yang686526

bill of material issues in solidworks
we're currently experiencing the joy of having our bill of material table automatically renumbering itself and / or deleting entries. frequently upon opening a drawing with a bom we've been finding that auto-populated lines are missing information, are rearranged, or are missing entirely without any changes to the models or assembly having occurred. so far we've found no resolution to the issue and for stability sake have been forced on occasion to recreate the bom manually as a general table. this leads me to two questions:
can one completely dis-associate a auto-populated bom from the assembly it is referencing and turn it into a general table.
is there any fix to make the bom feature more stable so that we can use it with any sort of confidence.

eng-tips forums is member supported.
to make it more stable you need to know what is causing the instability.
you have given us nothing to work with. as a starter:
what are you system specs? (hardware and software)
which version and sp of sw and how was it installed? (upgrade, separate clean install or multi-install)

rmetzger,
what version of solidworks are you using?
which bom are you using, the solidworks, or the excel?
do your row numbers follow assembly ordering, or are you reserving row numbers for missing components?
are you sure your assembly model is not being modified? check the properties of your drawing view and see how the configuration is being selected. the model's "in-use" or last saved configuration setting could make your life weird and interesting.
jhg
solidworks 2008, sp4.0 xp-sp2
solidwoks bom (not excel)
the row numbers start out as following assembly ordering then auto-rearrange on their own. some delete, some change names or delete quantities, some change names, some re-order. i believe the software is following the chaos theory in regards to how it seems to managing the auto-populate data. the models in most cases are stored locally while in development with only one one user having access. often closing the drawing and immediately re-opening them will cause the problem to occur so no changes to the models or assembly had occurred between sessions.
computers - all in the department (laptops, desktops...)too many to list and its not related to a single machine
cause of instability - solidworks 2008 i'm presuming

rmetsger,
in the drawing view properties check the box "keep linked to bom" and choose the associated bom. in table properties of bom make certain "follow assembly order" under item numbers is checked. this sequence usually fixes this type of problem i rin into.
jed
rmetz,ger,
in addtion make sure all your views are linked to bom so ballon numbers will match bom.
jed
others may have had this or similar issues, but i have not read about them in the various forums.
are you able to update to sp5?
have you had this problem since installing sw08?
does it only happen on certain assemblies ... or assemblies with a particular sub-assy or component in them?
were the installs made from the same source (dvd, download, admin image)

there is nothing wrong with sw, the install or your hardware. it's a setting in your bom table. take a look at them and there are some options; such as keep the item numbers from changing, following assembly order and i believe there is another option that will effectively lock your bom. sw bom's are a pita if you use an erp/mrp system that relies on item numbering in the bom.
keep a good eye on the configuration which the bom is referenced off of. go into the model and arrange your parts neatly, put them in folders and line em all up nice and neat. this should help you get an organized and consistent bom.
if you hack an assembly together, make the bom and then start making changes without tracking them on your bom-referenced assembly then youre going to definitely go missing some parts or have some disappear or new ones added or who knows what.
i've also found with bom's that practice makes perfect. if it is just too clusterf'd just delete the bom and start a new one.
sw2008 office pro sp4.0
intel core 2 duo cpu
2.2ghz, 2.00gb ram
quadrofx 3700
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