I'm starting to make a lot of schematics prior to starting any design and I've come across two ways of doing it.
Using blocks or using parts (sketchs with no features).
I prefer to use block as I can complete my entire schematic with connecting lines in one "sketch" where as using parts you have to import the part determine your layout, mate everything and then make a sketch after hoping you don't need to change as it can be a nightmare.
The problem is when I need to make a BOM table I can't figure out if there is a way for solidworks to populate data into a table if a block is being used and updating the quantity if multiple of the same block is being used. This is where the advantage of the part file works as the data is stored into the part.
Is this even possible to use blocks for this or am I stuck using the parts?
Hi,
I use to do a lot of electro-mechanical control units, usually the electrical was all handled by other software, but we did have a bunch of epoxies and other items that there was nothing really to model, so we would make blank part files, with all the data to fill out the BOM correctly and attach them to the origin of the assembly, and when we would balloon them we would drag the leader to the origin of the part in the design tree so the balloon would come out correctly.
I haven't seen a way to tie a BOM or table to a sketch. Doing it via part file does give you consistency of how things are listed in the BOM as well as to make sure your models match your PDM systems, at a minimum for a sanity check.
Regards,