Autogenerate drawings 1

[Molgan]

Hi,

I have an assembly with around 200 parts. Is there a way to autogenerate drawings from all these parts? I really don't want to generate drawings to each and every one. The parts are generally the same, only with small dimensions-differences. Is there a way to include autodim aswell?

Thanks!

 

[JMirisola]

You can have SolidWorks Task manager create the drawings. If you've selected 'mark for drawings' on the dims, when you created the part, then they'll populate the drawing. Create a drawing template with pre-defined views and you should be good to go.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP, Certified DriveWorks AE

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

You will almost certainly have to visit each drawing to 'massage' dimension placements. Unless you spend extra time in the model to create the dimensions just right for auto-insertion, you (and especially manufacturing) will not like the results.

 

[fcsuper]

If you are dealing with all similar or very highly related (interlinking) parts that are the similar each time you create the assembly, then you may want to invest a little $$$ up front to have a professional Visual Basic programmer who is familar with SoildWorks API to write a program for you that does all this, without needing to go back to massage the drawings afterwards.

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

 

[TheTick]

Autogenerating crappy drawings should be no trouble at all.

 

[drawoh]

Molgan,

Next time, generate your drawings as you go. Generating your drawings all at the last minute is a waste of expensive software.
[ol]
[li]You get a look at your critical tolerances before you complete your design based on them. The sooner you change design concepts requiring impossible fabrication, the better.[/li]
[li]You identify documentation short cuts, in this case, drawing tabulation. Well prepared, tabulated drawings often show the fabricator some nifty shortcuts for getting parts fabricated at lower cost.[/li]
[li]I gave TheTick a star. At best, you will generate a package of crappy drawings. At worst, your failure to examine each and every one of your drawings helps you miss functional errors. [/li]
[/ol]

JHG