I'm working in a new industry and came across something in an Inventor assembly I haven't seen before. An Assembly file had a part placed in it with the pre-machined features (burnout, pilot holes), and the finished machining done at the Assembly level. This seems like a good idea from the perspective of being able to send "flatfiles" of the premachined parts to get burned out, but it adds a level of complexity to the part numbering and BOM structures.
Does anyone do anything similar in their industry and have an alternative way to deal with this same proceedure?
That's what I do also.
Part number is cheap, way less than a dime for a dozen.
I have weldment that need a few stages of machining and welding which became multiple assemblies and subassemblies.
Its best to have part number for ever stage so everyone know which stage it is in.
Lots of companies has weldment and machining as different part number.
I do keep flat pattern and formed part with same part number if possible.
Now if that designer just put that one part in assembly and do machining, that's not a good idea.
PS: Just looked at your capture and that designer done it the long way.
I use flat pattern in sheetmetal for FC part.
Model the machined parts. Create flat. Edit flat to cover up holes and add FC allowance.
Sounds useful, but how do you get around the hobbled modeling environment at the Assembly level?
Carefully
If it can't be done in assembly, derive the assembly into another part.
Assembly only allow removal of material. So all machine allowance need to be done before.
Basically you need to model the way its made.