One part ( model ) - multiple part numbers - How-to

[acad-caveman]

Gentlemen,sorry for a possibly dumb question.

What is the best way to handle a single model but have multiple part ( drawing ) numbers assigned to it?

I have a customer who has the silly tendency to assign new part numbers to each iteration of an assembly.

The assemblies do vary and have unique part numbers as a whole, but the components used in them are typically interchangeable.

What's more, the assembly part number never correlates to the individual components used in them.

What's even more, they sometimes order only a single component and they refer to it only by it's own part number, so I cannot just call up the assembly and figure out what part they need.

What I'd like to do is create one model of the component, and then save it with multiple part numbers. I don't mind having multiple files, each representing a part number, but if there is any change, I'd like it to progate throughout all the identical files.

IOW, I have Part#, Part#2 and part#3. They are identical. How can I draw Part#1 and save it as 2 other linked drawings so any edits to the original will change the others as well.

Thank You

[IgorMir · Accepted solution]

iParts would be the way to go. You will have to create a bunch of children in a table where you can assign a different number to each one.

Regards,

Igor.

[acad-caveman]

Thanks Igor.

Being primarily a jobshop and use Inventor for re-creating solid models from paper blueprints, to date I did not have to dig deeper into IV's design related capabilities.

This would be a perfect time to do so for this purpose.

Thank You

[pdecker]

Derive part #2 from part #1.

You can give it a unique file name and unique properties.

Geomtery changes to part #1 will be reflected on part #2 as long as it is opened to update