Intelligent folder to transfer parts in another assembly

[Anonymous]

Hi guys!

I've been working with Inventor for 2 weeks now in my internship. My colleague is pretty comfy to use Rules and iLogic, and he's not sure if my idea is realistic. I'm sorry if this kind of question is already asked before!

Context: I want to create a BOM for all electrical components on our machine. The components are already in many assemblies. So, my idea is to create a folder in those many assemblies and drop the components in it. That way, the items in the folder can be copied to another assembly (the one I want to use to make the electrical BOM).

Also, it will be great if the part is still showing in the first assembly, but not counted in the BOM. Because I don't want to take two times the component in our shop when it's time to assemble the real machine. 

What are you guys suggesting? is it possible to make? or is there an easier way to solve this kind of context?

Thank you so much for your help!

Anthony C.

[A.Acheson]

Are you using an electrical add-in inside inventor? A little more context with screenshots would be helpful. I haven’t seen many electrical user post  on this forum so you may need to give a lot more detail to gain satisfactory responses. 

Are you looking to adjust all of the component iproperties in one go and export to excel? 

[Anonymous]

Hello Alan!

We're not using the electrical add-in in Inventor. The company is using Inventor and the Vault in the 2020 version. I can't really show any screenshots, because my main idea is to create a certain kind of folder in each assembly, so that each part in that folder can be transfer to another assembly in inventor. I really don't want to change any of the iProperties or export to an excel sheet. The goal of this is to create an electrical BOM with all the cables, contacts, lights and security plates, instead of having them all around the place in our many assemblies.

Let me know if it's clear enough!

Anthony

[A.Acheson · Accepted solution]

I think I have an  idea of what your looking to achieve.

Desktop content outside of vault:

If you are familiar with creating workgroup search paths or library path Inventor. These are just paths for commonly used folders.

Library path:

Create a folder and place all the components in there. You can only create one library folder and it is by default read only. A project file will be needed to modify its contents but this is where I would place electrical,mechanical items that don’t change. 

Work group  search paths:

Another version of a library folder but it has no read only restriction.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015...

Update BOM:

An option could be to create an assembly call it Elec Bom Parent and select all the part files in windows and drag them into the assembly. You can update all of the child(part) iproperties from one place. 
Store it in the same project path/library as your parts. 

If your using vault also there maybe better ways to update bom. I am not a vault user so cannot comment on that workflow. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you Alan! I'll try to implement your advice into my idea!