This one isn't for everyone. I say that because Inventor is a very flexible program and the documentation can be just as flexible to different industries and companies for that reason. Personally, I have never documented this way, but that is just the experience I have had with my previous engineering jobs. So the question here really is, how do you document your designs?
In one scenario you have 5 sub-assemblies inside a single assembly and for each assembly you have an individual print package to document. In another scenario your drawing package is inclusive of that design so all sub-assemblies are detailed in that one drawing package. I see that a lot from users with Framing for Skids. Or maybe you have a mixture of both where a modeled assembly is just put together for organizational sake. Whichever way you document is usually company or shop driven based on the need. So here is a look at how to use Inventor's Structure for expanded reporting of your designs. Also we'll see how to create a Phantom assembly. Sounds scary right? Phantom, I just gave myself the chills.
Autodesk Inventor - Expanded Structured BOMs from Mark Flayler on Vimeo.
For the IT multi-media deprived (yes, I am coming up with colloquialisms for how IT can suffocate engineers, I am accepting submissions)...
Lets start out with a basic assembly. Notice we have this made up of all sub-assemblies for right now. Jump into the Bill of Materials located on the Assemble Tab --> Manage Panel.
Here we have a layout of the bill with three different tabs. We have Model Data which will show one for one what is in the browser of the assembly. We have Parts Only which well, speaks for itself. And more importantly for this post, we have Structured (you may have to enable the view first by RMB on it). By default this will look almost just like Model data but we can fix that. Go to the View Options button and choose the View Properties inside that fly out.
In the Structured Properties box there are two options for the Level. When set to First Level the expansion is disabled from both the BOM and the Parts List (the actual on drawing representation of the BOM). When this is set o All Levels, then the expansion can take place for your documentation. Set a delimiter from the drop down list or force type your own.
In the image below you can see that a plus sign is added to each assembly to allow for expansion of the data as far down as there are assemblies.
Now, just place a Parts List like normal in the drawing environment for you assembly.
Choose to Edit the Parts List and you will see the same expansion options for the Structured Data.
The result is a Parts List documented to your design intent. But what if we just had an assembly as a placeholder and not for documentation use?
Go into the Bill of Material again and find the assembly you made as a placeholder. In the BOM Structure column change the type to Phantom. This will promote the components of that assembly up one level to the next level of the structure. Some might think that Reference is the way to go here as a first thought. But a reference assembly will not compute itself or any of its components in the BOM.
You can tell an item in the BOM was promoted by the icon that appears behind the part or assembly icon. This will look like a arrow pointing up.
There you have it, expanded BOMs, don't say I never showed you anything :). Also make sure to look under your cubicle for those pesky Phantoms. If Phantoms persist, call a bunch of meddling kids and their dog to solve the mystery.
I am trying to create a parts list based on parts only. I see that if I change it from structured to Parts only, it still reverts back to structured and then is greyed out.
Is there a way to make BOM view default to parts only rather than structured
Posted by: qamar naseem | 10/28/2013 at 07:25 AM