the factory i work in, wants me to make a catalog for all the parts of machines with characteristics which can be used in the future while maintenance and renovation. does SW has any part for this usage? does any one one has any suggestion or recommendation?
i've a question, what is the difference of functionality of SolidWorks Composer and the things we do in Drawing of SW? what is the mission of SolidWorks Composer?
i guess it is something between Drawings and PhotoView360
Look at video on YuoTube.
Something can be created once, but it is not enough - probably periodic updating and editing will be necessary.
Probably without PDM it will be difficult to be made. The task depends on amounts of works and required terms. And also probably and certain expenses.
As far as will these expectations and opportunities be coordinated?
In the past I used Microsoft Publisher, but if I'd have to do another one now, I'd use a SolidWorks Drawing. The reason is you can use the Custom Properties, that way there is no redundant typing, plus you can easily use the note feature that SolidWorks has.
The big reason that I would use SW is for the views, otherwise you would need to save the different views as a jpeg, tif or ai or some other kind of picture file and then paste it in another document, using SW will allow you to easily manipulate the views and pictures, plus use different steps of the exploded views, or section views etc.
Another reason that I would suggest using SW is "Changes" to the Operators manual, it's easier to make changes in SW.
So try using SolidWorks Drawing, then you can save it as a pdf
You would need to setup your Drawing Template/Format accordingly..
There is also Treehouse - there is a button - display as a list, and then open in Excel.
You can even customize pictures in the SW-19. Could be helpful.
thanks for sharing your view
You're welcome -
i heard that composer was supposed to do a lot of the same things and be a bit easier to explode out assemblies and what not. This way a guy could be working on the manual, while the assembly or machine was still in progress and the views could all be updated.
Not sure if it cost more. If that is not the option, then go with the drawing as John said, that will get you there and a few custom BOM's and some creative writing, you can make pages and pages of a manual that noone will do much more that look at the pictures.
If you have 2019 - see the attached Drawing Template and Drawing Format.. I use a similar document in my drawing file as one of the cover sheets in my drawing pack.
Open the drawing template, right click the page and go to edit sheet, then you'll see all the Custom Properties that are associated with the SW Part/Assembly File. The subsequent sheets would be different then your cover sheet, however, some of the stuff would be the same, so you would just need to be a little creative with the following sheets.
We will be including Solidworks exploded views, but that is a small piece of the puzzle for us. For instance, most of our assemblies include a lot of things like bearings, couplings, motors, etc. These are "off-the-shelf" components which we can get their maintenance manuals from the manufacturer, for inclusion in the maintenance manual, along with their product information sheets. Previously we just compiled all of this, along with our drawings into a binder and distributed it that way. Our new method will be to use Latex (free typesetting program) to compile all the documents digitally. The benefit is that all of the off-the-shelf documentation will be part of this document and everything will be hyperlinked.
Here's a screenshot of how the product data sheets will look:
Notice the page number from the catalog is 112, but the Latex applied sheet number for the document is actually 232 at the top.
If what you are doing is reasonably complex, it may be worth learning Latex. Yes, it does have a learning curve, but if you can figure SW out then you can learn Latex. And, once you learn it you can use it for other documentation. If you've ever had to manage a large Word document, you'll love Latex.
I didn't know that. How do you hyperlink to PDFs and have them included in the final PDF?
Does anyone have a 300-400 page document they've compiled with SW or SW Composer?
You link using Notes....
Below is a link to the McMaster Screw, just copy and paste the path..
Click on the note and the link will open if you're connected to the internet..
So you can link anywhere from your file directory or the internet..
I did forget to mention that if you save the Drawing file as a PDF and that Drawing File has Hyperlinks, they are still active after you save the PDF.
Another reason that I would stay with a drawing file
We typically use MS word. Drawings, models etc are typically a small portion of our manuals. We use some model snips but we also have lots of photo's as well as a plethora of screen shots from the PLC end of things, schematics, operations and everything else you would expect to find in an operations manual.
I think we are comparing apples to oranges here. Using Latex, I have the PDF data already downloaded into a folder. Latex embeds all the PDFs I tell it to into the final PDF for distribution the table of contents then hyperlinks to those pages within the PDF. Using hyperlinks to external sources is a recipe for disaster without proper management, especially to websites. What happens when Mcmaster can't source that screw? I'm sure they'll take that link down (may not happen to a screw, but you get the point).
The only way I'd consider doing what you are suggesting is if the drawing PDF and all the part PDFs were in PDM...But, I'm not even sure that's a good idea. File size, especially if you get everything in vector format means the final PDF is not going to be that large...The one I'm generating is 55MB with some of the included cut sheets being raster instead of vector for a 260 page file.
Word is fine if you don't have a lot to document. But, the more you add the more you have to manually manage.
Matt Peneguy wrote:
I think we are comparing apples to oranges here. Using Latex, I have the PDF data already downloaded into a folder. Latex embeds all the PDFs I tell it to into the final PDF for distribution the table of contents then hyperlinks to those pages within the PDF. Using hyperlinks to external sources is a recipe for disaster without proper management, especially to websites. What happens when Mcmaster can't source that screw? I'm sure they'll take that link down (may not happen to a screw, but you get the point).
The only way I'd consider doing what you are suggesting is if the drawing PDF and all the part PDFs were in PDM...But, I'm not even sure that's a good idea. File size, especially if you get everything in vector format means the final PDF is not going to be that large...The one I'm generating is 55MB with some of the included cut sheets being raster instead of vector for a 260 page file.
Apples & Oranges, definitely, but also file size, the largest Operators Manual I made was possibly less than 50 pages..
Here I push for One Software Use, One Input, One Folder System and One Time Typing, that is worth more to me then file size etc...
You mention Hyperlinks to outside sources, the same is true for in house Hyperlinks, here it's a much bigger chance that someone might change the folder structure, then McMaster changing their product..
John Stoltzfus wrote:
Matt Peneguy wrote:
I think we are comparing apples to oranges here. Using Latex, I have the PDF data already downloaded into a folder. Latex embeds all the PDFs I tell it to into the final PDF for distribution the table of contents then hyperlinks to those pages within the PDF. Using hyperlinks to external sources is a recipe for disaster without proper management, especially to websites. What happens when Mcmaster can't source that screw? I'm sure they'll take that link down (may not happen to a screw, but you get the point).
The only way I'd consider doing what you are suggesting is if the drawing PDF and all the part PDFs were in PDM...But, I'm not even sure that's a good idea. File size, especially if you get everything in vector format means the final PDF is not going to be that large...The one I'm generating is 55MB with some of the included cut sheets being raster instead of vector for a 260 page file.
Apples & Oranges, definitely, but also file size, the largest Operators Manual I made was possibly less than 50 pages..
Here I push for One Software Use, One Input, One Folder System and One Time Typing, that is worth more to me then file size etc...
You mention Hyperlinks to outside sources, the same is true for in house Hyperlinks, here it's a much bigger chance that someone might change the folder structure, then McMaster changing their product..
The documents we create are to be accessed 30 to 50 years from now. I don't think I trust any external hyperlinks that long. That's why we create a monolithic PDF containing everything. The folder structure is critical until the final PDF is published. At that point it contains everything all inclusive.
Matt Peneguy wrote:
The documents we create are to be accessed 30 to 50 years from now. I don't think I trust any external hyperlinks that long. That's why we create a monolithic PDF containing everything. The folder structure is critical until the final PDF is published. At that point it contains everything all inclusive.
No doubt that the operators manuals need to be setup to last another lifetime. Like you mentioned the Folder Structure is Critical and with a little setup you could still hyperlink to information within the Folder Structure only without the need to connect to the outside world.
Just to make my self clear, I'm surely not disapproving your use of Latex or any other program that you or anyone else uses, the point I want to make is, with a little Template & Drawing Format setup, you could do everything within SolidWorks and save it as a PDF, open the PDF and your Hyperlinks open when you select that note or symbol etc...
Likewise...or is it conversely...I'm not implying that it has to be done the way I proposed, just that it can be...But, as I also posted above, Latex definitely has a learning curve and that has to be weighed vs. what you get out of it.
If what you are documenting becomes complicated, then the need for a typesetting program becomes more and more advantageous...And it can be used for other documentation, such as the SSP manual that we came up with over at Skeleton Sketch Part Method for Large Assemblies.
What are we calling "Alot"? Also what do you mean by "Manually manage"?
If I were consistently doing 200-400 page documents I would probably do it with some other system than MS for no other reason than it's a pain for formatting in general.
Matt Juric wrote:
What are we calling "Alot"? Also what do you mean by "Manually manage"?
If I were consistently doing 200-400 page documents I would probably do it with some other system than MS for no other reason than it's a pain for formatting in general.
That's exactly what I mean. Word doesn't play well if you insert graphics (don't even get me started on their poor support for vector formats, until very recently they only supported MS proprietary emf format).
I don't know the current state of Word, but it isn't a typesetting application. The idea behind a typesetting application is that you setup your template and if you need to modify it you modify the template that controls spacing, formatting, how tables are set, etc. and all of that is applied document wide. Then you can focus on the content. This is from my template:
The text files c01-c04 contain all the text for my document. I generally comment out the sections I'm not working on in the template to be able to more quickly generate the output PDF.
If you insist of doing Operators Manuals in a Microsoft product then, don't use Word, use Publisher, much better..
Hi,
watch SolidWorks Composer.