Huge Assy Questions
Huge Assy Questions
(OP)
Hello all,
We are working on some very large assemblies (maybe 5,000) parts including hardware, along with a building layout. We work with PDM Enterprise and it takes about 10 minutes to load a model. Just wondering how do companies that make Extra Large assemblies work with SW. There must be companies that have assemblies in the 10's of thousand parts many of which probably move either mechanically, hydraulically, or pneumatically.
Thanks,
PD
Dell T3500 Xeon
12 GB RAM
Nvidia Quadro FX 1800
PDM Enterprise
We are working on some very large assemblies (maybe 5,000) parts including hardware, along with a building layout. We work with PDM Enterprise and it takes about 10 minutes to load a model. Just wondering how do companies that make Extra Large assemblies work with SW. There must be companies that have assemblies in the 10's of thousand parts many of which probably move either mechanically, hydraulically, or pneumatically.
Thanks,
PD
Dell T3500 Xeon
12 GB RAM
Nvidia Quadro FX 1800
PDM Enterprise






RE: Huge Assy Questions
2. minimize top level mates (keep below 300). Don't add the third mate to hardware (clocking)
3. Use component patterns or patterns in general vs inserting and mating more instances of the same component.
4. Make use of "speed-pak"
5. Minimize in-context references
-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks
RE: Huge Assy Questions
Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog
RE: Huge Assy Questions
What cpu model (be specific) is in your computer?
Is the 10 minutes taken up be moving/opening the files over the network or the rebuild/regen after SW has moved all the files into ram? You can tell this stages of the open process by viewing the taskbar on the bottom left in the SW window. Time the stage of retrieving the files and the seperate regen/rebuild time to where you can really work on the file.
It could easily be a slow or poorly configured network. How good is your network? Are you hopping through a bunch of hubs and switches? Is the whole company retrieving files from one server?
Details.....
Cheers,
Anna Wood
Xeon W3680, Nvidia Quadro 4000, 12 Gb RAM, WD Velociraptor, Dell U3011 Monitor
SW2011 SP1, Windows 7 x64
http://www.solidmuse.com
http://www.phxswug.com
RE: Huge Assy Questions
JMirisola - The building is really just the 4 walls and roof trusses, and all done in SW.
Anna - See attached pics for the general layout of the room and equipment as well as further system specs. Some parts are imported STP files like electronics, fittings, etc. No Autocad stuff.
The 10 minutes is during the opening from the vault. Rebuild times are less that one minute.
Sorry, but I have no info regarding hubs and switches so if you can tell me what would be ideal while having to work over the network that would be helpful.
Additional info below:
Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Controller
1000 Mbp/s
Hope this helps,
RE: Huge Assy Questions
RE: Huge Assy Questions
Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog
RE: Huge Assy Questions
From SolidWorks help:
"When you make changes to an assembly, such as adding, deleting, or moving components, the changes are not automatically incorporated into the SpeedPak configuration, even when you rebuild the assembly. You must manually update the SpeedPak configuration to incorporate the changes."
RE: Huge Assy Questions
RE: Huge Assy Questions
Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP4.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion
RE: Huge Assy Questions
RE: Huge Assy Questions
Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP4.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion
RE: Huge Assy Questions
RE: Huge Assy Questions
If so, that could be the issue. Brake any link to the external dwg, or find the problem in the sketch.
Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP4.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion
RE: Huge Assy Questions
What other software do you have running on your PC? What sort of system usage (memory/CPU) do you see when opening the assembly?
As for those that don't experience the problems you're seeing, they probably have their systems, and network, optimized for SolidWorks (or whatever CAD/PDM system they're using). There really are quite a few environmental factors that can adversely affect an install, be it one seat or many.
Your best bet would be to get your IT department involved. See if they'll set up a workstation that's on the server side of any switches/routers/hubs and see if the assembly doesn't open quicker. If it does, you'll know it's your network. If it doesn't, then you'll need to start looking at the workstation itself.
Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog
RE: Huge Assy Questions
http://www.stryker-tech.com/mechanical.html
Looking at your picture, it looks awesome, but you pay a price for that look. I wonder if there is "stuff" inside those cabinets? Does there have to be?
StrykerTECH Engineering Staff
Milwaukee, WI
http://www.stryker-tech.com/
RE: Huge Assy Questions
I would be very interested to see a screen shot maybe of what Assembly Expert tells you about that model. It will give you toal parts, total unique parts, # of top level mates, etc.
Can you tell me what type of network situation you have going on and what type of PDM system do you have in place?
Last thing would be your PC specifications.
This would be EXACTLY what I was hoping for so I hope you have the time.
Thanks,
PD
RE: Huge Assy Questions
Assembly expert stats.
Parts: 72420
Unique parts: 10312
Subassemblies: 1014
Maximum depth: 21
Number top level mates: 38
Make no mistake this model isn't snappy. But is it usable for major interaction checks and training.
And rarely do we have everything turned on, except for pics :)
Our computer for "heavy lifting"
Dual Intel X5680 6 core - 3.33 Ghz
64 GB RAM
4 - Velociraptor 300 GB in Striping RAID 3-Ware Controller
2 - Quadro FX5800 graphics cards using SLI
XP 64bit.
Network is 1000 base T, don't know much about that, but this is opened locally, can't move something this large over a PDM.
StrykerTECH Engineering Staff
Milwaukee, WI
http://www.stryker-tech.com/
RE: Huge Assy Questions
SpeedPak sucks. great on paper, bad in real life.
just my opinion though.
StrykerTECH Engineering Staff
Milwaukee, WI
http://www.stryker-tech.com/
RE: Huge Assy Questions
Thanks again.
PD
RE: Huge Assy Questions
Thanks for the compliment on the website
StrykerTECH Engineering Staff
Milwaukee, WI
http://www.stryker-tech.com/
RE: Huge Assy Questions
I worked at both of the world's leading mining equipment companies and luxury yacht over 200 feet long and SW could never handle a full assembly of the machines.
We used NavisWorks to check the complete yacht with everything in it.
-Joe
SolidWorks 2009 x64 SP 5.1 on Windows XP x64
8 GB RAM - Nvidia Quadro FX1700