Creating ôDrawing Treeö using SolidWorks? 3

[Standing]

Remember the old days of creating “Drawing Tree”?

My boss, who is not a mechanical person, would like a visual way of seeing our assemblies. He has been convinced by engineers that a drawing tree is the way to go. I have tried everything I could to link just the subassemblies (subassembly number and description) of the BOM to a text box with no luck. The top text box on the drawing tree was easy, the rest is not. A manual Drawing Tree never gets updated and takes a lot of time.

Does anyone know of Software the would link a SolidWorks BOM to an old time “Drawing Tree”? I have searched the web, SolidWorks and here with no luck.


Bradley

 

[ctopher]

The only way I can think of at the moment is to make an Excel spreadsheet. Make an Excel BOM.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-05)

 

[smcadman]

Never used one, but do you mean something like this:

http://sma-

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/private/doc_view/10050010000.pdf

You can put your assembly off the sheet view, and insert the BOM on the sheet. Pick the text on the BOM, Insert > Hyperlink and browse to the part to hyperlink it. Not sure how to clean it up though.

Flores
SW06 SP4.1

 

[Heckler]

Flores good link. In the world of FAA and doing modifications to planes a "Master Drawing List" is a critical part of the certifying documentation. I really like the master drawing list concept it gives a manager the ability to control and oversee the design without getting into the MCAD files (like they have time for that, right?) Where I work part numbers and BOMs are not added into the MRP system until the project goes into prerelease so their is no way of communicating the "Drawing Tree". I use Excel to great a generic "Master Drawing List".

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 5.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

Never argue with an idiot. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience every time.

 

[Standing]

Flores,
Almost, each number would have a box around it and each subassembly would have its subassemblies under it inside their own box for each number.
I did notice note 1 stated “All part numbers are (invisibly) linked to the associated document”. Now if “part number 123456 was replaced with part number 987654” and update on the drawing tree would be very good.

The Hyperlink gave me an invalid type.
I created a block with the text I wanted and tried the Hyperlink route and it is really cool the way I could click the link and go straight to the part. Getting the part into the right location on the drawing was more work than it was worth. Although it did work.


Bradley

 

[MadMango]

Where I work, we create a "BOM Map" with Visio. Basically it is a box diagram with the top level number of our product in a box. Branching from this are the sub assys numbers and descriptions, also in boxes. If there is a new purchased part, then it is brached from a sub assy, in its own box.

It gives others an idea of the structure of product, identifies new parts for Purchasing, and eliminates the need for restructuring it everytime there is a change while the product is in development.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[49again]

Bradley -

Maybe you should check out "TreeWorks" under SolidWorks Tools at

http://www.deltagl.com

Steve R.

 

[Standing]

MadMango,
Does Visio update and linked to SolidWorks BOM?

Steve R.,
I checked out TreeWorks -Automatic Family Tree Generator. That is exactly what he is looking for. I have forwarded the information to him and I will wait and see what happens. I think the cost is just right.


Bradley

 

[Standing]

Steve R.,

My boss really liked TreeWorks. Now we will see if he buys one. A star for you.

Thank you


Bradley

 

[MadMango]

I'm not a programmer, so the Viso document is dumb. Though you have given me an idea to throw a project towards our programmer. ;-)

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[Sporkman]

I was trying to check out Excel to see if there is a way to automatically change a flow chart if the data driving the chart is reorganized. I don't see it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. See what can be done with hyperlinks.


Mark Stapleton
Watermark Design, LLC
Charlotte, NC

http://www.h2omarkdesign.com

 

[Standing]

Mark,
I believe you are right that Excel would update with the links from a SolidWorks Excel based BOM. The trouble to create it and then move the boxes around with lines between boxes would be a lot of work. The program mentioned above, “TreeWorks -Automatic Family Tree Generator” would be well worth the money. Looks like it would work for us. Of course we would have to text it.


Bradley

 

[MadMango]

TreeWorks has been discontinued. They are working on a newer version, maybe available by year's end.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[smcadman]

That Treeworks looks like it's exactly what you want, but heres another idea to throw darts at. This next way would be time consuming with a lot of parts, but here it is anyway:

1. Put your assembly off the sheet, and add a note linking the file name and description properties. Make sure you pick "Component to which the annotation is attached". The annotation should be:
$PRPMODEL:"SW-File Name"
$PRPMODEL:"Description"
I a drew a line to align the annotations.

http://img209.imageshack.us/my.php?image=withline0nc.jpg

2. I then turned the layer off that had the line. I also turned the arrows off (look at the leader in the task pane). Also note that "Box" is picked for the annotation border.

http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=arrowsoff7og.jpg

3. Here is how it looks now.

http://img209.imageshack.us/my.php?image=drawingtree7lp.jpg

I use the SW BOM, and I haven't used the Excel BOM, so I can't comment on how to use it for your purpose. I would imagine a macro could be created for this purpose.

Flores
SW06 SP4.1

 

[Standing]

Flores,
Thank you for another option. I tried it and it worked well. I also created the drawing using the SolidWorks BOM. A star for you.


Bradley

 

[rmars]

We use MatrixOne to manage BOM's. It can output to Excel a multi-level spreadsheet, with all the parts in the assy, with level numbers. I've written an Excel macro which takes this file and draws text boxes, filled with the part number and part description. It then draws a line between the correct boxes. It works, but only just. Some of the lines don't come out of the correct side of the text box, so you have to adjust some of them. It also needs the level of each part to work.
It wasn't that hard, and I'm not a programmer, so the right person could do a pretty neat job.

 

[matty322]

rmmars -

I was just thinking about putting something like that together, also. This kind of thing may be easy enough to do in java/html and link to the BOM. How big is your macro? Do you think Excel is the best way to go for something like this?


Matt

 

[Standing]

MadMango is right, TreeWorks has been discontinued. They are not answering my e-mails or phone calls. If they call I will let you know what happened.

Bradley

 

[Standing]

I received new e-mail just as I sent the last thread. I am extremely hopeful that they will have a program soon.

TreeWorks is currently unsupported. We are re-writing the entire program from the ground up. It will use XML (SWDocManager) and will not require the assembly to be loaded at all. Much much faster and much cleaner. Same overall functionality - SmartCharts, etc.

Bradley

 

[fcsuper]

I got the same response, with the promise that they will keep me posted. lol