Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

we are using level of details to suppress few components. when we are trying to take BOM for that level of details. we are getting the suppressed components also. is there any control we can do avoiding that suppressed component. I know if you make the BOM sequesnce to reference that wont come in BOM. but we need that file for other LOD.

[#2]

I don't know of any way to do this. An item in an assembly is allways shown in the BOM unless it is 'Phantom', 'Reference' or part of a purchased or inseperable set.

You can work around this by creating a Master assembly, and then 'pushing' the item numbers down into your part files. You can then read the part numbers directly from the part files, and you can create assemblys that better refelect your process.

More details here:

http://cadsetterout.com/inventor-tutorials/autodesk-inventor-creating-coordinated-bom-for-large-asse...

Instead of this, don't forget that you can filter the results of the BOM in your parts list, for example, only showing Ballooned parts or only showing a range of parts.

I hope that helps - let us know how you get on!

-Paul-

[#3]

Try and use "View Representations" instead of LOD in your assembly, switch off visibility of the components you wish to remove from the BOM.

You can then select a Parts List filter for that particular representation.

[#4]

What version of Inventor are you using?

Using iLogic to control the component suppression will change the BOM so that suppressed components are removed, and the quantities reflect the LOD.

iLogic was available to subscription customers with Inventor 2010.  Since 2011 it has been available in basic Inventor "out of the box".

[#5]

Just for clarity..
Its a "BOM" in an assembly

Its a "Parts List" in a drawing.

LOD is a memory management tool used to unload certain parts from memory in an effort to speed up assembly modeling. It was not intended to remove certain items from a parts list. (Design view reps/part list filters do that)

One limitation of the design view rep parts list filter is that if you have 10 of the same screws in an assembly and you turn the visibility off on 5 of those screws the parts list is still going to show 10. That row will not be removed until all instances of the part are made invisible.

[#6]

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mcgyvr wrote:

LOD is a memory management tool used to unload certain parts from memory in an effort to speed up assembly modeling. It was not intended to remove certain items from a parts list. (Design view reps/part list filters do that)

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I would have agreed with that statement a few years ago.  But iLogic has blurred the lines a little more.  The problem you mentioned that turning off the visibility of 5 out of 10 parts still shows a quantity of 10 is also true for suppressing 5 out of 10 parts--UNLESS you use iLogic to do the suppressing...

So now there is a benefit other than system resource management to using suppression instead of visibility:  your parts lists accurately reflect the LOD, even the quantities.

[#7]

cwhetten,

Do you have any links or something where I can learn about this ilogic part suppression stuff and how it relates or can change the parts list?  I'd like to do a little learning on the subject.

[#8]

I haven't been able to find anything that documents the phenomenon, but I have seen it with my own eyes.  I attached a simple assembly that I use to test various iLogic scenarios.  I set it up to demonstrate the subject.

The component suppression is controlled by a few parameters.  Setting the TestPartsListQTY parameter to True will suppress one each of the bar and angle components.  In this state, the drawing parts list shows quantities of 1 each, even though the master LOD has 2 each.

If the components are manually suppressed, you see the parts list behavior we have come to expect over the years (quantities are total for the master LOD unless all occurrences are suppressed).  If you use iLogic code to suppress (namely the Component.IsActive() snippet), then you get the behavior that I mentioned.

It appears that the Component.IsActive() code not only suppresses the components, but also sets the BOM state of those occurrences to Reference, which accounts for why the parts list behaves the way it does.

[#9]

Hi Gents, I hope you all are well? The topic just I have been looking for!

I can confirm that iLogic driven component suppress works fine as explained by cwhetten.

However I am encountering with the following issue:

(background: I am working on a spreadsheet driven assy to change part parameters and am using iLogic to suppress components in the assy. I will drive the whole assy via the spreadsheet @ the end. Wanting to create new variants based on the spreadsheet driven generic assy)

I can’t run iLogic rules in Master LOD, the following error message comes up:

“Component.IsActive: Cannot change the suppression state of components.

The active Level of Detail in ASSY1.aim is not a custom Level of Detail.”

I came over this by creating another LOD (View1). Now this works fine, components are suppressed once I run the rule. And they come back fine if I change the spreadsheet.

But it does not let me generate a BOM in assy mode, if I press the “Bill of Materials” button on the ribbon bar:

“the assembly must be saved before performing the bill of Materialsoperation.” Error message comes up all the time, even after saving it several times.

If I change it back to Master LOD, it does generate a BOM which is correct to the iLogic Rule but of course the components are not suppressed though!!

Any ideas how can I come over this? Suppress parts by iLogic and generate BOMs based on that change?

Thanks in advance.

Kris

[#10]

I run into this problem too.  It is one of the "joys" of working with LOD's.

Do you have any drawings open at the same time as your assembly?  If so, don't.  Having them both open at the same time (when using LOD's) just causes problems.

When this happens, I usually just save my work, exit the assembly, then reload it.  This usually works.  Sometimes you have to close every file in Inventor and just reopen the assembly you wish to work on.

It's a HUGE pain.  It's almost enough to make me abandon LOD's and find another way to get things done.  I would do it in a heartbeat if we hadn't already put 2 years of work into our model based on the LOD philosophy.

I think on our next project we will try a different approach.