Item Master and Inventor tube and pipe

[ndra]

Dear All,

We are having a problem creating usable BoMs in the Item Master, when using Inventor Tube and Pipe.

First of all, when creating a pipe run through inventor, using custom user-created libraries, the new files don't carry the part number. Ok, no big deal, we change them by hand. Checking the Bill of Materials through inventor, the Parts Only view sums the tube lengths as it should, but it doesn't work on the Model Data view.

When trying to Assign that run on an item, Vault creates one item with the correct Number (eg T110), and new sequencial items for the rest of the pipes.

We're using Vault Pro 2011 and Inventor Routed systems 2011.

What am I missing?

Regards,

Nikos

[mollons]

What is happening is that all the same parts are being assigned an item at the same time. The first instance is getting the item, and because you cannot assign another item duplicate to an item being created in the same operation, you are getting new item numbers for the other instances of the pipe part.

Try creating the T110 item first, then assign item and set all the parts as duplicate to the existing T110 item when you do assign item.

[ndra]

Dear Scott, 

Thanks for your reply.

Your suggestion works, but now it's assigning as many instances of the pipe item, as there are pipes. I guess it's expected behaviour, but what can I do to only get one? Other then manually editing the item, of course.

Regards,

Nikos

[mollons]

If you switch the Item bom to display as Parts Only does it roll up all the items correctly?

[ndra]

No, it adds up all the should-have-been-unique values, eg the sum for all 555 pipes is 1201.42, which appears 5 times on the item master, multilevel view. On the Parts list it displays 6007.1

[mollons]

Parts Only should roll up all the of the same items into one row and sum the quantity.

Is it rolling up too much or different items?

[ndra]

Parts only does roll up the item, but it's too much (5x1201.24)

Additionally, when I try to remove one of the instances of the item, it removes all of them.

[mollons]

What do you have the unit qty for the parts set to in Inventor? Is it Each or some unit of measure?

You can see Unit Qty in the Inventor BOM, you may have to add the column.

[ndra]

Unit quantity and and Quantity properties (Unit QTY and QTY in Inventor BOM) are the same for each seperate part, and are set to the length size of the pipe (eg 150.00 mm)

[mollons]

Try a test where you set the base unit for each of the parts to 1mm, in the inventor BOM.

My guess is it is currently Each which tells Vault Pro to treat each pipe as it's own unique part and no roll up correctly.

[ndra]

I have to republish the library, correct? Base unit was 1000mm, I'll set it to 1mm and report back.

[mollons]

I am not sure, you may be able to just change the base unit in the inventor bom...

I'd hate for you to go through too much change to your environment for just a test.

My understanding is that with a base unit of 1000mm, Vault should do this calculation:

base unit * qty * instances when it rolls up.

I am not a tube and pipe expert though. I the sample tube and pipe assembly I have that is basicalyl what I am seeing. However you are using custom pipes right? That I don't have to test. If you'd be willing to send me a small sample of a custom run I could try taking a look at it.

[ndra]

I'm testing this on my own test environment, so it's no big deal. I set it to 1mm, it still has the same behaviour. Your suggestion was sensible, but your formula is wrong. Actually when you create a pipe from the library, it automatically sets the unit quantity and quantity properties to the required length of the pipe.

The problem now is that vault creates as many instances of the pipe item inside the bom, as there are pieces of pipe, each of which is identical, and carries the sum of pipe length. If we manage to have a one and only instance of the pipe item, the problem will be solved.

[ndra · Accepted solution]

It seems it was a problem with the 2011 version. I tried the following scenario on 2012 and it works fine.

Make a new item with pipe's part number.

Assign assembly to item.

Done 😄

Now it adds up the pipe lengths correctly, as it should.

Regards

[jpchaisson]

Can you please help me, im trying to fix the same issue, and im not 100% understanding what you did to fix it. i try and doing what you did and im getting stuck. if you messege me ill give you my number to call me i need to fix this ASAP

[ndra]

Hi there, sorry for the late reply, I've been away.

Like I wrote before, first you need to make an item from any piece of pipe you need, it should have the correct part number. From then on, just make an item out of your whole assembly, and it works fine (for 2012). For 2011 version, you have to make items of the lower lever assemblies, working your way up to the main assembly, or else it will fail.

PM me if you need more help.

Regards