DesignSpark Mechanical Online Help

Bills of materials

You can insert a Bill of Materials (BOM)Table of components, sub-components, parts, and materials needed to manufacture a finished product. onto your design or drawing sheet. BOM values are automatically populated for both internal and external components that are part of an assembly. DS Mechanical only itemizes components; if the design only has solids in the structure tree, they will not be included in the BOM. The QTY column in a design's BOM table shows the number of sub-components, not items, that are included in an assembly.

When a drawing includes a BOM table that contains data added with a newer service pack of DS Mechanical than you are using, the new columns are displayed in red. This indicates that the data cannot be changed, and can only be viewed.

You can include X, Y, and Z dimensions of components in a BOM table. The extents shown are the exact extents of all solid and surface geometry in the component, for both visible and hidden solids and surfaces. Sketch curves, bitmaps, and other entities are not included in the extents. Use these dimensions to create a cut list of parts in an assembly of panels in the BOM, along with their number and dimensions. See the instructions for adding a column to a BOM table below.

To add a Bill of Materials to a document

1. Click the arrow next to the Bill of Materials tool in the AnnotationInformation you can add to a drawing, such as notes, dimensions, geometric tolerances, center marks, and Bills of Materials. Investigate group on the Detailing Design2D or 3D model that contains at least one top-level component. tab and select a type:

   • Top level: Creates a table that includes only parent components (or parts):

      

     

     

      

   • Parts only: Creates a table that includes all child components:

      

     

      

   • Indented: Creates a table that includes all components, with child components indented:

      

     

      

   The last type of BOM you created is remembered and will be automatically chosen if you click the BOM icon instead of the drop-down arrow.

2. (Optional) If you created a view of a component on the drawing sheet, select the component on the Options panelArea of the user interface that enables you to modify functions specific to tools. to create a BOM for just that component.

3. (Optional) Modify the Bill of MaterialProperty that you can assign to an object, consisting of material name and attributes such as density and tensile strength.'s properties in the Properties panelArea of the user interface that displays editable details about the selected object(s). This panel is initially displayed on the lower left side of the screen, but can be moved..

    

   • The Hidden components option allows you to control whether or not hidden components will be included in the BOM.

   • There are many other options for controlling the cosmetics of the BOM.

      

4. Click to place the Bill of Materials on the design or drawing sheet. The table appears in gray until you place it, and it changes to black after it is placed.

   To cancel, press the Esc key before you click to place the table.

   The BOM appears in the Structure treeDisplay in the Structure panel that shows you each of the objects in your design. You can expand or collapse the nodes of the tree to view the objects. You can rename objects, create, modify, replace, and delete objects, as well as work with components..

   You can copy and paste a BOM, and you can copy the contents from a BOM table and paste them into Microsoft Excel.

To edit a Bill of Materials

• When you change a value in a BOM table, the property is changed. You can also select the BOM and edit its properties in the Properties panelArea of the user interface that displays editable details about the selected object(s). This panel is initially displayed on the lower left side of the screen, but can be moved..

• Select a row or column, right-click, and select from the menu to Insert rows or columns.

• Select a row or column, right-click, and select from the menu to Delete rows or columns.

  • You can only delete rows that you insert

  • You cannot delete all columns. If there is one column left, it cannot be deleted.

• Select a row, right-click, and select SplitUsing the Combine tool to split solids or surfaces. You select a solid or surface to use as a Cutting tool to cut the target. See Cutter object. Table from the menu to divide the BOM into two tables, for example, if necessary to fit on the drawing sheet.

• Re-size a table by dragging the circles at its corners or edges.

• RotateDesign: Using the Rotate tool to spin a design 90 degrees in the plane of the screen. You can rotate your design clockwise or counterclockwise. Object: Using the MoveA tool used to translate or rotate geometry. handle to spin an object around an axis. a table by dragging the green circle at the top of the table.

To add columns to a BOM table

1. Right-click an existing column and select Insert > Insert Columns to the Left or Insert Columns to the Right.

2. Select the new column by clicking above the first row of the column, like this:

   
   

    

3. Select a Column Type in the Properties panelArea of the user interface that displays editable details about the selected object(s). This panel is initially displayed on the lower left side of the screen, but can be moved..

4. Select a Column Value if you selected DocumentA model file (.scdoc) that may contain any combination of design versions, associated drawing sheets, and 3D markup slides. Property, MaterialProperty that you can assign to an object, consisting of material name and attributes such as density and tensile strength. Property, or Custom Property for the column type. The values in the column will be automatically filled-in.

   If you select MaterialProperty that you can assign to an object, consisting of material name and attributes such as density and tensile strength. Property for the column type and MassAnalysis tool used to display mass properties, or volume information for the solids and surfaces in your design. or Volume for the column value, then the column data will only be filled-in when a material has been assigned to the object.

To export a Bill of Materials

1. Click on a BOM table, then click its edge to select the entire table. The edge will change from a dashed line to a solid line when you have the entire table selected.

2. Right-click the table and select Save Table As.

3. Select HTML, XML, BOM Template (.scbomtemplate) for the Save as type.

If you choose 'BOM Template' as the type, all the formatting, header, table properties, and contents are saved to an .xml file which you can edit.

To use a BOM Template

1. Click the arrow on the BOM tool.
2. Select Template from the drop down list.
3. Select the .scbomtemplate document and click the Open button.
4. Place the BOM table.

Sorting a Bill of Materials

You can sort the columns in a BOM table.

1. Select a column.
2. Choose Sort by column in the RMB menu.
3. The values are sorted numerically and then alphabetically in ascending order.
4. Sort the column a second time to sort in descending order.

You can manually edit any values in the BOM but any sorts have to be re-done to update the table.

Sorting works with indented and regular BOM's.

Sequential sorting is remembered across columns. Below is an example of two sequential sorts:

1. First sort items alphabetically by name.
2. Then sort numerically by Quantity.
3. Result:
   1. Rows are put in ascending order according to Quantity
   2. Items with duplicate quantities are then put in alphabetical order according to their names. In the image below, items are sorted by Quantity (1, 2, 3). Then all items with a Quantity of 1 are sorted alphabetically.

Grouping Rows in a Bill of Materials

You can group rows in a BOM table based on a selected Custom Property.

1. Add a column to the BOM
2. Select the column and set the Column Type property to Custom Property
3. Set the Column Value property to be the Property that you want to group
4. Set the Group Using property to be the Property that you want to group
5. You can control the row numbering for the grouped rows using the Start groups from property
   • Number items sequentially
   • 102, 102, ...
   • 1001, 1002, ...
   • 10001, 10002, ...

Notes on row grouping:

• Top Level and Parts Only BOM's only (not Indented)
• Only one grouping is allowed per BOM
• Sorted by Custom Property Values in alphabetical order (inside groups, normal sorting order applies)

Example:

BOM with "Part Type" custom property column added
Group Using property set to "Part Type" and default row numbering
Start groups from property set to Number rows sequentially