Has anyone found a way to add item numbers to an EPDM BOM that are actually linked to item balloons on the drawing? We are trying to move away from having a BOM on the face of the drawing by replacing it with the EPDM BOM. Unfortunately, right now that would mean manually adding item numbers to the BOM and then having to make sure, after any changes, that they still match the item balloons on the drawing. We are currently on 2015.
Thanks,
Joseph
Prasad,
So the item number would drive the custom property named ITEM No. in the part, which would in turn be read by the EPDM BOM if I set up a new column to do that? Would this potential solution work for parts that are used in many different assemblies? The same part could have different item numbers at the same time, in different assemblies.
Thanks,
Joseph
Hi Joseph, yes correct. No it wouldn't work for parts in different used in different assemblies. You would have to set the value of the Item No. property different in each assembly.
Kind regards,
Prasad
You can move the BOM outside the drawing border and then hide it. It will still show up in the EPDM BOM with item numbers. The native EPDM BOM has no link to the SW BOM. It doesn't even order the parts correctly. It lists them in the order they were added to the vault.
For what it's worth, my solution to the problem was to write an add-in that lets you right click on a drawing file and select 'Print BOM'. It then extracts data from both the SW BOM and EPDM BOM, combines them and generates an Excel spreadsheet, nicely formatted and ready for printing.
Guys,
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Prasad, since we use parts in multiple assemblies, I am thinking the custom property ITEM No. will probably not work for us.
Jim, the drawing BOM will still "show up in the EPDM BOM"? I may have misunderstood, but isn't the drawing BOM entirely separate from the EPDM BOM?
What about skipping item numbers altogether and just having the part number in the "item" balloon? Since we name our parts by their part numbers, the EPDM BOM would have all the information necessary. You could sort it numerically to make it easier to find the correct part. Does that sound like a reasonable solution? Here is a link to a discussion on another forum about using part numbers as item numbers I came across when researching before asking my question.
Item numbers on Assembly Drawings - DASSAULT: SOLIDWORKS 3D Design - Eng-Tips
Thanks,
Joseph
There are three different types of BOMs in EPDM: computed, named and derived. The SOLIDWORKS drawing BOM is a derived BOM. You can view it by selecting it in the drop down list of the BOM tab in Explorer:
Personally, I'm not a fan of using part numbers as the balloon numbers. One reason is that I like to put all the hardware (e.g. screws, washers, nuts) last in my BOMs, sorted by size. If I used part numbers and sorted it, it would be completely messed up. Your mileage may vary.
Jim,
Thanks for the explanation. I did not realize that if you have a BOM in the drawing file that then you can get item numbers in Enterprise. This may ultimately be what we end up doing. Not exactly what we had envisioned, but way better than nothing.
Have a great weekend,
Joseph
I know it's a long time from now, but it looks like in 2017, you will be able to link a note to a cell in a B.O.M.
What's (hopefully) New In SolidWorks 2017 - 3DVision Technologies Blog - 3DVision Technologies
Hi Joseph, I don't think this is possible straight out of the box. What might be possible is to create a separate ITEM No. custom property in your files, link your balloons to that custom property, and then have your EPDM Bom show that custom property as a column. I think that would work but I have not tested it.
Kind regards,
Prasad