Anyone have any example parametric assys that are easily customizable?

I came across a conveyor model that had an attached excel sheet inside
of it. You enter certain values in the Excel sheet, the click a
button, and the model gets updated.

Anyone have any other example assys for parametric design?

 

I am interested in that type of models, especially conveyors. Do you have a
link?

Peder

 

Couldn't you do the same thing with a SW design table if multiple
sheets were allowed?

i.e. Design Table is in Sheet one.
Custom interface is in sheet two.
Changes to sheet two propogate to sheet one.

Thus, you could have a nice looking interface on sheet two that limits
your selection of variables. Ok results in the parameters being checked
in sheet one to see if they exist (this configuration has been designed
all ready). If not it assigns a new number and design data row for the
new configuration.

This can be done for parts and assemblies. I imagine creating new
configurations within the context of an assembly would be more
difficult.

Anybody use mulitple sheets in a design table this way before?


Len

 

www.kcswug.com/models/JSappenfieldDesignTables.ZIP

This is a SWW2005 presentation by one of our user group members that shows
how to set up a "control panel" area inside a design table. The advantage
of using that technique is that you can tailor the area to have a particular
look & feel for the user that's inputting the numbers. It also lets you do
data validation at the time of input. Included in the zip file are model
files, the Excel file, and his PP presentation.

WT

 

Thanks Wayne, ill check it out.

Another question. Is it common to have alot of problems when upgrading
SW to a new version? This happened to one of our other divisions that
had 100s of equations driving their models. They have a website that a
customer inputs data, and it automatically generates a SW 3D model. I
believe it was SW 2001 Plus that caused them the headaches. They
eventually got rid of most, if not all, equations in SW, and are using
VB to handle that now.

Anyone else have issues with equations and upgrading? One of the
things I like about handling this in Excel is the equation issue.
Excel should have less problems with this, if you keep all of your
dimensions driven by Excel based equations.

 

We tend to have many parametric relations driven by the configuration
table. We have had issue with upgrades but the worst case is if you
drive an equation based on a feature in another part. These do not
upgrade! We have learned the hard way to keep things as simple as
possible and that helps with upgrades. SolidWorks always talks about
the power of the software, but it seems that the more you try to make
use of the software tools, the more difficulty you have with upgrades.
We are finally moving to upgrade to SW2006 after battles with these
issues for three years on SW2003.
Brad