PDMWorks revisioning with SolidWorks top-down models

[lazza]

We are having trouble with top down assemblies in PDMworks. When we have a top down assembly model (parts in the assembly reference a skeleton sketch) and then modify the assembly via a change to the driving sketch, PDMworks thinks that all parts referencing the sketch have changed even though some of the parts are exactly the same as they were before the modification.

How can we stop PDMworks doing this? We only want to know about the parts the have actually changed in size. We do not want to rev up 500 parts when only 10 parts are actually revised.

Any ideas?

 

[PDMAdmin]

I have had the same problem with other top-level assemblies using PDMWorks. I am not aware of a way to prevent that kind of behavior. Enhancement request, perhaps...?

 

[JMirisola]

When you're going to check the assembly back in, only check in the lower level parts that have changed.
Am I not understanding something?

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
CAD Administrator
SW '07 SP1.0, Dell M90, Intel 2 Duo Core, 2GB RAM, nVidia 2500M

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

 

[lazza]

The problem is identifying the parts that have changed. You have to manually go through the 500 parts in the assembly to check if they have changed or not because PDMworks is telling me that they all are revised.

Most of the parts are driven from the sketch so it's not such an east task to identufy the revised parts. What would happen if I missed one or two and send the plate to the profilers with incorrect sizes?

I have put in a enhancement request but they take time....

 

[engAlright]

This is not a PDM problem - PDMWorks simply uses date codes to identify a part or assembly that's changed from the vault version. Because you have so much in-context stuff, whenever you make a change to the base part with all the referenced parts opened, the referenced parts will rebuild regardless of whether the geometry has changed, changing the date code.

When parts are in-context like this, the only way to figure out what's changed is manually. To manage this, you can lock all ex-refs before checking the assembly in, then you at least have control over what references in which parts get updated in the first place, because you can trigger the udpate manually.

 

[ctopher]

This is why I don't do top-down designs. It has it's limitations.

Chris
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-27-06)