There are about ten designers in our company, and we frequently use a library of hardware, bearings, clamping hubs, as well as many very specific commercial parts, often downloaded via TraceParts.
We encounter a recurring problem: When we change sizes or diameters in different families of parts, it happens, due to mishandling, bugs or updates, that configurations change in an unpredictable way in our assemblies. This leads to a significant loss of time to put everything back in order.
Knowing the limitations of using the SolidWorks Toolbox, what do you think would be the best practices or methodologies for:
Effectively manage these specific types of parts?
Avoid configuration problems in assemblies?
All your ideas, advice or feedback will be greatly appreciated!
Yes, for example, all of our M8 screws in one assembly have become M20 x 150. Our screws are managed in a family of parts, the table did not seem to be modified. We had to put each screw back in the right configuration. Has that ever happened to you? This is not an isolated incident
This led us to test the Toolbox. The problem is that it is limited for commercial parts, such as bearings, seals or simply contact washers. So for now, we're staying with our library.
Hello; I have never encountered this kind of problem with library components and their families of parts, except with those whose certain values are " free " and managed with the configuration-publisher (for example ISO bends whose cutting angle is left to the discretion of our design office).
All our other library components are " read-only " but, although often from downloads (tracepart), they are always completely re-worked in Solidworks.
As for the Toolbox components, they were quickly abandoned (not up to date, unstable, etc.).
You say:
I would answer that only one person and one substitute should have the hand to modify the data of the part families (and not all users). And if this causes the Name of certain configurations in an assembly to vary, it is because the management of the Component Names (the " Configuration Name" and the " Description " title) probably needs to be reviewed... (No offense ).
An example of a family of rooms that causes you the most problems would be appreciated to give us a more precise idea. (specifying the version of Solidworks+Windows+Excel)
we don't use the Toolbox components (even for the simple screws), we redid everything ourselves ==> less details and less function which, for us, are useless. so lighter and faster to rebuild + total mastery of the subject
my first intuition was about a change in the name of the configurations ==> if one day a config is called in a certain way and it's different the next day, SW puts what it wants. (I even believe that the name of the configs is case sensitive)
We have defined a limited number of people with writing rights on our document libraries ==> if it's in the library, we know who to contact for answers
No, I have never encountered this problem in Solidworks... But it must be said that each time I am alone or with very few colleagues using this software!
However, this strongly resembles problems already perceived in larger design offices. And here, I join my colleagues on the barriers to be put in place. As long as you have a " rotation " of service provider/fixed-term contract and it's a guaranteed disaster
That said, for your problem more specifically, if I had thought of an inappropriate name change at first, the family table makes me think of a management by excel table: and it is then easy to invert rows/copy-paste cells without realizing. Maybe even an " alphanumeric " reorganization that would have gone wrong.
In addition to having to square everything in your assemblies, did you check that the dimensions corresponded to what is expected?
So, to counter this, 2 solutions with different moves:
Read, not write
the use of a PLM. Given the size of your desktop (about 10 users if I understand correctly), it might be a good idea to think about it for ease of work. This has a certain cost, but generally allows you to gain in fluidity of work and/or follow-up of modifications and/or authorization to write on files and/or shared work on a project
Thank you very much for your detailed answers and suggestions, they are very helpful to us!
To answer some of your questions, we make sure to always use the latest versions of SolidWorks, Windows, and Excel. The problem does seem to come from the fact that our library parts are currently editable by everyone, except of course when they are already opened by a user, in which case they become read-only.
Our coin family charts are over 13 years old. A reorganization of some of them is underway, but this inevitably impacts the old assemblies and requires great rigor to avoid problems.
We are seriously considering the implementation of a PLM. This seems to be a solution adapted to our needs to better structure our file management, secure changes and streamline collaborative work.
Thank you again for your feedback and sharing of experience!
We had the case, in particular with a cylindrical pin. No modification of the file, from evening to the next morning, the confif are lost. This is a totally unpredictable phenomenon.
The big advantage of PDM is that it can trace everything (including the slaughter of Excel parts or the deletion of configurations). Oddly, the fact that users know that even their slightest mistake can be traced greatly limits the problems.
If you really want to solve the problem via PDM, it is quite possible to make a specific workflow for the (or some) parts of the store in order to limit the modification rights to a limited group of ' super users '. It prevents the Bac Pro intern from ruining a family of parts used in 90% of the assemblies.
Without PDM, you can store the sensitive screws (the very standard one that is very much used and with a lot of configs) in specific directories and you manage the windows rights on this directory (you have to be friends with the IT department because you regularly ask them for modifications)
Astonishing. You wouldn't have had . or , in the names of the configs? All it takes is one workstation with Excel set up in USA mode and it's a mess as soon as it modifies a family of parts (it's experienced): every . turn into , or vice versa.
It's a detail but when we dig deep we noticed a space dragged after some config names in the table. It's discreet but we fixed a part that had a lot of configurations by fixing this error. Thank you again for your answers, we make good use of them.
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