Base Quantity drop-down list start ignore some user parameters

[Maxim-CADman77]

About month ago (and ever before) in Inventor 2012 there was possibility to set value of user parameter in area units (ex. "m^2") as Base Quantity. I do have evidence (screenshots and 3Dmodel).

Today it seems imposiible - any user parameter measured in area units (mm^2, cm^2, m^2 etc) are just not present in the Base Quantity drop-down list  (Document Settings -> Bill of Materials)!!! 😞

I'm extremely puzzled - as there seems were not updates for Inventor during last month.

Any ideas on how to set Unit Quantity to some value measured in area units?

[Daniela_Koloszko · Accepted solution]

This behavior is as designed. The only valid units for "Base Quantity" are length, mass and volume. Inventor filters out any user parameter that does not have those units. The same is for unitless parameter, because it is not valid. If the users were to create a user parameter that has BOM valid units, then it will show up in the drop-down.

[Anonymous]

I need to create a custom column FT/QTY in parts list.

Depends of the part - in the row under this column - show either cut size in ft * qty (total cut length in ft of all parts) or just qty (number of parts).

I did it easily with MDT by setting BOM parameters FT_QTY and QTY.

All my attempts failed in IV2014.

Any suggestions?

Regards.

[Maxim-CADman77]

Just in case. Meant "Base Quantity" unit validity was determined by http://augi.typepad.com/augi_news/files/iv10_bom_whitepaper.pdf

For things to be improved its probably worth to vote for the idea - http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Inventor-IdeaStation/Area-units-in-Base-Quantity/idi-p/4387795

[ascott_shipco]

Why are AREA units not valid in inventor? Especially when lengths and volumes are valid...

I've been researching this for a long time now because plate steel is typically purchased by AREA quantities. There are many forum threads about this shortcoming but I cannot find any information from Autodesk about why or if they intend to fix it.