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Multibody multiple drawing sheets - check for same bodies?

Question asked by Dario Karalic on Dec 1, 2020
Latest reply on Dec 1, 2020 by Matt Juric

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Hello ,first apology from me , for my English.
I will try to explain my needs as best as i can.

I really like multibody modelling , and until now i always used "save bodies" (with create assembly option) and then i created separately drawing for each derived part. SW is able to recognize same parts , and put them in more instances in assembly and that was really great for me.

Now , i want to try multiple drawing sheets , and i use select bodies to detail parts i need , but the question is what is best way to check which parts are same so i dont details two same parts? I use weldments all the time , and often i have a large number of bodies .That option in save bodies from SW to recognize same ones was great, but now i kind of need to check it by myself because i dont wanna detail two exactly same bodies.

For more clarity see picture below , those two bodies are the same and i know that so i will details just one of them , but sometimes i have 100+ bodies which can be similar (or same) so i wanna try to avoid checking if they are same by myself.

I hope you guys can understand me , any suggestions? Thanks!

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Peter Brinkhuis Dec 1, 2020 10:02 AM

The best way to find unique bodies is to get them from the cut list in the multibody part. Then SolidWorks does the checks for you.

Because making a drawing sheet for each unique body is a pain to do manually, I automated it with Drew:

https://cadbooster.com/drew

I find the unique bodies in a multibody part and create a sheet per body, including outer dimensions and a balloon and a flat pattern for sheet metal bodies. If the part changes and new bodies are added, I can add a new sheet for those new bodies.

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Matt Juric Dec 1, 2020 10:03 AM

but sometimes i have 100+ bodies which can be similar (or same) so i wanna try to avoid checking if they are same by myself.

Are you using weldments?

While not 100% perfect weldments does a pretty decent job of placing same bodies into folders and shows you qty's.

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Peter Brinkhuis @ Matt Juric on Dec 1, 2020 10:20 AM

Indeed. If your part has a weldment or sheet metal feature, the Solid Bodies folder changes to a cut list and gives each body (or cut list folder, actually) some extra properties.

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Matt Juric @ Peter Brinkhuis on Dec 1, 2020 11:09 AM

Peter Brinkhuis wrote:

Indeed. If your part has a weldment or sheet metal feature, the Solid Bodies folder changes to a cut list and gives each body (or cut list folder, actually) some extra properties.

I feel that one should say this with a warning.

Solidworks does not always recognize similar bodies. I've had cases where it would seem blatantly obvious the bodies are the same, IE an array, and the cut list showed them as separate bodies.

At the same time sometimes SW completely shocks me and sees two seemingly different bodies as the same body. Parts that might simply be bent the opposite direction etc are often times seen as the same body.

As I said oddly, despite being a fairly complex issue, SW gets this right most of the time, but again, warning, not 100% of the time so you definitely need to double check.

To date I have not seen a part seen as "the same" when in fact it is different, so that's a plus. In fact I've had parts I would have sworn where the same and SW said "Nope" until I saw something that made them different.

It is also VERY easy, scarily so, to just manually drag the body into the same folder and now the cut list shows the parts the same....whether they are or not. You can drag a square body into the same folder as a round hole and the cutlist will tell you you have two of the same thing. This is also very useful sometimes when you have a situation like two plates that are the same but one needs pre-fab or something else. You can "Make them" the same in the cut list if you want.

All of these are just warnings because again, for the most part, pretty accurate and extremely useful.

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Peter Brinkhuis Dec 1, 2020 10:02 AM
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The best way to find unique bodies is to get them from the cut list in the multibody part. Then SolidWorks does the checks for you.

Because making a drawing sheet for each unique body is a pain to do manually, I automated it with Drew:
https://cadbooster.com/drew
I find the unique bodies in a multibody part and create a sheet per body, including outer dimensions and a balloon and a flat pattern for sheet metal bodies. If the part changes and new bodies are added, I can add a new sheet for those new bodies.
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Matt Juric Dec 1, 2020 10:03 AM
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but sometimes i have 100+ bodies which can be similar (or same) so i wanna try to avoid checking if they are same by myself.
Are you using weldments?

While not 100% perfect weldments does a pretty decent job of placing same bodies into folders and shows you qty's.
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- Peter Brinkhuis @ Matt Juric on Dec 1, 2020 10:20 AM
  Mark Correct
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  Indeed. If your part has a weldment or sheet metal feature, the Solid Bodies folder changes to a cut list and gives each body (or cut list folder, actually) some extra properties.
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  - Matt Juric @ Peter Brinkhuis on Dec 1, 2020 11:09 AM
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    Peter Brinkhuis wrote:
    
    Indeed. If your part has a weldment or sheet metal feature, the Solid Bodies folder changes to a cut list and gives each body (or cut list folder, actually) some extra properties.
    I feel that one should say this with a warning.
    
    Solidworks does not always recognize similar bodies. I've had cases where it would seem blatantly obvious the bodies are the same, IE an array, and the cut list showed them as separate bodies.
    
    At the same time sometimes SW completely shocks me and sees two seemingly different bodies as the same body. Parts that might simply be bent the opposite direction etc are often times seen as the same body.
    
    As I said oddly, despite being a fairly complex issue, SW gets this right most of the time, but again, warning, not 100% of the time so you definitely need to double check.
    
    To date I have not seen a part seen as "the same" when in fact it is different, so that's a plus. In fact I've had parts I would have sworn where the same and SW said "Nope" until I saw something that made them different.
    
    It is also VERY easy, scarily so, to just manually drag the body into the same folder and now the cut list shows the parts the same....whether they are or not. You can drag a square body into the same folder as a round hole and the cutlist will tell you you have two of the same thing. This is also very useful sometimes when you have a situation like two plates that are the same but one needs pre-fab or something else. You can "Make them" the same in the cut list if you want.
    
    All of these are just warnings because again, for the most part, pretty accurate and extremely useful.
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Multibody multiple drawing sheets - check for same bodies?

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