topic Re: Change base unit in BOM to m^2 in Inventor Forum

Change base unit in BOM to m^2

DEP.MOBILIARIO — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 15:21:40 GMT

Hello,

I need to change the base unit of some components in my assembly to m^2. I created a User Parameters to calculate the AREA and it worked, but I can't get it to appear in the quantity base in m^2. I need it for lists of the number of panels, for example, which have to be per m2.

Re: Change base unit in BOM to m^2

pcrawley — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 20:46:58 GMT

Unfortunately, Base Unit can only be Length, Mass, or Volume. Frustratingly, it can't be Area.

The best I've managed is to create the area the same way you have but leave the units as "m" - that way, Base Unit can be Length, but the value reads the area calculation.

In most places, you can hide the unit string, so a Parts List might have a column heading of "Area m^2" and then just show the unitless values.

In places like the BOM though, you're stuck with "m"

Re: Change base unit in BOM to m^2

johnsonshiue — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:52:49 GMT

Hi! There is a very awkward workflow (a hat trick) to set non-standard unit as the Base Unit.

1) Create a user parameter with a standard unit like mm or inch.

2) Set the parameter as the base unit.

3) Click on the Edit Parameter button in the dialog -> change the parameter unit to mm^2 or in^2 -> click on Export box -> Ok.

The area unit will magically appear. This workflow applies to all non-standard units.

Many thanks!

Re: Change base unit in BOM to m^2

marko.jessenjuhler — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 09:50:31 GMT

Is there a way to make your 3 step with ilogic, Techinally add "^2" end of Parameter Equation.

I hava Ilogic that:

1. calculate area from given material thickness and density

2. Store it to "area_to_bom" parameter as unit m

3. Change it to Base Quantity of part.

Then i need to go manually add "^2" to parameter equation

Re: Change base unit in BOM to m^2

johnsonshiue — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 23:33:33 GMT

Hi Marko,

I am not sure if it will work, since I am not an iLogic expert. Here is a related thread you may want to take a look. It seems doable.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-programming-ilogic/autodesk-inventor-change-parameter-units-with-ilogic-rule/td-p/11926192

Many thanks!

Re: Change base unit in BOM to m^2

k.hendrickx — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 11:48:32 GMT

Wow Johnson, could you please advise to refine this asap?

I think this would be an amazing feature for a lot of people.

At the moment we have a certain part that we have to place as individual pieces, but are always sold/supplied in sets of 8PCS.

Using this technique will finally allow me to get correct BOM's without always manually overriding the quantities by dividing them by 8 and rounding up (we actually have spend a lot of time developing a VBA script for this!)

Re: Change base unit in BOM to m^2

johnsonshiue — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 21:46:01 GMT

Hi! The request is well-understood. Unfortunately, there are always more critical issues to resolve. Also, the effort required to make it work isn't as trivial as it seems.

Many thanks!