Frame Generator BOM

[jessieEQXVW]

I use the frame generator to create designs for exterior architectural products that our company builds. The BOM inventor gives me tends to just spit out the total length of a given member, rather than the number of pieces and individual lengths. For example, it will say 119' 2" of 1x6x1/8 Tube, rather than 22 pieces of 5' 5" 1x6x1/8" Tube. Is this something Inventor can do, or do I just need to be thorough and good at Excel?

[kacper.suchomski]

Select the appropriate columns in the parts list table:

Look more:

https://help.autodesk.com/view/INVNTOR/2023/ENU/?guid=GUID-97068BF9-83A2-4708-B935-B6842E70932C

[jtylerbc]

@jessieEQXVW, I can't read the language used in the video that @kacper.suchomski posted, but it looks like he's on the right track.  I've had my parts list set up the way you're wanting for a long time, and the key was setting it to use the "Item Quantity" field instead of just "Quantity".

Content Center structural parts (which are what FG uses) are set to use a length parameter as their "Quantity" instead of a count like normal parts would.  If you use "Item Quantity" instead, it will be back to being a count.

[jessieEQXVW]

I think I was not clear about what I'm looking for. I'm trying to get a BOM that will display the quantity and lengths of various structural members, something like a cutlist (one that displays more than simply the end treatment applied to a member). Here's a screen grab for clarity. In this drawing, the tube around the outside edges and the one going down the center are all the same profile, but different lengths. As it is now, I need to type up a list of lengths and quantities for the saw guys in production and work out how many sticks of stock from the mill to order in my own Excel spreadsheet. Is there a way for Inventor to do this?

Thanks for the help!

[kacper.suchomski]

Watch my video; there you have exactly what you are looking for.
Don't be afraid of the language; Inventor is a picture writing.

When selecting a column, look for "Item QTY", "Unit QTY"/"Base Qty". By the way, turn off "QTY" because it will bother you.
Arrange the columns in a convenient order.

Also check the variants of the BOM view (structured / only parts).

[jessieEQXVW]

Thank you, I watched the video. If you look at my screenshot, I did use the Unit Quantity and Base Quantity columns. They returned the number of pieces of each material, but there's no simple way of displaying how many of each length. Just a total (say, 22 of the 1618T61) and *Varies* (for the same material).

[kacper.suchomski]

No. You didn't use Unit Qty.

[CGBenner · Accepted solution]

@jessieEQXVW 

Am I reading correctly that you would like to show the number of pieces for each unique length?  If these all have the same part number, like a stock number, regardless of the length, I may have a method for you that I used years ago. 

If I do not understand you right, my apologies.

[jtylerbc]

What does your part number (1618T61) actually mean?

I think Inventor is grouping your frame members by part number.  So if that number is assigned to all 1x6x1/8" tube, regardless of the length, they are going to get combined the way you are describing, and any properties that are different (such as the length) are going to show up as "VARIES". 

You're most likely going to need to do something in the part number to separate the lengths. This could be as simple as something like tacking the length onto the part number (ex. 1618T61-60 could be a 5' section of 1x6x1/8").  This could be very easily automated with an iProperty expression if you want to go this route.  If you don't like the way it looks on the parts list, you might be able to do it to fix your grouping problem, then actually show the Stock Number property in the table instead of Part Number so you only actually see the 1618T61.

You might also consider turning on "Part Number Row Merge" in the BOM.  However, that may also cause parts that actually are  identical to show up as separate rows.

At my company our part numbers are a dumb sequential count (T-01 is the first tube in the project, followed by T-02, T-03, etc.).  This was a convention in place long before we started using Inventor, but it accidentally avoided the problem you're seeing here once we switched to Inventor.

[jtylerbc]

I should have read @CGBenner's blog post before writing my previous message.  We're talking about an almost identical solution (different only in what properties we're using in the parts list) and his blog explained it in much more detail than I did.

[CGBenner]

@jtylerbc @jessieEQXVW 

I looked at the date on that blog post and started shaking my head... the beard is just a bit greyer than it was when I wrote that!

[jtylerbc]

Yeah, that post may actually be where I learned part of this myself.  As I mentioned earlier, my company's existing part numbering conventions accidentally sidestepped the Row Merge issue.  So I didn't really encounter it until I started helping other people with differing part number schemes.  

Yours was probably one of the pages I read on the topic back then, hence my similar suggestions.