So we're currently using only Electrical 2D and regular Solidworks 3D for design. This ends up in parts being called out twice, in mechanical prints and electrical schematics. What is a good method to send a BOM to our purchasing department that has no overlap, works with both Solidworks 3D and Solidworks Electrical 2D?
Are you looking for an automated solution or just a general practice?
I think we'll eventually get an automated solution once we start using Solidworks Electrical 3D. So right now I'm looking for tips on a good general practice.
So I'll present a sort of stepwise approach, but in the end this can all be automated via API, especially when SWE gets an API.
First what I would suggest is make sure that the component reference for each electrical component that does appear in a mechanical model is set in the properties of that instance, then add a column in your mechanical BOM for component reference - then do the same in the electrical BOM for the mark (reference designator... whatever your favorite term is.) This benefits you two ways: 1, when you do transition to SWE-3D, it should recognize components already in the 3D assembly for what they are with respect to your electrical diagram by matching reference designators, and 2, it provides a means to identify duplicate components in the next step.
Next, you can export both BOMs as excel files. Your parts list columns should be the same in Mechanical as they are in SWE. Then you can merge the two lists. In the Data tab in Excel, there is a tool to remove duplicate rows based on a column criteria. Remove duplicates based on component reference/refdes/mark and part number and then you have a nice raw data set for a merged mechanical and electrical BOM. At this point, a pivot table can be created to clean up the data, subtotal the parts and produce a clean BOM for procurement.
You can definitely automate this as it's a pretty consistent process, but it doesn't take too long to do manually per drawing either.
You could get even fancier by tackling the electrical end through SQL, but this is a way to do it with off-the-shelf tools and techniques.
**alternately, you could just put all the components in the mechanical model and use SWE strictly to generate wire cut lists. Then the only thing that gets ordered from the electrical BOM is wire.**
Thanks, Michael! This is exactly what I was looking for. I like the idea of using component references, especially because I believe we will begin to integrate Electrical 3D into our diagrams relatively soon.
So I'll present a sort of stepwise approach, but in the end this can all be automated via API, especially when SWE gets an API.
First what I would suggest is make sure that the component reference for each electrical component that does appear in a mechanical model is set in the properties of that instance, then add a column in your mechanical BOM for component reference - then do the same in the electrical BOM for the mark (reference designator... whatever your favorite term is.) This benefits you two ways: 1, when you do transition to SWE-3D, it should recognize components already in the 3D assembly for what they are with respect to your electrical diagram by matching reference designators, and 2, it provides a means to identify duplicate components in the next step.
Next, you can export both BOMs as excel files. Your parts list columns should be the same in Mechanical as they are in SWE. Then you can merge the two lists. In the Data tab in Excel, there is a tool to remove duplicate rows based on a column criteria. Remove duplicates based on component reference/refdes/mark and part number and then you have a nice raw data set for a merged mechanical and electrical BOM. At this point, a pivot table can be created to clean up the data, subtotal the parts and produce a clean BOM for procurement.
You can definitely automate this as it's a pretty consistent process, but it doesn't take too long to do manually per drawing either.
You could get even fancier by tackling the electrical end through SQL, but this is a way to do it with off-the-shelf tools and techniques.
**alternately, you could just put all the components in the mechanical model and use SWE strictly to generate wire cut lists. Then the only thing that gets ordered from the electrical BOM is wire.**