Does anyone know of a simple way to limit a search to parts and subassemblies that reside under a top level assembly? I need the search to go all the way down to the bottom of the assembly. Any assistance would be appreciated.
Does anyone know of a simple way to limit a search to parts and subassemblies that reside under a top level assembly? I need the search to go all the way down to the bottom of the assembly. Any assistance would be appreciated.
This is technically correct, but I'm looking for a way to do a custom search within EPDM. Searching from within the Assembly file doesn't give me what I need. Thanks.
Another option is to select the top level assembly in your vault view, and go to the BOM tab. You can then use the Search tool on the BOM tab (middle icon) to search any data that appears in the computed BOM. Assuming that your BOM is configured to display the relavant information you are searching for (part number, description, material, etc) that should be able to address your needs in limiting a search to a given assembly.
You can then right-click on the 'found' file and select Browse To to perform any actions, such as Check In/Out, Change State, etc.
Unfortunately we use our top level assembly doesn't have a BOM at this time. I'll see if we can add one that contains the info that I'm looking for. I appreciate the suggestion. I was hoping there was a command that is essentially the inverse of "Where Used" - call it "Consists Of" - that I could call on.
Dennis Walls wrote:
Does anyone know of a simple way to limit a search to parts and subassemblies that reside under a top level assembly? I need the search to go all the way down to the bottom of the assembly. Any assistance would be appreciated.
I'm sure it could be done with a report, and I could probably help you, but I'm not quite sure what you're looking for.
I get the 'limit the search to the top level assembly' but I don't understand what you mean by 'go down to the bottom of the assembly'...
I just mean I want to search the entire assembly, and not just the top level.
This is what I'm working on - We have a mixture of purchased and manufactured parts. Some of the manufactured parts go to our CNC router; those parts have a custom property of CNC (Yes or No). I want to go to search based on the top level assembly and create a list of parts that go to our CNC router (CNC=Yes). I'll then use this list in our Nesting NC software (SigmaNest) to create custom nests for each product that goes onto our assembly line.
I'll utilize the custom properties (Qty, SW-Folder, etc.) from Solidworks to create a Work Order in SigmaNest.
Before anyone suggests it, we can technically open the entire assembly in SigmaNest, but the Assemblies are so big that it tends to kill our network and takes an inordinate amount of time to load. That's why I'm trying to filter out the non-CNC parts.
Thanks again.
I may have found it. The Basic BOM template had been turned off in the Administration tool (that's an issue with multiple EPDM administrators). Once I got that turned on I can add the "CNC" and "Found In" fields to the Basic BOM template, export it as a CSV, and manipulate the data from there.
If there's an easier way to do this I'd still love to see it.
I believe this is the easiest way to get what you need. And, it is a completely out-of-box solution which requires no custom programming or reporting.
I agree with you. Although I'm the type that if I do something more than once and it takes me any significant time I write something to do it for me.
There is a filter at the top of the feature manager tree on assemblies and parts. If you start typing info in there, the feature tree displays only what you ask for (parts/sub-assy's/ features, etc).