SOLIDWORKS BOM

Best practices to manage and utilize your SOLIDWORKS Bill of Materials (BOM)

Adding Balloons to a Sub-Assembly in a SOLIDWORKS Drawing

Balloon Sub-Assembly

If you have been working with a SOLIDWORKS bill of material table (BOM) for a while, perhaps you have noticed that there are limitations when it comes to adding balloons to a sub-assembly and its components. For example, if you want to add a balloon to…

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SOLIDWORKS Bill of Materials – Link vs Break cells

The SOLIDWORKS BOM typically includes columns linked to Custom Properties in the models.  Therefore changes to the Custom Properties in the model will update the drawing BOM.  Each cell is linked to the property of that component.  However if you double-click on a cell in…

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Why use SOLIDWORKS Electrical Passive Symbols?

SOLIDWORKS Electrical Passive Symbols

There are instances where some tasks require a representation which do not appear on a BOM, do not have part information and also do not consume a device mark or a device tag. SOLIDWORKS Electrical Passive Symbols are typically created and left in the database to…

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How to combine multiple Custom Properties in a SOLIDWORKS Bill of Materials

When going through the process of creating an assembly drawing, it is beneficial in most cases to make use of Custom Properties listed in individual Bill of Materials (BOM) columns. These could be a Part Description, Part Number, Manufacturer, etc. Sometimes, it may be beneficial…

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How to sort SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Components in your BOM table [VIDEO]

Sort SOLIDWORKS Toolbox BOM

Have you ever wondered how you can sort your SOLIDWORKS Bill of Materials in a way that all of your SOLIDWORKS toolbox components are listed at the foot of the BOM table? That was the problem that one of our customers was facing. If you look at…

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What is the difference between As-Built and Latest in a SOLIDWORKS PDM BOM?

The dividing factor between SOLIDWORKS PDM As-Built vs Latest in a Bill of Materials is a Check-in of the selected assembly. The As Built option will show the BOM for a referenced file at the time that the assembly is checked in whereas the Latest…

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How to add a SOLIDWORKS BOM Equation to an Entire Column

SOLIDWORKS BOM Equation

The SOLIDWORKS Bill of Materials allows you to add Equations to cells for calculations.  Did you know that you can also apply a SOLIDWORKS BOM Equation to an entire column? To start select a BOM column so it highlights all of its cells and launch the…

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Linking a Note to a Table/BOM Cell in SOLIDWORKS 2017

We all know that notes are an important part of any engineering drawing and help to transfer vital information. One of the problems when dealing with drawings is to keep these notes up to date. The best solution for that problem is to automate the…

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DriveWorks-based SmartQuote system helps Thordon Bearings manage international dealer network

Thordon Bearings Thorplas Blue bearings

On the Thordon Bearings website, you’ll find a cool widget that keeps track of the volume of oil discharges the company’s products have prevented to date. That number today? More than 62 million litres. Their business is bearings – designing and manufacturing large-scale bearing systems…

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