Inventor Part Preview

[dmcdanielBL755]

I am working on creating a library of parts for our engineering team to use in our inventor models.

From a Design standpoint it makes more sense to have the parts organized based on what they are rather than who makes them.

• Library > Bin Rails > Bins > Part

From a cad part/ inventory management system it makes sense to organize our folders by vendor

• Library > Vendor > Part

I tried having the actual parts live in the vendor folder structure with shortcuts to the product folder structure. Windows File explorer will show what the shortcut preview looks like. However, the Inventor window does not.

I attached 2 pictures for reference.

This organizing method is to prevent multiple duplicates living throughout our server. When we download, make, or procure another outsourced vendor model. this will go directly into our vendor folder structure.

I have had experience with Vault before, but we currently don't have it. I know that Vault will maintain the integrity of the files on the servers and prevent duplicates. but I was looking at an intermediate step for the time being.

Is there a solution to get the shortcuts to populate the ipt/iam preview window?

are there other methods to organizing parts in both folder structures?

Is there a way to lock the data of items in both locations to be the exact same, say if 1 edits, both do?

[b.mccarthy]

Have you considered publishing them to the Content Center?

[dmcdanielBL755]

This is probably a separate topic to submit here, but I don't know how to set up hardware for the content center that works with the design accelerator / bolted connection tool just yet. I've tried a handful of ways (saving a copy of a part already in and modifying, making new iparts) I gave up on it as I didn't have the time to devote to figuring it out. yea, I could just have the basic part in there no problem, but I want to make all of it work, not just a few of the parts.

I would like to make a content center with JUST the stuff we use. but most people I've worked with don't know how to set up the content center either. Also, if designers don't know exactly what they're looking for to begin with, it's time consuming and the wrong parts are used. For example, when do you use a NF EN 28765, vs UNI EN 28765, vs Hex Cap Screw. I don't want designers lost in that menu or having to google what stuff is in order to grab a part we keep basic inventory of.

[b.mccarthy]

I had similar issues with another company I contracted with. The stock content items, more often then not, did not address their needs, such as applying the company's part numbering schema, specifying finishes (black oxide, HDG,...) or grade (Gr8, A325, Class 10...). In addition, many fasteners just do not exist, such as TC bolts or AN aircraft fasteners. What I did was to create a copy of an existing family (RMB on the family in the CC Editor, and select "Save Copy As..."). This generates a customizable, company specific family that the Bolted Connection tool can access. Then you can add whatever information that you need for your inventory tracking, such as vendor, cost, internal part number, vendor's part number, etc.

Once you have this set up, your users can skip through all of the other options, and use only those custom Content Center items that meet your needs.

Obviously I am skipping a significant number of steps here, but I think this is worth exploring.

HTH

[A.Acheson]

Vault basic(free version) I think would be a good solution. It allows all the iproperties searching like vendors etc with a large sized image and no need to rearrange or have short cuts etc. Windows is nice and flexible but in reality to flexible.

If you really wanted a stop gap way of searching iproperties you could use the apprentice server through excel vba and set up a search directory. It could at least come in handy while your cleaning up. Not sure if you know vba launguage but here is a link for that method. Or the alternative is design assistant but I always found that slow and unproductive.