how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
(OP)
Hi guys,
we routinely send part files back and forth to our manufacturer in China. It's becoming a file management nightmare.
How can you track revision changes to part files? Currently I send the file along with a email detailing each change, be it dimensional or a new feature. This seems really dumb, and a huge time waster, and very hard to track.
Any input greatly appreciated
Gerry
www.scatmat.com
we routinely send part files back and forth to our manufacturer in China. It's becoming a file management nightmare.
How can you track revision changes to part files? Currently I send the file along with a email detailing each change, be it dimensional or a new feature. This seems really dumb, and a huge time waster, and very hard to track.
Any input greatly appreciated
Gerry
www.scatmat.com






RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
When a revision was sent, there were three sets of solid bodies:
- The most recent revision of the part
- A set of solid bodies showing net material added
- A set of solid bodies showing net material removed.
Transcends all language barriers, it does.http://www.EsoxRepublic.com
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
functions in the Utilities module. It can compare & highlight differences between Documents, Features & Geometry.
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
- using SW2005: you can add a note for each changed/created feature, where you show the revision state
- using SW200x: you can change the feature name in order to show the revision state
Regards
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
In SW2005 you can add a Comment to each feature
and
In SW2005 you can use the Design Journal for recording your changes.
Regards,
Scott Baugh, CSWP

macduff (Mechanical)
MacPT,
Dennyd (Mechanical)
macduff,
macduff (Mechanical)
Dennyd,
Beggar (Mechanical)
I make a new configuration for each new revision. You can then use API to generate a list of config-specific dimensions and their values.
StiLLiving (Industrial)
I'm using Visual Safe Source (VSS) - part of MS Visual Studio to back up all my data. Simple, easy to use and this enables me to keep track of any changes/revs. Simply update database and put your comments. Beauty of this is cmplete part history at any time and ability to roll back to very first revision if needed.
macPT (Mechanical)
Dennyd
Dennyd (Mechanical)
macPT,
macduff (Mechanical)
Dennyd,
aamoroso (Mechanical)
Some things we have done in the past, SW04, we use a second sheet for the drawing and keep history notes on it for detailed information on revisions.
3DVision Technologies
http://www.scottjbaugh.com
Merry Christmas
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
Great suggestions and would like to add another one.
-using SW2005: you can add Exel and Word documents within a part model. This allows you to keep revision history with the part.
Macduff
Meggitt Airdynamics Inc.
Dell Precision 370
SW2004 Pro SP4.1
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1300
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
The ability to add a Word, Excel, txt, or any other file has been a part of SWX from day 1, not just 2005. I used to keep a Word doc open in the file which encouraged me to write down why I did what I did. This is especially helpful when doing new product development and you are trying many things.
- - -Dennyd
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
Guess I learned something today. I'm going home now.....
Have a good Holiday all,
Macduff
Meggitt Airdynamics Inc.
Dell Precision 370
SW2004 Pro SP4.1
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1300
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
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Bring back the HP-15
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RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
You are correct, but with 2005 you can attach this file to the design bin of the feature manager tree, which I think it's a much more pratical and elegant way to link this kind of documents to SW.
I'm planning, in the near future, that every documents related to the development of one part/assembly (thoughts, calculations, quality reports, specifications,...) will be accessed directly from the feature manager tree.
Regards
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
That's good info. Can you create a part template with this type of documentation already setup?
- - -Dennyd
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
Yes you can have setup in your templates. I've been working on that as we speak. I have our "Engineering Analysis" form imported as well as our "ECO form". Both of them our Excel documents.
Also,
Your last comment was talking about inserting docs in 2004. Can't figure how to get them loaded in the command manager.
Best,
Macduff
Meggitt Airdynamics Inc.
Dell Precision 370
SW2004 Pro SP4.1
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1300
RE: how do you know what changes have been made to a part?
Another option we have used is each revision is a seperate configuration, this is not always a great option for development, in those instances a new file (copy of the last rev) could be saved with the new rev level in the file name.