Blocks, attributes and BOM creation

[Anonymous]

I am currently using AutoCAD 2015, I am a self taught. I currently work for a small company that makes window frames and panels. Currently we have to manually check the shop drawings and quantify all the various information to estimate material requirements for each project. What I was thinking to help save time was to create a system that can read the drawings and extract the required information for us to save time. The research that I have done has lead me to believe that using blocks and attributes is the only way to achieve this within AutoCAD. My idea is to make all the lines, that make up the skeleton of the framing within the shop drawings into blocks, assign a few attributes to each one (length, width, profile) and then extract the block information to create a BOM. The single drafter we have here does not have a lot of experience with blocks or attributes so I have come here for more info. 

Does this concept make sense? Is is plausible?

Thank you for your time,

[Anonymous]

I am currently using Auto Cad 2015, I am a self taught. I currently work for a small company that makes window frames and panels. Currently we have to manually check the shop drawings and quantify all the various information to estimate material requirements for each project. What I was thinking to help save time was to create a system that can read the drawings and extract the required information for us to save time. The research that I have done has lead me to believe that using blocks and attributes is the only way to achieve this within AutoCAD. My idea is to make all the lines, that make up the skeleton of the framing within the shop drawings into blocks, assign a few attributes to each one (length, width, profile) and then extract the block information to create a BOM. The single drafter we have here does not have a lot of experience with blocks or attributes so I have come here for more info. 

Does this concept make sense? Is is plausible?

Thank you for your time,

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

What you are proposing is very doable. In fact, I have seen customers in the same business as you asking the same things right here in the forums.

In addition to blocks and attributes, you might also consider using Fields to automatically capture some of the properties.

Please let me know if you have specific questions or concerns.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[SeeMSixty7]

There are a number of ways to do what you want. using the Data Extraction tool you can do that without any blocks. You can specify to extract lines,their layers, and their lengths. From that you could nail down the materials as long as you have the right information on the right layer you should be good to go and just quantify things in excel. Good luck

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I am checking back to see if you need additional information on this process. As @SeeMSixty7 indicates you can do this without blocks and attributes but I think you will get better results if you do use them.

For instance, if your cabinet carcass has a fixed depth and is using standard pieces for the ends you could make a block and insert it at each end of the cabinet. Then you could do a simple block count and know that you had two parts. If you already know the materials to create the part then you are well on your way.

The next step would be to add two fields to each block. One for the height and one for the depth. Now when you capture this information you will have this data as well as be able to easily calculate or capture the area.

Please let me know how the process works for you and if you need additional input.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[TheCADnoob]

This looks like it might help

http://www.lee-mac.com/dynamicblockcounter.html

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately it has been a very busy day and may be a busy week the way things are going now and I may not have the opportunity to test the responses I have received. I do not want to accept a solution until I can verify them.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

No rush - just want to answer the question for you.  I made a simple model with blocks that each have a field to capture the area. I then did a quick data extraction to show you how this might work.