SOLIDWORKS 2017 Cut List Sorting

In previous versions of SOLIDWORKS users had limited control over the way they could sort the cut list components. One of these limitations was when you slightly change one of the solid bodies in your part, it was shown as a separate component in the cut list. To clarify the enhancement let’s take a look at an example weldment part below. As you can see there are two components in the cut list.

Cut List Components

I decided to add a small hole to one side of the part by doing a cut extrude. Doing so SOLIDWORKS now shows three components in the cut list. It makes sense as for SOLIDWORKS these are two different geometries. But in many cases you may want to keep those two side bars under one Cut-List-Item folder in your cut list.

Modifying a body will result in new components

Now in SOLIDWORKS 2017 you have the option to tell SOLIDWORKS how you want it to group the bodies. You can collect identical bodies and choose faces and features to exclude in sorting. To test this new option, I opened the same part in SOLIDWORKS 2017. To access the sorting options, right-click on the cut list in the design tree and select “Cut List Sorting Option” from the short cut menu.

Next we have to specify how SOLIDWORKS should group the bodies in the cut list. So I checked the “Collect Identical Bodies” checkbox. This option collects all bodies in a Cut-List-Item folder that are geometrically identical. Now if there are bodies that are slightly different, like our example, you can tell SOLIDWORKS to ignore those differences by adding them to “Faces/Features to Exclude” section. I added “Cut-Extrude1” to the list.

Sorting Options

Using these settings SOLIDWORKS ignores the feature when it wants to group the bodies. As a result, both side bodies now appear in the same Cut-List-Item folder one more time.

Selected Bodies

SOLIDWORKS 2017 Resources

Access our resources page to get everything you need to learn what’s new in SOLIDWORKS 2017, including tech tips, demonstrations, and upcoming product webinars.

WHAT’S NEW RESOURCES