Creating Tags

[BStoner]

Does anybody have a good method to create tags (such as warning, instruction, or stuffer cards...) in SolidWorks? I know text can be applied in a sketch, but that is much to cumbersome.

 

[uncleal52]

You can use text boxes in the drawings and position them on the model views.

 

[DesignSmith]

In drawings you can make and use blocks, which are groups of 2D entities that stay locked together. In older 2D systems they are called: blocks, figures, groups, or symbols.
Simply sketch the shape you want and add any note text you need. Then window select the items, and pick Tools-Block-Make from the menu.
If needed you can right click on the block and save it to a separate *.sldblk file for later reuse, or simply use copy & paste to copy it to later drawings.
Blocks can be overlaid on model views, scaled, and general positioned as you want.
If you would rather do it in the part, you can use a sketch with construction lines and notes. But then you may have to keep toggling the show/hide sketch setting, and it may still not look that good.


DesignSmith

http://www.DesignSmith-Services.com

 

[BStoner]

I think I might need to clearify myself a bit. My main goal is to have a SolidWorks document that will drive the bill of materials and also contain all the information on the warning / instruction tag. I have looked at using notes & text to create the tags, but if there is alot of text this is a long process to perform and editing is not the greatest.

 

[DesignSmith]

It sounds as though you may want to use a combination of custom file properties and linked notes.
Look in the Help for instructions to create a new Part template file, and in there add some custom properties for warning, instruction, label, or what have you. If some are nearly always the same you can enter the value in, and for the others, you can put a place holder such as "Edit Me" or "Default".
In your drawings you can then link notes, block attributes, table cells, or title block entries to the custom properties of the part in the active drawing view.
If you really want to get fancy, some VARs have gone to the trouble of writing a macro that pops up a dialog for you to fill in the appropriate properties when you first start a new part file. Ask around, and someone will probably give you one that you could edit to suit your needs.


DesignSmith

http://www.DesignSmith-Services.com

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

My main goal is to have a SolidWorks document that will drive the bill of materials

SW already does this.

if there is alot of text this is a long process to perform and editing is not the greatest.

If the "warning / instruction tag" is text, someone somewhen is going to have to type the wording!

SolidWorks is good but at many things, but it is very poor at telepathy.

However, if you are looking for a particular note to always appear with a particular part, then create a Custom Property and link it to a field in the drawing or BOM.

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

If everything is going well, you have obviously overlooked something

 

[BStoner]

I think the verbage of my initial question was off. Let me rephrase my question. If I want to represent a tag in SolidWorks that has lots of text and graphics what is the best way to do this. Ideally I would like to have all the information found on this tag controlled by the SolidWorks file. I have created "dummy" files that contained no information but what I entered for custom properties, now I want to take this a step farther. Basically does anyone hava a good idea how to represent a sheet of paper and all of its markings inside of SolidWorks?

 

[DesignSmith]

I still think a drawing block is the way to go.
Right click on the block after you create it, and choose "Edit Definition" from the RMB menu. In the sketch editor that pops up, select the notes, and give them tag names; which effectively turns them into attributes. You can also link the notes to the custom file properties of your part document.
When your part file properties change the block attributes in the drawing will automatically update after the next rebuild. You can have as much text as you want and it can all be linked to the file properties of the part rather than the drawing document.
You can even use convert entities in the drawing to have the geometry for the sketch be copied from your drawing view. (it may take a rebuild of both documents, to fully update the block in this case)
SolidSolutions magazine has had an article on this idea in the past year or 2, and a new one is due in the next couple of issues.



DesignSmith

http://www.DesignSmith-Services.com

 

[SBaugh]

For what you want SW to do, it can't be done. You could look into writing yourself an API program that would make Labels for you within SW. But there is no way that I know that you put Text in the Graphics portion of SW and have SW link it to a DT, BOM, or Custom Property.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[SBaugh]

Hmmm Blocks. That's a good thought. Didn't think of that. I would investigate that BStoner.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

BStoner
Now I'm really confused. Please explain your definition of a "tag", & while you are at it ... what the heck is a "stuffer card".

Basically does anyone have a good idea how to represent a sheet of paper and all of its markings inside of SolidWorks?

Do you mean an actual solid part?

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

If everything is going well, you have obviously overlooked something

 

[BStoner]

I've been playing around with some different ideas. I think I found a solution that works well.

In the part file I extruded a "tag" and placed a general description on it for what it was representing. I filled out the custom properties so it will update on the bill of materials.

From this part I created a drawing with a single view. On the drawing I then can embed a document (word, excell, jpeg...) that contains all the information needed on the tag.

 

[ctopher]

I created tags to go on cables. I created the basic tag and added different configurations with the text I need. The text is extruded approx .001, enough to see it. Then I add the color it will be printed as.