I had a stud bolt part that had the parameter LENGTH in it for the length of the bolt. I have 1000+ stud bolts to generate and worked it all out quite nicely in a spreadsheet. It generated all the bolts just fine, along with their lengths - no problem.
The description field for the bolt read like this: =BOLT, STUD <DIA>" - <SP>UNC
I was asked to add length in the description (it was in a seperate column). So, i changed the description to:
=BOLT, STUD <DIA>" - <SP>UNC x <LENGTH>
Hit rebuild, update, etc and tried kicking out parts and everything works fine - EXCEPT the LENGTH in the description which comes out as 1" regardless of the actual length. In checking the custom parameters in the exported parts, it seems that LENGTH is there as 1" and a LENGTH_1 is added containing the actual length...what exactly is causing the base parameter to get renamed like that and messing up the whole thing? And is there a way of fixing it?
Thanks
Mike
Solved! Go to Solution.
Solved by mslosar. Go to Solution.
Here's the odd answer....
There was nothing wrong with the ipart. The problem is because of the standar.ipt file.
Seems like for whatever reason, when you generate files from an ipart, it doesn't copy off the existing ipart - it creates a new blank file based off your standard.ipt file and then dumps the ipart information into that. Seeing as our standard.ipt file has some base parameters pre-defined to make life easier for people, the LENGTH value from the standard is created first from the template and then when the second LENGTH value from the ipart is added to it it gets renamed LENGTH_1 and screws everything up.
The solution? before running generate files, rename your existing standard.ipt and use one without parameters (or without the parameters you're using) and then run generate files. When complete, set the original standard.ipt back
Smarter move would be for Generate Files to pop up a dialog that asks you what you want to use for a template file.