Picking dimensions for inspection list
Picking dimensions for inspection list
(OP)
Hello,
I have recently come back to the world of methods engineering and have been tasked with formalizing an inspection program. the forms and requirements are easy, getting the operators to fill in dimensions and tolerances is a little more challenging.
Lurking about here and other forums has not produced any answers, I would like to know if picking the dim's and tolerance off the sheet view and exporting them to Excel is possible.
I use AutoCAD Mechanical 2014 and Inventor 2014.
Being able to do this will enable me to automate filling in inspection sheets before the material even hits the shop floor. Thanks in advance, I look forward to your responses
I have recently come back to the world of methods engineering and have been tasked with formalizing an inspection program. the forms and requirements are easy, getting the operators to fill in dimensions and tolerances is a little more challenging.
Lurking about here and other forums has not produced any answers, I would like to know if picking the dim's and tolerance off the sheet view and exporting them to Excel is possible.
I use AutoCAD Mechanical 2014 and Inventor 2014.
Being able to do this will enable me to automate filling in inspection sheets before the material even hits the shop floor. Thanks in advance, I look forward to your responses
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
OP: what tools are you capable of using and maintaining? Are you fluent with LISP, VBA, something.NET, objectARX, etc? That may help someone know how to go about things.
It shouldn't be too hard to write a LISP routine that gets all dimension objects and reads their value, creating an output that is usable for spreadsheets. The trick would be somehow getting the numbers spit out in an organized and legible manner, or even bubbling/ballooning the print so you have numbered dimensions that correspond to the numbered inspection form lines. That is a little beyond what a simple routine can normally do well. Not impossible. Just very difficult to place balloons/bubbles legibly.
So... what are you expecting specifically to be the nature of the solution?
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NX8.0, Solidworks 2014, AutoCAD, Enovia V5
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
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NX8.0, Solidworks 2014, AutoCAD, Enovia V5
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
Mr JNieman, I understand your reluctance to start "detonating" drawings. I've been bitten by some unintended results that required alot of time to fix. As far as how fluent I am, LISP's and objectARX's are friends of mine, we don't go way back, but we speak. My intentions are to pick individual dims in an order that seems logical to me for the work that is to be done as it travels through the shop. Some sort of LISP is what I figured the responses would be, I had not thought that a whole sheet of dims at once would be practical.
What I really hoped for was some command that Autodesk has already included for its mechanical users. So many other commands are included I did not think that was a stretch.
Pending other replies I will try the exploding technique to get something on paper and explore a more elegant solution. I still look forward to learning from the talent here on this forum.
Once again, thanks so much for your time
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
I think you and I are on similar terms with LISP... I'd have to knock some rust off if I were to craft anything, but it at least gives me an idea of the approach. Extracting object values was one of the things I used LISP for rather successfully. Unfortunately I know of no OOTB resource for that.
I would sign up at theswamp.org and peruse some of the very valuable resources and brilliant minds there. There may be some folk there who've already solved your problem, or something similar, and have a routine they wouldn't mind you using or modifying to suit.
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NX8.0, Solidworks 2014, AutoCAD, Enovia V5
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
Another thing that I tried is to transfer the drawn object with its dimensions from ACAD to Excel. The way to go about that is as follows;
Clean the drawing area in the model space of all extraneous docked tools bars and extra commands line with the Clean Screen command within the View pull down menu
Pick the objects and related dimensions and Copy to clipboard (Control C)from key board
From again keyboard, press "ALT" and "Print Screen"
Open Excel or other editors except Notepad and on keyboard Paste from clipboard (Control V)
In Excel, entire drawing with dimensions can be easily reduced in size by picking the cell block in which the outline with pickboxes are displayed, the latter of which allows you to reduce the cell.
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
JNieman, I went to "Theswamp" and poked around. I didn't register or anything, I just went exploring. Thanks for the lead. As far as document control goes, we have some pretty stringent controls on and make extensive use of rev's. Parts that are for repair really need to be watched for rev level.
I really appreciate the help that is so freely given here. I use other forums for programming and machining in general and sometimes attitudes can be hard to take.
thanks again guys
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
http://www.cadforum.cz/cadforum_en/list-of-inspect...
Vladimir Michl, www.cadstudio.cz
RE: Picking dimensions for inspection list
-C.