Custom BOM

[NJ Optimal]

Hello!

 

I am having some trouble using the BOM of IronCAD. And mainly it's because it's not easily customised. 

My first and current problem is this:

-I have conveyor for example. It can have different length and options. I want to automate the pricing in BOM. For example if it's 3000 mm long, it's price is 1000 EUR, but for every extra 500 mm it's 250 EUR. And extra inlet cost 20 EUR. So the SUM of this conveyor should be in BOM as I have several of those in my projects. 

I hope you understood my demand. I have both IronCAD and IronCAD Mechanical. I know how to do this in other software, but it I want to do it in IronCAD.

[Malcolm Crowe]

Others may have other (or better) suggestions, but regardless I offer my own.

STEP 1: Within the 3D Scene create a "Custom Property" within each part for calculating and storing the cost information. Regarding the part (or assembly) that varies in length, I suggest using the appropriate "Sizebox" value to help calculate the cost. In the attached video (Step 1) I have shown 3 parts in an assembly. PART2 is representative of a conveyor frame that will vary in length. Within this part I have create a Custom Property and named it "Cost". In the value of this property I have used an expression to insert the length of the part. In this case I have used the "Height" of the Intellishape (Shape1) to provide that length. The expression used is:

=&Shape1\Sizebox\Height  (see attached image)

With this expression, the "Cost" custom property will display the "Height" value of the "Sizebox" of Shape1 (Intellishape). To the end of this expression I can then add more factors for calculating the cost. In the video I have simply added a factor of 2 (to keep things simple). The expression then looks like:

=&Shape1\Sizebox\Height*2

Now the cost of this part adjusts with the length of the Sizebox used. A length of 100 will now display a cost of 200.

STEP 2: This now depends on whether you are using ICD or CAXA for your 2D drawings. In the attached video I have shown how to do this in CAXA. I have started with one of our standard templates which includes are range of standard BOM layouts that we use. For demonstration purposes I have chosen a BOM that lists the "Length" of the part (which is extracted from the SizeboxHeight property of the part).

When the BOM is inserted it displays the length of the parts. Rather than create a new BOM, for the purpose of demonstration I simply edit the "Style" of the current BOM by changing the "Header" name from Length to Cost. The important part is now matching (or mapping) the "Cost" property from the 3D part to the "COST" attribute of the current BOM. In CAXA this is done by using "Update 3D BOM". This is shown in one of the attached images and is demonstrated in the Step 2 video attached.

Now if the length of the 3D part changes, it's custom property (Cost) changes, and the BOM within CAXA changes also.

I hope that gives you some idea of what is possible. If you provide more detail of what you want to achieve then I (or others) may be able to be more specific in our replies.

Malcolm

Edited April 15, 2020 by Malcolm Crowe

[NJ Optimal]

@Malcolm Crowe Thank you. You did a great job.

It leads to where I want it to but. But personally, I never used CAXA for drawings, only for minor things like .dwg or schemes. Tried editing standard BOM in ICD, no luck here because I can not find the price or cost parameter in the list. Everything works until I start doing BOM..

[Malcolm Crowe]

I'll let someone else point you in the right direction regarding ICD. We don't use that at all, as it is too limited for what we do.

Malcolm

Edited April 15, 2020 by Malcolm Crowe

[Cary OConnor]

For the ICD, Double-click the BOM to edit the BOM. Right-click on a Column header and insert a new column. Double-click on the newly created column header. Type in a Column Header Name. Select a Use Property other than column title. In the Drop down, type in the name you gave your custom property. The ones that show there are the default ones listed in the Tools/Options/Properties List. You could add cost and others in that location to have them show there as well as the drop-downs on the parts/assemblies. Once done, Click ok and OK to the BOM editing mode. The column should now show the value from the scene property. 

[NJ Optimal]

Perfect. It did work.

Thank you for your time!

[NJ Optimal]

Hello!

 

To continue that, I have one more question. It's fine when I have BOM of parts list. But what if I have those parts in assembly? What do I have to write in assembly properties to the sum of all parts price?

[Cary OConnor]

There is no automatic sum at the assembly level. You would need to build the expression to add each part one by one if you wanted the total to appear at the assembly level on the BOM.  The other option is to have the BOM perform a sum of all the rows like you would in Excel. Support can give an example of that if you need it.

[Malcolm Crowe]

Hi Cary,

Out of interest, I'd like to see what the expression would be like in the Assembly, to extract and combine the Custom Property Values from the Parts. Can you share?

Malcolm

Edited April 22, 2020 by Malcolm Crowe