8 Replies Latest reply on Jan 30, 2018 6:00 AM by Kevin Gray

Assembly with referenced parts

Kevin Gray Jan 30, 2018 2:10 AM

Hi all

Hopefully someone can help with this. Up until now i have always worked from one pc and not using networked files. i now work somewhere where there are approx 4 users (no PDM system) their setup is that they have created a library of parts and subassemblies with configurations in folders on the network.

when you make an assembly you obviously bring in each part or subassembly as make the full assembly.

this is fine until i wanted to change one subassembly configuration in my assembly to a different length for example. a co-worked then opened his assembly that has the same subassembly referenced part in it and it had changed his part to my configuration.

what we don't want is multiple copies of parts or subassemblies. what am i doing wrong or should we be using PDM?

many thanks

Kevin gray

Re: Assembly with referenced parts

Deepak Gupta Jan 30, 2018 3:25 AM (in response to Kevin Gray)

Well PDM would give you more control over data management so I would vouch for it. And from your current situation, it looks like that you accidentally changed the length for all configurations instead of one. make sure that you select "This configuration" when making the changes.
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Re: Assembly with referenced parts

Igor Fomenko Jan 30, 2018 3:33 AM (in response to Kevin Gray)

You must add one more configuration
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- Re: Assembly with referenced parts
  
  Kevin Gray Jan 30, 2018 4:03 AM (in response to Igor Fomenko)
  
  not sure why i would have to add another configuration, as in the picture there are stands that have different widths. already configured with the available widths. someone made a previous version and now the customer requires a new project with these changed to be narrower. when i picked the stand in the tree and changed the configuration to the narrower stand i want and saved my assembly as a save copy and when i open the other previous version it then states a rebuild is needed and then changes the same stand to the configuration i just changed the new one to. hope this makes sense?
  
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  - Re: Assembly with referenced parts
    
    Igor Fomenko Jan 30, 2018 4:52 AM (in response to Kevin Gray)
    
    I can`t understand you clearly, I know only two ways:
    you can create one more configuration
    you can make subassy or part or assy independent if you don`t want to reuse it for the future
    
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Re: Assembly with referenced parts

Kevin Gray Jan 30, 2018 5:01 AM (in response to Kevin Gray)

ok Igor i have been trying different things but the problem is the part gets used on different projects so it will always be needed. i think its best next time to just make a new configuration
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- Re: Assembly with referenced parts
  
  Igor Fomenko Jan 30, 2018 5:06 AM (in response to Kevin Gray)
  
  Yes, in this case you create new config. and in this case you don`t affect old projects.
  
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Re: Assembly with referenced parts

Rob Edwards Jan 30, 2018 5:12 AM (in response to Kevin Gray)

Hi Kevin
Does this explain the situation you are experiencing?
2018 SOLIDWORKS Help - Best Practice for Configurations with External References
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Re: Assembly with referenced parts

Kevin Gray Jan 30, 2018 6:00 AM (in response to Kevin Gray)

yes rob that sounds about right. i need to see how our system is setup for each part and configuration and compare how its been made. maybe it wasn't just what i did and how its setup
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