Master Cut List Property Management while inserting Parts into Parts

Article by Chris Briand, CSWE updated February 16, 2018

Article

A variety of techniques can be employed when building assemblies in SOLIDWORKS. In some cases the weldment module is used as the primary assembly environment, in other cases we see welded bodies being created as individual assembly components before they are placed together at the assembly level. In the end it often narrows down to how you wish to manage the Weldment Cut List.

In this article, we are going to focus our attention on managing the Cut List properties from a component that is imported into another component. This is done when inserting a part file into the next and choosing the appropriate options from the list of items that “Transfer” from the component being inserted or added to the parent component.

We will start with two weldments each as its own separate part file:

Tube Weldment

This Tube Weldment is going to be inserted into the Shaft Weldment Part file as a part.

Shaft Weldment

This is our Shaft Weldment – it will be the receiving file for the tube weldment in our example.

Each one of these weldment components has it’s respective cut list that exist before any importing is completed:

 

The catylist for our next series of explorations is to use the Insert Part command in order to insert the Tube Weldment into the Shaft Weldment and maintain the references to the original Tube file.

Once the Insert Part command is engaged, SOLIDWORKS will prompt us for the various elements of the part file which we would like to have brought into the “Parent” or Receiving component.  In this case only the solid bodies are needed along with whatever custom or cut list property we choose to carry along with us into the receiving component.

The default selection of “File Properties” becomes less than stellar once a proper cut list is created in the drawing – The line item for our newly inserted weldment is blank, and void of any useful information.

Cut List

Let us revisit the custom properties option in the “Transfer” area of the Insert Part Command, this can be adjusted by right-clicking on the inserted component in the feature tree and choosing “Edit Feature”.

Choosing our second option this time “Custom Properties + Cut List Properties” gives us population of the resulting cut list – pushing the custom property from the File Properties of the Tube component down into the cut list properties of the Shaft Component file.

 

The final selection that one can make is the “Cut List Properties” checkbox within the “Transfer” area of the insert part command. This selection results in what we were seeking for a result, that the cut list properties come across into the receiving file cleanly from our Tube component.

 

Now that you are aware of your options for custom property imports during part insertion, give it a try! You may find that you can manage weldment assemblies without having to resort to a full SOLIDWORKS assembly file.

Want to learn more about weldments? Attend our SOLIDWORKS Weldments training course, either online or in a classroom near you.

Related Links

Get Certified SOLIDWORKS Services from Javelin

Javelin Experts can help you to:

Chris Briand, CSWE

Chris has been educating and supporting Engineers, Designers and IT Personnel within the 3D CAD industry since 2002, and was adopted into the fantastic team of applications experts here at Javelin Technologies in early 2006.  Chris enjoys the continuous learning driven by the ingenuity and challenges Designers bring forward. Innovation using 3D Printing, 3D CAD and other technologies, combined with a diverse background as a technologist, allows Chris to find solutions that accelerate Designers, and take Design Teams to new heights. Chris is currently being held at an undisclosed location, near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.