BOM bug fix?

[Uman]

I just updated GD v2014 to the latest version, 2015.1.1 for the Keyshot offering, and discovered the BOM bug; older version BOM callouts and materials in chaos.
I found this thread about the bug http://forum.alibre.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=18682&start=15&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Is there a solution yet? Is 3DS planning to fixing this? Reworking these drawings would be a great hardship.

 

[HaroldL]

. . . Is there a solution yet? Is 3DS planning to fixing this? . . .

That's the question everyone wants to know about ALL the bugs and problems with GMD. Until 3DSystems speaks up no one will ever know.

 

[RocketNut]

Unless some thing happens I stand by my guns by saying 3DS does not care what happens Geomagic Design it's just some thing left over when they bought Alibre.

 

[Uman]

This is disturbing.
I will manually repair my current work BOM and preserve my v2014 files with optimism that 3DS will do the right thing and fix this defect with the next version update and my 2014 designs will be restored.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

To be clear, the BOM was "broken" a year ago last (about 1st of) October. That, in and of itself, gives you an idea about how high a priority this is from the 3D System's viewpoint.

Now, to be clear, I neither live nor work in a BOM dominated universe. [Parts Lists dominate my universe.] I never noticed the BOM issue. I will state that the "new" BOM system makes it easier for me to come close to "auto-generating" a Parts List. [The main thing still "missing" from my view of things is the ability to assign values to that miserable excuse defined under File Properties->General->Part Data. That needs to be replaced with a user-definable data listing!] With maybe as few as three "fixes," it ought to be able to auto-generate a true Parts List using WizoScript (with yet another tip of the had to Andy Ayre).

 

[JST]

What, to you, differentiates a "Parts list" from a "Bill of materials"?

And, what do you want to "user define" in the "part data"? (A certain amount IS user definable)

I agree there are problems, although I DO use the BOM a lot, and have NEVER NOTICED the "bug". Probably because I rarely go BACK to an old BOM, and I ALWAYS have it in PDF as output. (Having it as PDF "freezes" the BOM and drawing in a particular configuration, which is important to what I do.)

 

[JST]

This is disturbing.
I will manually repair my current work BOM and preserve my v2014 files with optimism that 3DS will do the right thing and fix this defect with the next version update and my 2014 designs will be restored.

Once the BOM is regenerated, as far as I know it is then fine forever after.

AND, if you do not depend on GMD to regenerate a BOM on demand, but had "frozen" it in a PDF, then the amount of difficulty that bug causes would have been minimized. That's good practice in general, since the GMD representation is changeable, but the PDF is not. Cuts down the number of errors.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

What, to you, differentiates a "Parts list" from a "Bill of materials"?

And, what do you want to "user define" in the "part data"? (A certain amount IS user definable)

In essence, a Parts List is a matrix of components making up a Project identified in cascading used on Assemblies down to Parts. This is done such as Part XYZ is identified and defined in one location and one location only with ties (usually hyperlinks) to used on Assemblies for an entire Project. I normally create such a matrix within a spreadsheet. [When Parts, SubAssemblies, and Assemblies start exceeding single Projects, I load them into Databases to ease searching and access.]

A Parts List differs from a BOM in that components made of (say) 1.000 X 3.000 6061-T6 bar stock are "summed" such that it is easy to see that you need a total of (say) XXX.X inches to make all such Parts. It also contains such things as material certifications, inspection reports, and the like grouped according to the Unit ID that it built.

Part Data definitions within GMD (or Alibre before that) are idiotic and useless! What value is (say) Creating Software for a component or assembly defined by a GMD dataset? Where is the Project identity? How does it differentiate between (say) Bar or Plate? Etc.

 

[JST]

I think you CAN get some of what you want in GMD. Not ALL of it. For the rest you have to go to an external spreadsheet. But that isn't horribly difficult

You probably have already discovered what I am talking about, but maybe it will help someone else.

One missing element is a definable quantity. I am not CERTAIN that is impossible, though. I just have not had to deal with it, so I have not searched. What I mean is your material quantity. Obviously it is not hard to get the number of brackets, that comes out of the model. Adding up the 7.575" of 4 x 4 x 1/4" steel angle IN each bracket, AND adding the saw kerf, THAT is what you will have to do in a real spreadsheet

You can directly export the BOM as a CSV file, which will import into Excel, or presumably into the program you use. At that point, you are able to do whatever you want with it, obviously. At least you can get it directly in, without typing, and have a shot at formatting it in GMD so that it drops into the slots you want in your spreadsheet.

With any luck, you can get everything lined up, with quantities, so that all you have to do is put in details like saw kerf, or whatever to get the added up amounts you want. I suspect you will have to define your summed areas and so forth.

As for the part data, it is not hard to "alias" the column to be some other heading, which may be part of your issue. Then you can enter the data type you want and the heading will come out right. However, because that ONLY occurs at the level of the BOM, you have to remember which columns you have aliased to what so that the various data goes in the correct column. (I keep a cheat sheet...)

This format is what the client wants, don't blame me for it. But it does show aliased columns,at least, and could be formatted to be more of what you may want.


It went into Excel, with one oddity where a number turned into a date,



It looks like you can, if not "automate" the process, at last make it much less painful to extract it out of GMD.

Beats heck out of the system at a former employer, where we had spreadsheets, etc, but to get it into the manufacturing system you STILL had to read it off the spreadsheet, and key each item into the MRP system individually, with all the details.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

Ignoring AISC and AA/MIL rolled or extruded Shapes, one of the main "issues" is identities and their usage. I should be able to take an Equation Editor value and add (say) 1/4 inch to it to create a Cut-To-Length value that is displayed to (say) 2 decimal places. Similarly, I should not have to remember that (say) the Received From entry in the File Properties->General->Part Data listing is being used to denote (say) Finish Process, I should be able to Name an "entry" as Finish Process!

In terms of MIL-STD or FAA naming conventions, the first line of an item's name is the item's formal identity (something like "Hinge Support," or "Locking Pin"). The second line will be the item's primary Used On Assembly. And the third line will identify the Project. No "allowance" for these types of identities were allowed for by the cretin who created this "set of values."

Please believe that I can create a tome on this set of "issues."

 

[JST]

I agree that the aliasing SHOULD be in the custom BOM format. It's stupid to have it the way it is. I assume this was a concession after the fact, and was just "tacked on".

Your list will be longer than mine, there are some definite issues, and I can write up a pretty full list as well.

But, with all that, at least the part data can be exported into a spreadsheet where many of the BOM/Parts List problems CAN be dealt with.

The idea of adding the cut width and adding up the lengths is really a request to have the "BOM" form become a full spreadsheet. While good, I don't think I would put that high on the list, given that the export CSV format exists. YMMV, obviously.