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Revision Letters vs. Numbers
4

Revision Letters vs. Numbers

Revision Letters vs. Numbers

(OP)
I cannot find standards documentation on pre-production vs. production revision labeling.  Does ANSI standards state a lettering vs. numbering preference?

Thank you, this website has been very helpful!

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

Not that we have found.

The only thing we have found is if you use letters, you skip I,O,Q,S,Z since they could look like numbers. We are adapting an Alpha revision scheme and ignoring the skipped letter preference; straigh A-Z, AA-ZZ.

"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
"Fixed in the next release" should replace "Product First" as the PTC slogan.

Ben Loosli
CAD/CAM System Analyst
Ingersoll-Rand

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

2
The closest I find is ASME Y14.35M. But it does not list anything about numerical revs. At the past few companies I worked at, numerical was always used for pre-production (preliminary) then was released at revision A. We still do this now and is accepted by ISO 2000.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP0.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

Per IPC (for the printed circuit industry) standard IPC-D-325A 3.8 for preliminary release:

Method #1 - use +A, +B, +C, etc.
Method #2 - use 1, 2, 3, etc...  

Steve Smith, C.I.D.
Product Engineer
Staco Energy Products Co.
www.stacoenergy.com

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

what does the "+" mean?
I have never seen that before.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP0.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

It's the way they differentiate between preliminary (+A, +B, +C,...) and released (A, B, C,...).

Steve Smith, C.I.D.
Product Engineer
Staco Energy Products Co.
www.stacoenergy.com

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

Sorry to say, but that is very weird. It's a first.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP0.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

The DRM 10th edition states...production release drawings to have letter rev's A, B, C ...pre-release drawings will have rev's as X1, X2, X3...

SWCADMAN

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

SWCADMAN ,

We use the same X numbers for R and D work and A,B,C for the revs. Though the skipped number reference I,O,Q,S,Z was unknown here...thanks looslib..

-mechantaeus


Quote:

Work Hard and Work Smart

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

Our records system will only accept number revisions.  We have reserved revisions 80+ for R&D and 0-79 for production revisions.

Don Peckham

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

I just received an updated spec. X1, X2, etc are prelim/pre-prod/etc, - is for first released, alpha A,B,etc for production. This is industry standard and everyone should follow it.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

ctopher,

Which industry?  What spec?

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

ASME Y14.100-2000, section 23
Drawing Requirements Manual
It references ASME Y14.35M

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

Chris,

Thanks for the info.  Now I have a valid argument why "-" is prefered over "A" for initial file releases.  Our QA dept (which oversees the Document and Data Control dept here) recently changed our procedures from using "-" to using "A", and I have yet to see the justification for it.

Eric

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

I feel the same way. Our management for now will not adopt "-" because our customers, vendors and internal procedures are set up for "A". I plan on trying to change it this year to stay with the specs.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

I found the paragraph that spells out revision sequence type.

ASME Y14.35M-1997
Section 5 Identfying Revisions on Drawings
5.1 Revision Letters
Upper case letters shall be used in sequence beginning with A and omitting letters "I"O", "Q", "X", and "Z". When the single letters have been exhausted, the revisions following "Y" shall be "AA", "AB" through"AY". Should "AA" to "AY" be exhausted, the next sequence shall be "BA", "BB", etc. Revision letters shall not exceed two characters. Initial issue of a drawing does not constitute need for a a revision letter and may be indicated by the use of a - (dash).

there is more, but this covers the basic principles.

"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
"Fixed in the next release" should replace "Product First" as the PTC slogan.

Ben Loosli
CAD/CAM System Analyst
Ingersoll-Rand

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

I think the "may be indicated" just sank my arguement.

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

Kellyo

For what it is worth.............

I have always seen letters for prerelease (design and design review phase) and numbers (starting with 0) for Issue for Construction (or Fabrication)

jjf

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

ewh,

The "may be indicated" didn't sink your arguement.  What the spec says is that the first REVISION starts with an A.  Initial release MAY start with a "-" dash.

In other words, initial release may be nothing at all, as in no information in the revision block.  It does not say the initial release can be an A.

--Scott

For some pleasure reading, try FAQ731-376

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

Thanks, Scott.  I'll try that approach.

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

My company is adopting the X1,X2, etc. revisions for R&D, and the alpha series for post-release as well. We have selected our next project to use as a pilot, and my question goes out to those already using this system:
Whether you use the '-' or 'A' to signify project release, how do you convert all your files that currently have 'X' series revisions? Individually? We typically have several hundred files per project, and this would take many hours.
Also, a question for Don Peckham: What settings do you have that allow higher revision numbers for R&D than for production? My UG assemblies always assume the highest number / letter as the latest revision, and the numeric series supersedes the alpha series. Just curious how you made this work.
-Rod

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

As you release each dwg, remove all X revs, then add - or A as released. Get some kind of PDM software, much easier.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

We use 3 digit numbers for Prototype work, alpha revs for production work.  When prototype parts are released to production, they go through drawing check.  The people in drawing check convert the 000 to A as a final indicator that the drawing has been checked.

You are right, doing it manually does take time, maybe even weeks depending on the scale of the release.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Revision Letters vs. Numbers

Rod,
I agree that UG cannot do what Don says in native mode, but where does Don say he uses UG with or without Teamcenter? I can do what Don what says with Pro/E and Intralink.

What do you mean by "convert all your files"? Do you have the revision as part of the file naming convention? If so, just saveas to the new revision.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
"Fixed in the next release" should replace "Product First" as the PTC slogan.

Ben Loosli
CAD/CAM System Analyst
Ingersoll-Rand

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