or ... is there some custom automated software that does it .. or ?

 

[ctopher]

Are you using the SW BOM? The BOM should populate the parts.
Curious, where does the term 'handed' parts come from?

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 2.0
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)

 

[smcadman]

It depends on handed parts for us. If it is the same model, except with holes on opposite sides, then we use the config name of "LH" and "RH", So the part number on the drawing and BOM is ######-LH &######-RH.

If it is a mirror of the whole body itself, then I make a mirror in the assembly level, and give the mirrored part the next consecutive number following the original.

Flores

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

"Handed part?"

"Curious, where does the term 'handed' parts come from?"

Are you guys serious? You've never heard the term "handed part" before?
Left hand, right hand, opposite hand ---> handed.
What would be more logical? Bloody foreigners!

 

[ctopher]

Of course I have heard of "Left hand, right hand, opposite hand", but never heard anyone call it a "handed part". When I first read the post, I thought of maybe some manufacturing term, not a CAD term.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 2.0
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)

 

[daveparkinson]

I think the phrase comes from common sense really. Without discussing such parts with other people first I referred to them as handed parts, it just makes sense to me.

Does anyone have any simple assemblies that show how they have organised handed parts? I would be interested to have a look!

 

[mrkoko]

Just a kind of related question, does your part file name (ie xxxx.slprt) equal the part number that appears in a BOM?

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Chris,
It is more of a manufacturing term then a CAD term. More specifcally a draughting term used in the UK ... at least it was when I were there.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

mrkoko,
I would create a separate part number and detailed drawing for each handed part. At some future time you may need to manufacture just the LH part(s) without need of the other.

 

[gwubs]

We use the same filename plus M (mirror)for suffix. For example 12345.sldprt & 12345M.sldprt That way we do not need to worry about interpretation of whether something is left or right. You'd be surprised what people can waste time arguing about! Any mirrored part following our definition has to be identical in every way except for the mirror. We check this in API routines by comparing the weight within .1%. If the weight is different it, must be different. We make a drawing for the mirrored and nonmirrored part so that we can use each part where ever we want. We do the same for mirrored assemblies.

 

[Standing]

I am looking for a Left handed crescent wrench.

Bradley
SolidWorks Pro 2008 x64 SP3.0
PDMWorks Workgroup, SolidWorks BOM, Dell XPS Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU
3.00 GHz, 5 GB RAM, Virtual memory 12577 MB, nVidia 3400
Use SolidWorks BOM
e-mail is Lotus Notes

 

[gwubs]

Sorry, only available in metric sizing.

 

[ctopher]

I am looking for a Left handed screwdriver.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 2.0
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)