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Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
I have an employee that decided that when she wanted a new part that was the same as an old part but minus the last 2 features, she would save as copy then roll back the feature tree 2 features. UGHGHGHGHG

Now I have a 50 part assembly on my screen and solidworks keeps telling me that some parts were saved in their roll back state, would I like to roll them forward. Go figure!

Now I have a mess on my hands. Is there a way to check what parts she did this to? Or do I have to go thru them all.

I hate work.  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

"solidworks keeps telling me that some parts were saved in their roll back state, would I like to roll them forward"

What happens if you tell SW, 'Yes'?

cheers

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
^ It apparently rolls them forward and opens my assembly. BUT, every time I open the assembly, we go thru the same dance.

Why she did this is beyond me.  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Once the assy has been opened with all parts rolled forward, use the File > Save All option. That should save all the opened (referenced) parts in their rolled forward state.

After that is done, give the assy back to the employee to suppress the parts features properly. It should be a lesson learned for her and a mistake she will not (should not) repeat.

cheers

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

I agree, she should have used configuration instead of rolling back the FM.

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

I don't think there's an automated way.  Pick "No" so it doesn't roll all features forward because some are not required.  Hopefully there is a PDF so you can compare the existing models to what was made.  Then go through each model and delete the features that are not used to prevent future headache and having someone else accidentally un-suppressing the features.

Flores

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Will this troll and her hacksmanship be allowed to continue?  Someone needs to make clear to management that this is a problem.

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

hackmanship? LOL.  I'll have to add that one to my list of portmanteaus

designeering, enginerding, hackmanship.

SW2008 Office Pro SP4.0
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
2.2GHz, 2.00GB RAM
QuadroFX 3700
SpacePilot

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
This same person has been adding .010 to a part if she wants it a little thicker INSTEAD of just editing the sketch!

She creates a whole new feature and extrudes it .010! UGHGHGHG

No wonder my planes are not centered!

I ask her to do it the right way and I get called everything in the book.  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Then if I were you, I would call her "Gone".

cheers

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

In your first post, you referred to this person as an employee. Is this person a colleague or a direct report?  If the latter, I suggest you tell her to do it the right way rather than ask.  If she's a colleague, try to impress upon her the effed-up mess she's making of everything she touches.  Nicely, of course...

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
^ She is a fellow employee. We are a group of 7 designers. We have our boss working with us in the group. I am the solidworks admin for the group.

How about this one, same employee does not want to put in any properties in the part. Instead, she will manually type in everything in the title block on the drawing.

Of course, I have it set up that you input your properties in the part (your name, part description, material, treatment, and so on) and when you make the drawing it automatically populates.

She just got done screaming at me and calling me every name in the book because she was giving a fellow employee bad advice and I called her out on it. She tried telling me that she can do whatever she wants and it does not effect me.

Of course it effects me. We do alot of "save as copy" here from other peoples parts.

 

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

And where is the boss (who is working with you in the group) while this is happening? What is he doing about it?

cheers

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Good luck...

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
Corblim- He had his headphones on for most of it but after he heard it he said "OK knock it off".

He is a good guy and is new to being boss. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Telling stubborn people what to do can be hard.

After the first of the year, he said we are going to sit down and write "design rules" and everyone has to follow it. I said great idea but I don't think people will follow it. They just don't care.

Hell, I got people making part xxxxx-1 and xxxxx-2 and putting a note on xxxxx-1 that says "Refer to xxxxx-2 for opposite hand. Dimensions the same but opposite".

We had a person hand typing in all her hole call outs because she didn't know about the hole wizard.

The same employee that this thread started with will not put her planes in the middle of the part, wont' use design tables, add's a feature to widen a part instead of editing the sketch, and tons of other things.

It is just a PAIN because when it comes to me, I am expected to do something in a similar time frame and I can't unless I do it wrong like she did and just get it out the door.

How can you explain to the boss that taking the time to do something correct, will pay off the next time you use a part.

 

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Be diligent.  Keep records and copies of the work in question!  Make sure to bring it up with your boss everytime it happens.  Trust me it works, just stay on it.

Nothing like getting weldment drawings with no bom's, dimensions, or callouts and figure someone could actually manufacture it...

This sort of thing went on at my current work for years.  So we're wading through extremely poor models on a daily basis.  Eventually with good practice this will all get weeded out, but man it will take years to sort this mess out.

I feel your pain!

James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

...and when your vendor (me) gets the SW files to make the parts, they throw up their hands and remodel everything.

I too feel your pain, often, especially with certain former coworkers and some customers. But then once in a while I'll open up something I did back in 99 and wince.


Peace on Earth, Diego

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

I suppose you're stuck with this hack.  The talent puddle is a bit shallow in Thief River Falls.

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
thanks cor.. i will check that out

Tick - Ha. I am in NY but would love to work at arctic cat!  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

arcticcatmatt,
You're in my prayers after reading this thread.

Best,

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2008 SP 4.0
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

... and she would be in my crosshairs oops, I mean prayers also.

cheers

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
How far are you guys from NY state? I want to work with you haha.

I can't imagine how much more efficient my day could be if everyone cared enough to do their job correctly.

I have two parts on my screen right now trying to mate them. One models holes are ordinate dimensioned, the other models are located on a bolt hole circle. Of course, they are .000004 off and will not mate, so I have to repair the problem. I swear I do that 20 times a day.

The other parts I have are not modeled correctly. They are .495 wide and the holes are located from the left side, the connecting part is .505 wide and the holes are located from the right side.

UGHGHG! Either model it line to line and tolerance it on your print with a limit dimension or model it to the size you already did and put the planes in the middle of the part locating the holes from the middle of the part so it all lines up!!

The problem here is everyone is thinking in 2-d mode. Hell, they still bring up Cadra every day and will even create new parts in Cadra sometimes.  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Seems like some training could be helpful, followed by more training, and perhaps some additional training.

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

arcticcatmatt,
Sounds like you need some drawing standards in place, and a checking function to boot. Of course communication and common sense also plays a roll. But you know what they say about common sense, it's a misnomer......
 

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2008 SP 4.0
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

arcticcatmatt,

Quote:

I have two parts on my screen right now trying to mate them. One models holes are ordinate dimensioned, the other models are located on a bolt hole circle. Of course, they are .000004 off and will not mate, so I have to repair the problem. I swear I do that 20 times a day.

   Unless the geometry of your parts are weird, you should mate faces, one hole, and make two features parallel.  Then look at the other holes to see if anything does not line up.

   The problem with pitch circles is that on some parts, a pitch circle is a good specification, and on other parts, they are not.  Some people insist that the dimension shown on the fabrication drawing must exactly match the model.  

   So now, we have a round flange with a six hole pitch circle, attached to a complex, flat plate.  We convert all the the flat plate holes to rectangular co-ordinates to simplify fabrication and inspection.  We correct the holes on the model to exactly match the fabrication drawing.  The flange continues to be dimensioned as a pitch circle.  For production, on both parts, we remove the parametric sketch constraints.

   The results of all this passes manual checking.  The parts can be assembled.  The only problem is that there is a positional discrepancy in your holes of some value less than your decimal accuracy.

   Think about it.  Even if you can mate two holes, you cannot mate the other four.  

   Just for the record, my approach on the plate would be to model the pitch circle, and apply the dimensions as rectangular co-ordinates.  The results would assemble by your procedure.  They would pass manual checking and the parts would assemble, however, there would be a discrepancy between some of the actual features, and the fabrication drawing.  This discrepancy will be less than your decimal accuracy.

                            JHG

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Quote (arcticcatmatt):

She is a fellow employee...
I am the solidworks admin for the group.
Does that mean you have some authority... or you're just the one who knows the most about SolidWorks?
If you have some authority... exercise it!
If your boss won't back you... climb the ladder.

Quote (arcticcatmatt):

She just got done screaming at me and calling me every name in the book.
Technically, that's creating a hostile work environment & if your HR department won't fix her, you have other options... Spend a little Google-time on it.

And I hope you're not the type of "goober" that likes to exaggerate to make a story interesting.

Really... SCREAMING...? I doubt she was SCREAMING.
When you exaggerate, you loose credibility... IMHO.

Quote (Jack L Tate):

Right-click. It's friggin' magic!
FAQ376

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
^ Good thing I wasn't exaggerating then.  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Quote (arcticcatmatt):

Good thing I wasn't exaggerating then.
Then you and your witnesses (all the folks that heard her screaming at you) can go to HR together. You should have no more problems with her...
 

Quote (Jack L Tate):

Right-click. It's friggin' magic!
FAQ376

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
Funny thing... I am being moved out of the group. I am going from designing machines to designing product.. and NOT in solidworks. I am the groups admin for solidworks. Not to brag but nobody comes close to using it to its potential as I do. Their macro's exist because of me, and problems are fixed because of me.

They shortcut things like old 2d ways all the time and screw themselves.

And now.. it looks like I am going from Solidworks admin to learning an new software doing a new job.

I was proud of being the best we had for SW.. but not it seems that it was worthless.  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Congratulations! Which software will you be using?

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
^ Congrats? I am scared $hitless. I bought a house in may and I am single.

I am guessing it will be catia or ideas or nx3. Probably one of the first two.

I am sure within a few months I will forget most of my solidworks knowledge. What a shame.  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Make the best of it whatever life throws at you. If you were a jock in the SW software, you'll be a jock in the new CAD software whatever it will be. I have a friend in San Diego who went to a different company and had to learn UG NX2. Well let's say he is better than the CAD jocks who have been working in the software for 13+ years. He has been at the company for only 2 years.

Also, he never forgot SW.

Keep you head up!

Best,

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2008 SP 4.0
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

I'm sure whatever software you use, you will be able to apply what you know in SW to it.  Besides, the basics never change, so with a strong foundation you'll excel in no time.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Don't be scared. Embrace the challenge. Learning a new program can only make you more versatile and marketable for future employers.

Just be prepared to be getting lots of calls from the SW crew until they find a replacement.

Will you still be in the same location? Could SW not be used for designing the product?

 

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Since you know SolidWorks, you will pick up CATIA. I think SW is easier to learn, but CATIA is more powerful. UG is ok, but eventully will be only known in history books.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08; CATIA V5
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
I work for a HUGE automotive supplier.

I was moved 2 months ago to a NEW department to find ways to save energy (electric, gas). I have done great work and saved ton with proposals. They picked me because they know I do that stuff to my house haha.

Anyways, now they are laying off again and I got moved instead of shut down. I am honored to still be here but scared also. I do NOT want to lose my solidworks skills. I LOVE solidworks and pride myself in my accomplishments in it.

We have laid off over 50% of people at this location and we were at 1600 employees a couple years ago.

 

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

ArticCat,

I was one of the top SW users at my last job and now I'm using Inventor at a new job.  Most CAD softwares are pretty similar in terms of the basics and I'm sure you'll be a power user of the new software in no time.  Heck, I've been using Inventor for 3 months now and feel like I know it better than people who have been using it for 5 years.  Oh the wonders of building models right the first time...

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Ditto to what everyone else is saying about alternate software packages.  It's similar to programming.  If you know the general rules and enjoy what you're doing, it won't take you long to outstrip the old hands.  At my first real job I took on the role of CAD admin and goto guy after using SW for only 6 months.  Four years later I ended up having to use ProE and again quickly new more about the software than people using it for 10+ years.  If you like your job and have an aptitude for picking up new things, learning more software packages should be a snap, and will help your career in the long haul.  Also, you don't lose a skill like SW.  You might get a little rusty (like me after the 1 year stint using ProE), but it doesn't take long to shake off the dust.

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

I went 5+ years between using SW as my primary cad software, versions 98+ to 2004.  In between there I used Mechanical Desktop for 3 years and then just marked up paper drawings for 2, (that company had a cad department and engineers were not allowed to play).  With in a year of being back on SW people were coming me to instead of the guy who had been the guru for years to ask how to do things.

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

If you are/were the "go to" guy with one software, you will become the "go to" guy" with any other.
It's not the software, it's your personality, your drive ... it's who/what you are.

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
^ This is true.

It's the little things.. Like creating a picture how-to and putting it on the network for everyone to use in the future. Every time someone asked me for help on a complex task, I helped them and then made a how-to and put it in a folder on the network for them.

Now, there is nobody enforcing modeling rules... so the person this thread was made about will be doing things like extruding .005 off the side of a part to make it wider, or rolling a feature tree backwards to remove the last two features, or modeling parts at .99995 and not having the planes in the center, or manually typing in the title block so the part has NO properties, or even manually editing (typing!) a BOM on a print so it says what she wants it to say with the dash number she wants, or not using design tables or configurations and creating 15 versions of a part that just gets .125 thicker (then of course 15 different drawings, or my favorite- create a BOM in excel and do not create any assemblies for a new machine. Just type up a BOM that is the same as a similar machine and add 10 parts to the BOM.

Sorry, I vented a little there :).  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

So your nemesis survived all the cuts?  I had wondered about that.

Eric

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

(OP)
^ 10-4 on that. She is the last full timer in the group.

Well I just got word. Sounds like I will be sent to training for I-deas and then when our customer stops using that I will be sent to training for NX5.

I tried finding a free download of I-deas online to get a headstart at home but no luck.  

RE: Employee rolled alot of feature trees backwords

Matt,

I went the other direction. I was a longtime I-DEAS user and transitioned to Solidworks.  I-DEAS will be a bit different, but the methodology you use in Solidworks is the same.  When I was making the transition (about 5 years ago) I thought I-DEAS was a more powerful tool - not sure how the two compare today.

There will be user interface adjustments that you might struggle with but ultimately you will do fine.

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