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Is it possible to make a weldment cutlist wich quickly shows if the profiles contains hole's and/or angles?

Question asked by Jellejan Wijcherson on Jan 18, 2019
Latest reply on Jan 23, 2019 by Daen Hendrickson

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I would like to know if it's possible to make a cutlist with a column "hole" and a column "angle" wich will result "yes" if they are present in that profile,
Is it possible for solidworks to reconize if there is a cut-extrude present. and to answer this with Yes/No?

I am aware of the cutlist wich shows you the angles, but since this isn't enough information for the sawman,
I'd rather have a refecerence for him to know if he has to check the drawing for any special actions.

Does anyone know how to do this?

Daen Hendrickson Jan 22, 2019 10:50 AM

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I have only come up with one approach for the holes and it is very manual.

The idea is to add a cut list custom property in the model called something like "Has Holes" and add a value of "Yes" or "No". This would be manually determined and entered by the engineer or CAD operator. Your cut list can then add a column referenced to this property.

All this does is transfers the workload / responsibility from the cut person to the designer. Not very elegant. It is arguable that the designer should be more familiar with which members have holes.

Daen

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Joel Gilbert Jan 18, 2019 1:12 PM
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As far as angled cuts go, the answer is yes. In the cut list table you can add columns for angle1 and angle2.

See this thread for how to save a template with this already added:
Adding Angle1 and Angle2 fields to the weldment cutlist

I don't know of a built-in way to check for holes, maybe someone else will be able to chime in.

You could use a cut list and a hole table to call them out, but they would still have to reference the drawing view to know there was a hole on that item no. I am wondering if there is something in the API that could be used to count the number of hole instances for a particular item number and set a custom property named hasHoles to Yes or No?
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- Jellejan Wijcherson @ Joel Gilbert on Jan 21, 2019 3:20 AM
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  Thank you for your reaction, I am aware of this cutlist with the angles,
  It's hard to explain since with my broken english, But I think you summed it up right.
  
  I just want the sawman to saw something, look at the table, see a "No" at the hole column. And go on with the next thing on the list.
  Instead of checking every drawing for holes. (We use multi-body parts for framework, So sometimes its hard to find the holes)
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Solid Air Jan 18, 2019 7:15 PM
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Your sawman is just cutting the raw stock? OR is he preforming other operations after cutting the material. Is so would not this require some type of routing?
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- Jellejan Wijcherson @ Solid Air on Jan 21, 2019 3:11 AM
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  You are right, The sawman also performs the operations like drilling holes in the profiles.
  At the moment he has to check every drawing to see if there are hole's present.
  
  If the option was possible, he would only have to check the drawings when there was a "yes" in the column.
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Daen Hendrickson Jan 21, 2019 11:30 AM
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One approach would be to add a column to your cut list table with an IF() statement...

If the Angle1 or Angle2 cell is greater than zero then there is an angled cut so show the word YES, otherwise NO.

Daen
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- Jellejan Wijcherson @ Daen Hendrickson on Jan 22, 2019 4:25 AM
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  Thank you!
  That is probably the best way to do it for now,
  
  If there only was some way to do the same for holes...
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  - Daen Hendrickson @ Jellejan Wijcherson on Jan 22, 2019 10:50 AM
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    I have only come up with one approach for the holes and it is very manual.
    
    The idea is to add a cut list custom property in the model called something like "Has Holes" and add a value of "Yes" or "No". This would be manually determined and entered by the engineer or CAD operator. Your cut list can then add a column referenced to this property.
    
    All this does is transfers the workload / responsibility from the cut person to the designer. Not very elegant. It is arguable that the designer should be more familiar with which members have holes.
    
    Daen
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    - Jellejan Wijcherson @ Daen Hendrickson on Jan 22, 2019 2:46 PM
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      Thanks for the response,
      You're right about transfering the workload to a more efficient stage of manufactoring,
      
      This is also the way I work right now.
      But instead of using a custom property, I just manually add a "*" or a "+" in the cutlist under the info column and told the sawman what its for.
      
      For now I'll just keep working like this.
      And let you know if I think of something else in the future.
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- Jellejan Wijcherson @ Daen Hendrickson on Jan 23, 2019 4:54 AM
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  Hi Daen,
  
  Do you know if it is possible to use something like "Angle1@@@+Angle2@@@" instead of "G2+H2"?
  
  Because I rather not have the angles in the cut-list since this isn't a good reference for the sawmachine we use.
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  - Daen Hendrickson @ Jellejan Wijcherson on Jan 23, 2019 1:34 PM
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    Jellejan,
    
    This is a particularly frustrating issue - at least with my SW2014 SP5 version of the software.
    
    My first inclination was to have you hide the angle columns in the cut list table. Hiding columns in Cut List Tables is not an option.
    Next I thought we could adjust the column width to something very small as a way to "almost" hide the column. The smallest width is limited to the widest character in the column. Additionally, as the column narrows the row height automatically increases to keep all text visible.
    Thirdly I tried creating a second cut list table and placing it off the visible page. I then tried to access the values in the second table from a cell formula in the first table. I did not find any syntax that allowed for this.
    Fourthly I tried to use "Link to Property" from a cell in the cut list table. Amazingly, access to the Cut List Properties check box on the Link to Property dialog box is grayed out when working with a Cut List! Let that sink in.... I can create a note in the drawing view attached to a cut list member and access the linked Cut List Properties. But I could not find a syntax that allows for a Note to evaluate an IF() construct.
    Next I changed approaches and thought I could create the logic in the part cut list. But again I was unable to find a syntax that would evaluate and IF() construct.
    
    At this point I do not have a suggestion for not showing the Angle columns in the cut list table... Unless functionality has been added to later releases of the software this is looking more and more like a macro that determines the information you require and then creates the associated cut list properties is the only viable approach
    
    Daen
    
    EDIT: Yes, a column in a cut list table can be hidden! I thought as much but could not find it....
    
    Select the column header and click the Hide/Show button in the popup toolbar
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Is it possible to make a weldment cutlist wich quickly shows if the profiles contains hole's and/or angles?

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