finding a way to bypass assembly

Dessinateur_Soudure_LL

I’m trying to find a way to generate a BOM without going through the assembly process.
My problem is that I use measured variables to calculate the gap between the bars of a ramp. However, once the assembly is done, the variables are no longer accessible.
Here are my variables:

• Railing1 -> Measured
• NbRailing1 -> ceil(#Railing1 / (#SpacingMax + #RailingTube))
• SpacingPattern1 -> (#Railing1 - (#RailingTube * #NbRailing1)) / (#NbRailing1 + 1)

Is there a way to produce a BOM directly from the Part Studio or to access "NbRailing1" and "SpacingPattern1" in the assembly?
At the moment, all the bars are considered as distinct parts. Could I group them in the Studio so that my BOM recognizes the quantity?
I know I could just retype the numbers in the Assembly Linear Pattern, but there are always modifications to be made, and I want to keep everything parametric.

jelte_steur814

hmm, the way to go would be through a variable studio so the variable can be used in both the part studio, as well as the assembly, but it doesn't support measured variables i'm afraid…

Could you calculate Railing1 and drive it with other variables and a formula? that would make it all feasible.
from my first look it should be rather feasible since it's all linear. A variable for the height of the rails, the gaps between them etc.

eric_pesty

I think one way to do this would be to create some ref. geometry, like a surface in your part studio with a hole at each bar location. Then in your assembly you insert the surface, mate the first bar and then use a replicate. Just make sure the "helper surface" is set to "excluded from BOM".

Have you looked at the possibility using the frame tools? It doesn't actually help with assembly BOM but might be an "alternative" to what you are doing. Do you have other "stuff" you want in the BOM or is just the pieces of metal that make up the railing? In the later case a "cut list" is basically a BOM within the part studio.
I think you should even be able to generate a cut list from parts not made with the frame tool, it will at least recognize identical parts (although that might not be the issue here if they are all equal anyway)

Dessinateur_Soudure_LL

Hi, I just tried the Frame tool. It seems promising, but I need to delve deeper into it. My issue becomes more irritating when I create a curved and ascending ramp. I use a lot of Linear, Circular, and Curve patterns, and the assembly does not support the Curve.

Clients often request minor modifications, and the Part Studio handles them very well, but the assembly often breaks. Having to reposition each rail is a bit of a pain.

Thanks for your quick responses, I'll see what I can do whit the Frame tool.

eric_pesty

The "replicate" method also is going to struggle with the spiral as it doesn't handle the orientation well so it's only going to work properly for round bars.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/053f024f5a72ce3a401ca89d/w/10fed678ce3ae36947bd2591/e/fd10364e0cec58eb60e7c875?bomType=flattened&renderMode=0&tangentEdgeStyle=1&rightPanel=BOMPanel&uiState=6741003d2e6d1873344f0348

EvanReese

Interesting challenge. I agree with @eric_pesty that the Frames toolset is worth looking into as it might solve some of this. I also think there are a number of custom features that might be helpful too. I made an example here with a few of my custom features.

1. Linear Pattern Plus can automate the math you're doing with measured variables. It can also make a composite part of the feature outputs
2. Extract Variables is one I made to accompany Linear Pattern Plus and other features that do calculates I'd like to be made into variables (It only works on features that are written to work with it though, which is almost none right now)
3. Part Name can be used to put some of those calculated numbers into the part name. For example I added the spacing and number of the vertical bars to the composite part name that way.

For curve patterns and things like that, I don't have tools right out of the box, but you already seem to understand how to do it with variables. Using Composite Selected (not my feature, but one I love), you could still do something similar. It will let you composite everything that was made by a certain feature (like Curve Pattern), then you could use the variables you're already making along with Part Name to add that info to the composite part name. There's also a great Set Property feature (also not mine) that's more flexible than my Part Name one that you could use to put this info into the part description instead.

EvanReese

Also if you're able to do programming or want to learn, Custom Tables would be a great way for you to automatically interrogate the model, get relevant info, and make it a table.