How do you guys organize your files? 4

[fuzzybabybunny]

I'm new to CAD design and I'm wondering how you guys organize your files and what are the best practices?

Do you put assemblies, parts, drawings, in separate folders?

C:/Solidworks/Project1/parts
C:/Solidworks/Project1/drawings
C:/Solidworks/Project1/assemblies
C:/Solidworks/Project1/subassemblies

And how do you deal with the versioning?

 

[ShaggyPE]

When I am not using a pdm system, I organize my stuff in a project folder. I don't use subfolders. I keep all of my standard hardware in a separate directory that is sub-foldered.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional
Certified COSMOSWorks Designer Specialist
Certified SolidWorks Advanced Sheet Metal Specialist

 

[ctopher]

I use PDMWorks, using anything other than a PDM application may cause issues later.

Chris
SolidWorks 09, CATIA V5
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[Eltron]

I have everything in project folders unless I intend on reusing the files. These files (bearings, electronic components, etc.) are organized in a "General Components folder and placed in subfolders by type.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[NomLaser]

If you are running PDMWorks Workgroup then I would dump all files into one folder. It may feel cumbersome but you won't run into reference issues across multiple users.

The problem with Workgroups is that it stores your files locally until you check them in. If you run them in separate folders (parts vs assemblies) then everyone needs to put the files in the correct folders and their tree must match yours exactly. It's a royal PITA to be honest. I found it best to run parts, assemblies and drawings in one folder and hardware in your design library and not the toolbox. I can go into details on the toolbox if you wish but don't want to steer the topic off course.

 

[4zengineering]

Our system is as follows.

Each part under our design activity has its own folder. This folder contains the model (whether part or assembly), drawing, and any other files pertaining specifically to it.

Each part folder is located a maximum of one folder below our main parts database (If I had it my way, all of the parts folders would just be located in the main parts database). These major folders that the part folders are divided into categories based on their relation to the final assemblies that they end up on.

If the part was designed specifically for one product and is common only to that product, the part folder will go directly into that product's folder.
If, at the time of design, the part is common to multiple products, its folder will be placed in our common/non product-specific folder.
If the part was designed for one product, but later becomes common to multiple products, it stays in the folder of the product which it was designed for. We've concluded that it's not worth it to move the folder based on its newfound commonality.
After that we have just one more folder for standard parts, hardware, and purchased parts that we aren't the design activity on.

 

[TheTick]

Absent a PDM system, I organize development projects into their own folders. When files are release into production, they go into a protected folder for released files.

[!]Sorting files into folders by type is a recipe for disaster.[/!] You will lose connections between parts, drawings, assemblies, etc.

 

[kellnerp]

With or without PDM:

1. Create a folder tree
2. Each tree is numbered according to part number
3. Part numbers are six digits (or whatever you need)
4. Each folder gets 1,000 parts (Windoze slows with big folders)
5. A community spreadsheet contains descriptions of each part number. PartNumbers.xls for example

Folder 100000-100999
Folder 101000-101999
Folder 102000-102999
etc.

In options you set FILES/REFERENCES to point to the folder containing these folders and check Search External References in options.

You can format your spreadsheet like this:

PartNo Description DrawingNo Project
====== =========== ========= =======

The reason you want to keep a separate drawing number is that design tables can create multiple parts in a single drawing.

The spreadsheet is really important if you value your sanity because it will allow you to search for parts. Don't make the mistake of giving meaningful part numbers. Use the description and or project.

One advantage of this format is that when you decide to go to PDM this format will be real easy to pull into a PDM database.

And never save two files with the same name in different directories. Bad things can happen.

You could in fact create a macro that pulls a part number from the spreadsheet and adds the description to the spreadsheet and the part.

The formality of this method works well for a manufacturing environment. If you do jobs for many customers then you might have to add a customer specific part number and the customer's job number to your spreadsheet.

The big issue with a non-PDM file management solution is that he who saves last wins!

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[49again]

Fuzzy -

Follow up to what kellnerp said....

3Dawn Consulting already has a utility, "Get Next Part Number Wizard" that works perzactly like that:

http://www.3dawn.com/

 

[gwubs]

kellnerp's way. Use numbers, save in folders named with a range of numbers etc. I know why it might be tempting to save parts in a project file, but don't you guys reuse? It seems to me that if you are not setting up to (plan to) reuse, you are probably wasting time duplicating work.

 

[kellnerp]

I know why it might be tempting to save parts in a project file,...

And that's how PDMWorks does it. We had to keep a spreadsheet on the side to issue PNs.

Projects is OK for a job shop, but you still end up using numbers. If you make the mistake of organumizing by projects and using duplicate part names you are in for trouble of a most insidious sort.

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[Theophilus]

Use numbers, save in folders named with a range of numbers etc. I know why it might be tempting to save parts in a project file, but don't you guys reuse?

Uh--no. But I'm an industrial designer. Swoopy organic shapes, designed for the immediate project, and never used again--at all. But this brings up a great point. Not everyone has the same needs.

For instance, I save everything in the following hierarchy:
Client
Project
Revision
Export/Special

Any time I expect a decent edit to a project I copy all the current-revision files to a new directory, named by the date (yymmdd--keeps everything in chronological order so you don't screw up and get parts from an outdated revision) followed by a description if necessary, such as "Prototype".

So a given full-length path might look like this:
Stanley\Pull Saw\090710 Production Quote\STEP

Getting parts to vendors for prototypes or production often involves exports to differing formats, hence the need for an Export/Special directory that could include a huge variety of exported file formats.

Also--I don't ever name my files by numbers. Just what I need--an external index to tell me what the hell the part is. I use unique descriptive naming. The client often has a naming system of their own, so there's no point in moving to a number system neither of us uses. If they want to rename everything once they're in production, they can do it themselves.

As you can see, if you're corporate and designing everything in-house, you likely have no need for a Client directory. But if you're solo and doing a large variety of work, this system is efficient and clean. Plus, it allows you to instantly find any file as fast as you can click through directories--and leaves you no need of tedious indexing/searching crapware on your computer to bog things down with endless indexing when you need your computer resources most (such as rendering an animation).

The answer to the question depends who you are and what your needs are.

Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

A people governed by fear cannot value freedom.

 

[kellnerp]

That is the jobber approach. The intelligence is in the file structure. From the looks of it you will have files with duplicate names in a revision folder. How do you keep SW from finding those files?

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[Waidesworld]

We have everything broken down under parts or assemblies.

drawn to design, designed to draw

 

[gwubs]

^Theophilus, good point, my question can have different answers. One other thing to consider - available disc space. We are currently sitting at around 20,000 part/assembly files, with drawings for about 80 percent of them. Our IT guy is stressing because of the sheer size of the data back up. Any duplication of parts in multiple project locations would be viewed very dimly because of the server disc space required... That said, maybe the best advice to the original question of the thread might be: Have a plan on file structure. Consider how you will organise and use your files, and then stick to the plan. If working in a group, then that means EVERYBODY sticks to the plan. Doing things willy nilly gets messy real fast.

 

[kellnerp]

Duplication of parts is a big no-no. As I said before that can really mess with SW mind.

I can't believe you are approaching 1 Tbyte with 20,000 parts and assemblies (with their revisions). When I set up my last system we had 10,000 documents and they occupied about 6 to 7 gig. I wouldn't even talk about too many files till I approached 1 Tbyte. Anyhow, what are you going to do? That is your engineering documentation. It's not like you are storing personal photo files or mp3s. It is IT's job to find a place to store them safely.

Send the IT guy to CAD Managers boot camp or have him talk to some experienced PDM people.

SW has experienced major file bloat in the last 14 releases or so. I used to think my 100Mb part files were monstrous in 1999. Now such file sizes are not at all uncommon.

You biggest concern with lots of files is the number of entries in your directories. That should be kept to around 1,000 or listing directories becomes slow.

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[msquared48]

I try to use the roundfile as much as possible to minimize what I have to organize.

I'm not trying to be funny here, but I do not save everything. It's just too much to have to wade through and I have enough $%^& in my life right now...

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[gwubs]

kellnerp - the back ups take too long to complete during the 2:00 am to 6:00 am time window when our server is not in use. Yes, it is IT's problem, but having duplicate files would really bug them (rightly so).

 

[rgrayclamps]

Hi, fuzzybabybunny:

I have been using the following file structures since June, 2003. We have about 20,000 documents (@ 13GB) in our vault.

Good Luck with yours!

Alex

*****************************

>New Vault
>>_Checkin
>>_Working
>>Assemblies
>>>Assy 00000
>>>Assy 00001
>>Parts
>>>Part 00000
>>>Part 00001
>>>Part 00002
>>>Part 00003
>>>Part 00004
>>>Part 00005
>>>Part 00006
>>>Part 00007
>>>Part 00008
>>_Standard
>>_Toolbox parts

We use ten characters (non-intelligent) for part models (drawings) beginning with "P-". We use ten characters (non-intelligent) for assembly models (drawings) beginning with "A-". Each folder holds a thousand of part numbers or assembly numbers.

 

[kellnerp]

There are better backup solutions. It is hard to believe that it takes four hours to back up your files. For one thing, you do a differential or incremental backup nightly, not the whole thing and this goes relatively quickly because you are only backing up new or changed files. You back the whole thing up on a weekend.

Secondly if you do what we did for backups it doesn't matter. Our backup software took an image of the servers hard drive. This took less than an hour to complete for everything on the servers. Then the backup drive pushed it off to a removable hard drive which was the backup media that went in the fire vault.

It sounds like you are using tape drives which makes it really hard to get something from backup if you need it.

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