Replace part/assy in dwg 1

[ctopher]

I don't have 2006 yet. Do you guys know if you can replace an assembly with another assembly in a dwg with SW 06?
I have a complicated dwg with a big assy. There is a new assy that is 90% like the other. I would like to replace the old with the new and rename the dwg for the new.
thanks

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[J-C]

This is a limitation. Drawing references cannot be changed to a file of a different type. Thus a drawing referencing a part cannot switch to an assy and vice versa.

I suggest doing a insert part for adding something like pem nuts. Otherwise you will have to rebuild the drawing from scratch.

Oh, and please submit an enhancement request for this.



Jason

 

[ShaggyPE]

I hear you, that is basically the situation that I was in. I will try it with 2005 when I get home. But it definently 100% does not work with 2004.

-Shaggy

 

[ShaggyPE]

My last statement was in regard to smcadman.

But just like the original thread, I am getting mixed opinions of this.

smcadman says he can do it with 05. I will try it tonight, but if anybody else wants to try it and post the result, I would appreciate it.

I did submit an enhancement request for this after the last thread concluded that it was not possible.

 

[ctopher]

I agree with Gildashard. I can not switch an assy with a part and vice versa, I never could. I will submit an Enh Req.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[ShaggyPE]

Gildashard, are you using 2005? I haven't tried using 2005, only 2004. I get the error message as stated before, ... cannot change reference to file of different type... etc.

ctopher,
I see from your signature, you are using 05, sp3.1. Is it possible this feature was added in 05, sp4.0?

 

[ctopher]

It's possible, have not tried it.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[J-C]

2005 & 2006. Not totally sure about 2006 but I don't think anything has changed.

Jason

 

[J-C]

Speak of the devil....Solidworks has posted a survey in the subscription site regarding Solidworks Explorer. Be sure to take the survey and voice these shortcomings.

Jason

 

[quest4k]

I am very new to SW and I have been pulling my hair out with it, till I discovered this site. I have already picked up several great tips here and this was just one more, thanks to Gildashard for the great how to, it works great.

 

[ShaggyPE]

smcadman,
Last night I tried the process that I have tried numerous times already, this time however on 2005 sp4.0. I got the same result, it did not work.

I ask anyone who would like to verify this by quickly repeating this task (takes about 5 min).
1. create two parts, part1 and part2
2. create an assembly with part1 and part2
3. create a drawing of the assembly
4. close all files
5. begin the process to open the drawing, however prior to clicking open, click on references in the lower right corner.
6. You will see that the drawing is referencing the assembly.
7. Double-click on the assembly path and browse to part1
8. You will see that part1 has replaced the assembly in the reference (all good to this point)
9. Click OK and you WILL receive an error message about not being able to switch the file type.

smcadman,
If you are able to do this without the error, you are magic.

 

[ctopher]

Shaggy18VW,
I have never seen that work for me or anyone here at our company. Only replacing a part with a part or assy with an assy.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[ShaggyPE]

Agreed, but smcadman seems to understand the issue and he says it works for him. I would just like some input from others to verify that I am not looney.

-Shaggy

Tally

Works Doesn't Work
0 2

 

[rgrayclamps]

To all:

Just as Jason stated, you can replace a part with another part on a drawing on a drawing. You can also replace an assembly with another assembly on a drawing. You can do that any version of Solidworks.

But we should not think about replacing a part with an assembly, or replacing an assembly with a part on a drawing. This does make sense, and it is wrong logically. Also, I do not see any reason of doing so.

Alex

 

[ShaggyPE]

Alex,
Read the previous thread thread559-122252

 

[ctopher]

I just tried it again using Gildashard's method. It will not let you replace a part with an assy or vise versa in a dwg. Only a part with a part, assy with an assy.
Same thing happened with SW Explorer, which does not give the option to browse for an assy if you want to replace a part with an assy...within an assy.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[quest4k]

Sorry, it does work, for the most part. It is a bit touchy but it does work. FYI 4U.

 

[ctopher]

quest4k,
How exactly did you make it work and what version are you using?

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[rgrayclamps]

Hi, Shaggy18VW:

I just read your original post copied below:

**********************************************************
I have an assembly model that consists of two components. A drawing was created of this assembly. Later one of these components was found to no longer be needed. I still have a drawing of the assembly that now contains only the one part.

The drawing is of a sheet metal component that has some PEM hardware inserted. The assembly is an "inseparable assembly" and we do a drawing of the assembly file only. No drawing is ever created of the part. In this redesign, the pems are no longer be needed, we can do away with the assembly file.

Ideally I would like to replace the assembly reference within the drawing with the part model. I would then delete the assembly file. I don't want to recreate the drawing from scratch and can't seem to trick SW into recognizing the part file.

Anyone ever run into this situation?
*******************************************************

I don't think your company handles engineering drawing document properly. According to what you described, you made the following changes:

1) You removed a part ("part A") from your assembly;
2) You later removed all of your PEM hardware from your assembly;
3) Now your assembly contains only one part ("part B");
4) You decided to obsolete your assembly;
5) You need to create new drawing for your part ("part B")

Please be aware that even though an view of a part looks identical to an view of an assembly with the same single part, behind the screen there are different definitions. Each entity (point, line, circle or arc, etc) has its unique ID. So, this will not work, should not work. All your annotations on your assembly drawing based IDs of assembly views. In no way, will they reconnect to IDs on the views of the same part. This is just how database programing works.

Additionally, you should not make a part based on an assembly drawing documents unless the part has some or all assembly features in it.

Alex

 

[ShaggyPE]

Alex,
All the changes were done in pre-release stage of design. The desire to use through bolted fasteners rather than pems was what drove the change.

Your description of my process is not quite accurate. 1 and 2 are the same. We had a sheet metal piece with some pems installed, we decided we no longer needed the pems. We had a drawing of the sheetmetal piece with pems installed. This drawing is the manufacturing print for the sheet metal piece with pems installed. We do not do a separate drawing for the sheet metal and an assembly drawing indicating which holes get pems. This is redundant for our purposes because we outsource all of our sheet metal fabrication. We simply tell the metal shop that we want a part with such and such dimensions with pems here and there. I am not going to tell a fab shop what size hole to use for a standoff, I just want a standoff.

Concerning number 4, we did not obsolete our "assembly", we simply removed the pems from a "part". Everything else is still valid.

I agree, unfortunately, that at the present time the only way to correct the issue is to create a new drawing of part b only. However it seemed that SW should allow the reference change.

Your explanation of the of the entity IDs may very well be valid and the reason why this seemingly simple request is impossible. I thank you for that.