Hi
I know this is going to be a bit contraversial but here goes.
I am using SW to design aluminium boats and sell flat pack kits. Boats require a lot of weldment parts (used for plate stiffeners), and most of them are mirrored.
When I create a BOM from an assembly drawing I have 3 major problems.
1. it wont give me a summary of materials required for ordering. Getting total quantities out for ordering materials is such a basic need I am amazed it cant do it. Sure you can go to excel and add up all the cut lengths but then you lose the advantage of parametric modelling.
2. It doesnt recognise mirrored weldment bodies in assemblies. So if I mirror a weldment with 100 bodies the bom just shows 1 mirrored item. So when I export to excel to add up the cut lengths I have to find all the mirrored bodies and double the quanities of each one.
3. when using display states the bom lists items of parts that are hidden. So I deleted the rows I dont want and the next day I opened the drawing and they are all back.
If I knew about this there is no way I would have bought Solidworks. I am so fed up with how bad the BOM's are and how much time I waste manully doing material takeoffs that I am thinking of switching to solid edge and writing off the cost of SW.
Just like the SW VAR, the SE resellers are also saying that it is perfect for boat building and can do everything I need. The SW VAR lied to get the sale and I'm sure the SE guys would do the same.
I know SE can give totals for ordering sorted by member type but I dont know about the rest so I am hoping that someone that has a good knowledge of both programs can tell me more about the BOM capabilities in Solid Edge before I waste more time and money.
I know I will still have to do a trial but if SE has the same problems then I wont bother. Maybe SE is just as bad.
I am a 1 man band so if an inaccurate BOM causes me to under quote a job, or order the wrong amount of materials, then the loss comes out of my pocket, and that can be more than the cost of switching. So at this point a I am prepared to live with any other limitations of SE as I'm sure they wont cost me as much time (and expose me to as much financial risk) as this BOM issue does.
Thanks
Steve
I know this is going to be a bit contraversial but here goes.
I am using SW to design aluminium boats and sell flat pack kits. Boats require a lot of weldment parts (used for plate stiffeners), and most of them are mirrored.
When I create a BOM from an assembly drawing I have 3 major problems.
1. it wont give me a summary of materials required for ordering. Getting total quantities out for ordering materials is such a basic need I am amazed it cant do it. Sure you can go to excel and add up all the cut lengths but then you lose the advantage of parametric modelling.
2. It doesnt recognise mirrored weldment bodies in assemblies. So if I mirror a weldment with 100 bodies the bom just shows 1 mirrored item. So when I export to excel to add up the cut lengths I have to find all the mirrored bodies and double the quanities of each one.
3. when using display states the bom lists items of parts that are hidden. So I deleted the rows I dont want and the next day I opened the drawing and they are all back.
If I knew about this there is no way I would have bought Solidworks. I am so fed up with how bad the BOM's are and how much time I waste manully doing material takeoffs that I am thinking of switching to solid edge and writing off the cost of SW.
Just like the SW VAR, the SE resellers are also saying that it is perfect for boat building and can do everything I need. The SW VAR lied to get the sale and I'm sure the SE guys would do the same.
I know SE can give totals for ordering sorted by member type but I dont know about the rest so I am hoping that someone that has a good knowledge of both programs can tell me more about the BOM capabilities in Solid Edge before I waste more time and money.
I know I will still have to do a trial but if SE has the same problems then I wont bother. Maybe SE is just as bad.
I am a 1 man band so if an inaccurate BOM causes me to under quote a job, or order the wrong amount of materials, then the loss comes out of my pocket, and that can be more than the cost of switching. So at this point a I am prepared to live with any other limitations of SE as I'm sure they wont cost me as much time (and expose me to as much financial risk) as this BOM issue does.
Thanks
Steve
1. I know getting a material list is possible. I personally don't know all the specifics, but I've seen it done.
2. Probably a setting you need to change.
3. Hidden items are still part of the assembly and still loaded into your computer's RAM. If you don't want items to show up on your BOM, you need to SUPPRESS it; or, if you don't need it in that assembly, delete it.