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zrehlander1-Visitor
1-Visitor
August 6, 2015
Solved

Family Tables Creating Drawings

  • August 6, 2015
  • 5 replies
  • 9622 views

Hi all,

 

I have figured out (at least for what I need) family tables and making models from them. I type in either the family table through Pro E or I open the Excel sheet and do major updates. When I go to open the parent model I get to choose which instance I want and it will automatically create the model. This is pretty much what I want to happen but with drawings rather than models. Is there a way to type in the family table and get a drawing to come out automatically just like it does for a model? Using Pro E 4.0 

 

Thanks,

Zach


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Best answer by huggre

Hi, here is a short description on haow we solve this issue in my company:

1. Create the generic part/assembly including all its required instances.

2. Create a drawing for the generic part/assembly with all the required views, dimensions etc.

3. Save a copy of the generic drawing

4. Open the new drawing copy and the replace the active model (generic) with one of the instances (and regenreate the drawing)

5. Performe these steps for all the instances in the family table.

5 replies

B
23-Emerald III
BenLoosli23-Emerald III
23-Emerald III
August 6, 2015

Normally any family table drawing is done in a single drawing using variables for the dimensions that are changed for each instance.

If I have a family table for rectangular plates, I would create a drawing and just use a "Length" and "Width" as the 'dimensions'.

I would then put a table on the drawing with 3 columns - Part Number, Length and Width. Populate the table with the corresponding values and be done with it.

One drawing showing all of the instances and their sizes.

H
huggre1-VisitorAnswer
1-Visitor
August 7, 2015

Hi, here is a short description on haow we solve this issue in my company:

1. Create the generic part/assembly including all its required instances.

2. Create a drawing for the generic part/assembly with all the required views, dimensions etc.

3. Save a copy of the generic drawing

4. Open the new drawing copy and the replace the active model (generic) with one of the instances (and regenreate the drawing)

5. Performe these steps for all the instances in the family table.

    Z
    zrehlander1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    August 7, 2015

    Thank you. That is where I am at now with the making one drawing and then replacing the model for a new one.

    Ben, i have looked into this but we have around 20,000 part numbers so that would get a little hectic on the drawing.

    Both were great suggestions though and I can see how that would be very nice to use if we just didn't have so many part numbers.

    B
    23-Emerald III
    BenLoosli23-Emerald III
    23-Emerald III
    August 7, 2015

    I hope you don't have 20,000 parts in a single family table!!!

    Z
    zrehlander1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    August 7, 2015

    no lol.

    We do gears and pulleys so I have them arranged by tooth profile for each master shape. So I've got four folders with our master shapes and then I made a part for each tooth profile in each of those four folders and added the family table to every one of the tooth profiles in each folder. So it is broken down a little bit but while were on the subject, how many instances can a family table handle? Because if we use this process long term it could build up in each profile over time.

    B
    23-Emerald III
    BenLoosli23-Emerald III
    23-Emerald III
    August 7, 2015

    I was curious and asked PTC what the family table size limitation was and this is their response:

    There is no such known limitation on the number of family table
    instances. However there is a limitation that depends on the size of the .idx
    file which is created after adding the instances. For a 64-bit platform system
    it is about approximately 512 000 bytes and for a 32-bit system it's

    approximately 256 000 bytes. The .idx files exceeding the size limitation will

    not allow to display instances list.

      Z
      zrehlander1-VisitorAuthor
      1-Visitor
      August 7, 2015

      Sweet. Thank You!

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