CAD Forum

jcapriotti

Yeah, Draftsight was free and used across the company here. When they made it P2P, the decision was that we weren't investing in licences for "viewers", which means everyone outside of the technical department. The price was way too steep for us to even concider it. At that price, we were...

jcapriotti

I agree that what you call up or what you names you give the planes doesn't necessarily matter, but consistency leads to efficiency. If I can build all of my main sub assemblies in the same orientation as the main assembly, it saves time when bringing it all together. The less time I have to spend ...

jcapriotti

Stopped using it as soon as it became P2P Yeah...well it was either subscribe to AutoCAD LT ($500/year) or DraftSight ($400/year). DraftSight you can still get a network license so we can share the 20 licenses we have amongst 100 users. SolidWorks is our primary CAD system so it's only used a small...

jcapriotti

If that were the case no one would have named the axis XYZ to differentiate them. Also, when translating between other systems and softare, it seroiusly does matter. Wasted time is a huge "matter" and translating CORRECTLY creates lots of wasted time, which again, matters. It's maybe not ...

jcapriotti

SPerman wrote: ↑Thu Nov 21, 2024 11:40 am Did you purchase a printer?

Not yet.....close I think....was kind of waiting to see what black fridays sales might be on.

jcapriotti

Any users here?

jcapriotti

I was looking for SolidWorks Explorer (me too I feel the need for it every 5 years), and discovered it was dead for a long time... Threehouse would be a nice place to implement the lost functionality. It almost does, as you can rename files and edit it's properties (not always but I don't want to l...

jcapriotti

@matt , there are two DraftSight subforums showing. Also, since this isn't SolidWorks, should it be its own top level under "CAD"?

jcapriotti

If you set your template to Z-up, your new parts will be modeled with the z up as you want it and the default "Front, Top, etc views will match. Switching this on an older part just rotates the view.....the part will not be reoriented nor the global Csys rotated. Doing so would've likely broken...

jcapriotti

csh wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2024 6:10 am I used the import from XML. This works perfectly, and was easy to do with the video.

Just curious, did you use the free tool to create the xml from an Excel file?

jcapriotti

Couple of options depending on what you need. The Import JSculley mentioned is best if you have a lot of different variable for each part. Tim from EquivaQ has a nice video and free tool to create the XML: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVI-yeNOPCQ If you want to apply the same variable value to a ...

jcapriotti

Was looking for a macro that randomizes colors of all components at the assembly level. There are some out there, but none I could find that would only do it for the active display state.

jcapriotti

Have you looked with the IT guy of your company or the subcontractor who set it up? I know we have a few tweaks to do at first, but it didn't take too long to get everything running correctly. It's a bit of a mess here. Everything IT has been outsourced in the last few years and since we are global...

jcapriotti

Has this been resolved on your end? It shouldn't be happenning, once your connection has been authenticated, it shouldn't necessitate another authentication unless you log off. Sorry for the late reply. We also have Authenticator around here, the only annoyance I have with it so far is the requirin...

jcapriotti

Investigating a SolidWorks assembly performance issue: 800 parts 90 unique 30 sub-assy 9 unique sub-assy 860 top level mates :o I was thinking, why so many mates? Fasteners mostly it turns out. There are sheet metal parts with lots of holes, some round, some hex, some key slots. The user built the p...

jcapriotti

That's the thing. None of us like to admit it, but SolidWorks is, at the end of the day, a cheap and dirty "for the masses" 3D modeling package. There's much better out there...for a price. It's like a pair of Bose headphones....yeah they are better.....but $200-$300 is steep and most don...

jcapriotti

I called it kits, but I get its just some sort of grouping. I used the BOM function as a way of automating it some to use the meta data you already have in the models. You could have a BOM table that shows the simple letter view, then a full BOM that is just a parts list only and doesn't show the ki...

jcapriotti

Just an example of using the BOM in SolidWorks along with PDM. All of these parts are empty models, they just contain the meta data in the custom properties and data card. image.png You could take this a step further and create a "block" model with the letter for each "Kit" assem...

jcapriotti

Are the kit letter not issued a part number and description?

You could create "Structure" with empty models that have the properties for part number and description. Insert them into an assembly that represent each letter. Then you get a BOM of sorts in PDM

jcapriotti

Hey Charles, long time.

I don't see a way to make this work with the equations in custom properties. The INT function is working somewhat if you put a decimal value in like 5.523, it changes it to 5.000. Excel does the same thing if you have decimal place formatting set on the cell.

: image.png (6.18 KiB) Viewed 658 times

jcapriotti

Hi, I'm using SW2023 and PDM Pro. Is it possible to search the PDM database, to populate an Edit Box on the data card based on the part number in a separate edit box? These values are placed on a 2D drawing. We do not create assemblies of these configurations or place part views on these drawings, ...

jcapriotti

Strange.....the mapping file shouldn't effect whether the text exports.....nor the graphics card or driver. Attach your file here and I'll try it, maybe there is something weird with the file itself.

jcapriotti

I tried in 2024 sp5 and it seems to be working. I'm mapping

My mapping file settings:

jcapriotti

Was wondering how a cloud based CAD system would handle this, Onshape in this case.. The rebuild time for the same part with a 20 x 100 feature pattern rebuilt in a similar time, slightly faster than my 5 years rig (.65 vs .91 secs). The sketch pattern rebuilt in 7.5 seconds, twice as fast as my rig...

jcapriotti

Tera We have never used the "Border" function which was added later. I did find if there is an Automatic Border like in the default template, you must edit it to add it to a layer. When editing the sheet format, selecting it from the graphics area doesn't change the layer it even though i...

jcapriotti

Just did a test, Version: SolidWorks 2024 sp5 Feature Pattern: Cut Extrude. 0.125 Diameter sketched hole Linear Feature Pattern 20 x 100 Sketch Pattern: Cut Extrude. 0.125 Diameter sketched hole Linear Sketch Pattern 20 x 100 Each time did a Force rebuild (Control Q). Quite a difference in rebuild t...

jcapriotti

Anyone have any tricks for getting old 2D text, non table BOM, from a DWG into Excel? I recommend trying "Snag it" for this. https://www.techsmith.com/snagit/ You can still get a perpetual license for $63 although I think they are going subscription only with the next version o[. Well wor...

jcapriotti

mmaenpaa wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 3:53 pm Can the macro be embedded in the drawing template, so it's always there?

You can create your own tab on the Command Manager and put a button there for it. Then you would need to share your toolbar settings with your company if needed.

jcapriotti

If by "Data Card" you mean the PDM Data Card, I can't think of an automatic way to do this on opening the drawing. You can write a macro that will toggle the two layers which would save a few steps of opening the layer manager and closing it.

jcapriotti

jcapriotti

Apparently, I don't fit. :D Sounds like my current job. Ability to interpret and implement solutions when your customers: 1. Don't agree on what they want. 2. Don't know what they want. 3. Tell you what to implement exactly in the new system because that's the way they've always done it in the old ...

jcapriotti

We have a note in the TB "CAD Drawing - Do Not Scale". We don't put sheet size or scale on the print. Last we only use "A" and "B" size drawing templates. Been this way since the mid 90s. Reasoning I believe is once 11 x 17 printers became common in the mid to late 90s,...

jcapriotti

Isn't that the modern definition of modern marketing? Don't get me started on my views on marketing. dave.laban Maybe that's a sign that they are putting all their time, money, and effort into the product which would be good. However, they need to advertise and show us something. Even just a semina...

jcapriotti

We use Pulse. https://pulseplm.com/ Relatively cheap, relatively simple, great support, does everything we need it to. Would be nice if they posted some content and videos on the product. Can't find anything on it except for some high level generic marketing content that tells you absolutely nothing.

jcapriotti

as it will soon be known, SE-X.[/url] Think their marketing might pull a Tesla, and a future iteration will be SE-XY? Pricing seems a bit steep, especially as this is a named user license. Looks similar to 3dx SolidWorks though, basically desktop software with a cloud based PLM (Teamcenter in this ...

jcapriotti

TRKemp wrote: ↑Thu Oct 24, 2024 10:05 am
The other part is the pipe that uses the bounding box to determine length. Its end condition would typically be up to a surface. The units in that part are also set to decimal.

image.png

How are you building the description string for the bounding box method?

jcapriotti

@TRKemp Not sure how you are linking your custom properties. I did it in the model.....maybe you are doing it in the drawing BOM?

Here are my settings:

Custom properties in model

jcapriotti

Like i said... it'll never be a perfect comparison. There will always be SOMETHING to make it "not a fair comparison". We can talk all freaking day about a million reasons why they "Can't be compared". I just mean apples to apples price comparison of subscription to subscription...

jcapriotti

Windchill. The connector is called Windchill Workgroup Manager (WGM) which I believe all CAD programs use including Creo. We only have SolidWorks so I can only speak to it. Its seems way more complicated than it should be at times but there is functionality that PDM doesn't have. Example is the abil...

jcapriotti

Well you lot can say its not true all you like with as many qualifiers as you like.. but i just double checked and the seat of NX was 2/3rds teh cost of the SW seat. The ongoing maint. for SW is also higher then the NX yearly. But both are way to high IMO anyway. NOw another argument can be made fo...

jcapriotti

Since we have our own laser and most of our parts are cut in house, the fellow running the laser usually verifies the part with the DXF file he receives. The DXF file name includes part number, material type, thickness, and quantity needed. For us 9 times out of ten if the part has the wrong size h...

jcapriotti

What price difference would that be exactly? The NX license i have is half the price of the SW one... FYI. Unless your company has tons of NX licenses to work out a major discount, and only a few SolidWorks with no discount, this is not true. (Unless there is some weird US vs Aus $$ conversion) Loo...

jcapriotti

Most of our sheet metal vendors work from a model for cutting and bending, and depend on a drawing for the material and for inserts. For us, a drawing is always needed for first article inspection and product monitoring. Yeah, I was wondering about inspection. DLZ_SWX_User if you don't have a drawi...

jcapriotti

ctsturdiv One thing I learned, be the person who takes on the one project/area/ knowledge in the company that nobody wants to do and is difficult to understand. It should be important to the company but something in the background. Make sure you communicate and that management knows how important t...

jcapriotti

Congrats @ctsturdiv. If was starting a career today I would probably lean toward the architectural/civil side instead of the mechanical like I did as there is so much more outsourcing. Architectural/civil seems more secure for a career these days.

jcapriotti

We've never done anything with SharePoint. At first we used teams quite a bit, but over time it has just become a big sink hole of information without a good way to sort or store. It is still used for day to day chat, but not much else these days. This is an understatement. Be glad you work for a s...

jcapriotti

Should I store my files in Microsoft Teams or in SharePoint? Ever since our company went to MS 365, everyone here has gone hog wild in putting files in this environment instead of our old server locations which were standardized. So now its a game of "where did we put that file"? Teams me...

jcapriotti

Frederick_Law wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 1:36 pm I like HTPLA but it need to bake to get strength and heat resistance.

So I put it in the oven for 325°F for 45 minutes next to my wife's cake?

jcapriotti

Frederick_Law I don't have any major requirements....just for tinkering and maybe building small parts at home for use around my wife's craft room or my garage. Stuff like brackets and holders, etc. I would think ABS is all I need for this.......of course, I say that then I find maybe CF is useful ...

jcapriotti

The TB says 3rd angle, but I swear the views look like it was generated as 1st angle. The chamfer on the left should be represented as a hidden line and the bend tangents on the top view line up with the bend radius of the underside on the front view, not the top side. image.png These drawings are ...

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