BOM question

Brian_Nielsen

I have one part number with many configurations. I only want it to show up once in the BOM with the quantity that I am using. How do I do that?

glen_dewsbury

You may want configured part properties giving each it's own number.
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/51c56c763b52d12b01b6f0cf/w/80d72ccf515beaf60ab9a87a/e/c55a96ed27364732c2f437d1

Brian_Nielsen

Actually, I went out of my way to take many different part numbers and lump them all into one using configurations. At this point I think I may have to go into the BOM and exclude all but one of the part number and then adjust the quantity.
What do you think?

glen_dewsbury

Hmmm Not sure what to think. Can you show an example of what you're trying to accomplish. What is the plan to distinguish between configurations and what is the difference between configurations? Excluding items in the BOM sounds cumbersome as new configurations are added.

Brian_Nielsen

This a little unusual for me as well. The configurations are called out in a table. Which will be sent to the manufacturer. Then a flag note is used on the overall display of the final assembly. The assembly print will have the table and different dimensions outlined on one of the sheets.
Its new to me.

glen_dewsbury

Give me a few minutes to think on this. I did something similar a few years ago to produce a tabulated drawing for purchasing of a series of parts. It still needed distinct part numbers leading to the table.

Brian_Nielsen

Thats what I am used to also. However, I am trying to comply with established precedent here. Proving to be fun

eric_pesty

Unfortunately I don't think there is a "clean" way of doing this in Onshape: configurations must have unique part numbers to be released. Even you don't use the release process (and or deploy some workarounds for part numbering) I am not aware of any way to have them show up in the BOM as multiple instances of the same PN...

It's pretty annoying for us as we often run into this but I'm all ears if anyone has a solution!

glen_dewsbury

@Brian_Nielsen
I did a better job with the tabulation previously, but I was working with a pro account that allowed me to use custom properties to separate L, W & D into columns.
Here is a sample that may help but again requires individual part numbers.
What your describing sounds like a holdover from a 2d drawing program or from the drafting board. Have done this sort of thing in both environments with zero associativity. There was not a lot of other options back then but manual tracking. Maybe @eric_pesty can help with column formatting via custom properties since I'm working from a free account today.
Might be time to show your guys how to do this cleaner with associativity and way faster. Need new part just add another row and up the version.
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/6f2f38f1a2b7522216ebba5b/w/30077ec248f4e1eeedf0d46e/e/1bc94d26f492c39600be06c5

eric_pesty

It seem a bit odd to "reduce" different actual part configurations to a single part number and then "expand" again using a table of dimension on a drawing, if I am understanding what you are asking correctly. This seems like extra work and a source of error compared to just having a different part number for each different "size" of the item showing in the BOM.

What we have struggled with is having configurations representing different "states" of a single physical (think anything flexible that may have a different shape depending on where it's installed) item and having them show up as multiple items in the BOM.

I think you can now "override" qty in a drawing BOM so you can do that manually but obviously it won't update automatically if you change you assembly...

S1mon

Flexible parts are a very painful example of configurations and BOMs working against one another in Onshape. We run into that too. It's especially painful since there aren't adequate tools in Onshape to warp/bend/flex parts. We have to rely on exporting, doing work in Creo and re-importing.

nick_papageorge073

I've run into the same issue. I wanted to show wire ties in my assy, and how they look in real life. So I made 2 or 3 configurations, with each being pulled closed to different diameters. It's all the same PN wire tie in real life, it just looks different depending on where it is in the assy. I wasn't able to do it in the end.

glen_dewsbury

Dang. Thought I had it for the wire ties. Got them in different shapes for the assembly using using configuration variables with the same part number.
Unfortunately even with the same number they still show as individual items. Could make for a long BOM. LOL
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/6f2f38f1a2b7522216ebba5b/w/30077ec248f4e1eeedf0d46e/e/9f13a3fcd243b0805add8316

Brian_Nielsen

All of your comments are spot on. A lot of times I will switch to my Solidworks to manipulate a model the way I want and then re import back into Onshape.
With respect to a single part having numerous configurations, you are correct that this is a holdover. But the person that pays the bills makes the rules!

justin_hodges

nick_papageorge073 Modeling Zip ties with a few different configurations. Has anyone found a workaround to show them as only 1 part number on the BOM?