Invalid characters - need work around 4

[darnell]

I was wondering if anyone had a workaround for this;

Some of our part numbers have characters like "1/8 HEX NUT" with the invalid character being the slash. When we create an assembly using this part, we would like to populate the BOM on the drawing with the actual part numbers. How can we work around this since we can't save a part with slashes?

We are using SW2004, SP2.1

Thanks in advance

 

[ctopher]

Can you use ".125 HEX NUT" ?

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

How about .125 or -125 or 1!8 or 1•8 or better yet by using the Character map feature of windows you could use ?

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

OK that last one should have shown 1/8 in superscript/subscript style but I guess this forums TGML doesn't recognize that. It does work in Windows & SolidWorks though.

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

 

[darnell]

The reason we need 1/8 (the slash) over .125 or something else is because these part numbers are in our AS400 with the slash which is how everything gets ordered, by the part number already in the system

 

[darnell]

I also think this is a windows thing as you can''t use the following characters / \ : * ? < > in the file name

 

[ctopher]

We have the same problem with AS400. But we use .125 and if someone needs to input 1/8, they need to know the conversion. That is our work around.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Yes it is a Windows thing, but you should be able to use the Character Map fractions. Check Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Charcter Map under Arial, 1st & 5th page.

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

This what I mean

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

 

[darnell]

Thanks CorBlimeyLimey, the first one at the top (U+002F: Solidus) didn't work but the one down toward the bottom (U+2215: Division Slash) worked within Windows Explorer. I ran it through an assy and it seems to work - Thanks again.

 

[Arlin]

Answer to all of your problems!!!

Name the part filename anything you wish (1-8 hex nut for example).
Go into the config manager of the part (even if it only has one config).
Right click on your configuration and choose properties.
Under 'Part number displayed when used in a bill of materials' select 'User Specified Name' and type in the name exactly as you want it to appear in your BOM (you can include illegal filename characters such as / or ?).
DONE!!

Only drawback now is that the filename does not match the part number.

 

[darnell]

I thinkk Arlin, CorBlimeyLimey and ctopher had good work arounds. We will be going to a PDM system within a year so we will try and look at which way is best supported since we have hundreds of part numbers that utilize the / (slash)

Thanks!

If there are other ways, I'd love to hear about them