Materials

[acoates]

Hi.

Is it true that when you assign a material from the material library (a nice, centralized location from which to control you business's material requirements) they decouple and remain local to the part (decentralized, uncontrolled etc. etc.)? If so, how can I retain the link please?

Many thanks,

Andy

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[Manikandan]

Andy,

I understand your situation, Let consider this I got a part from parts library ( Bolt , nut, etc... ) and I have to change some dimensions if I change the dimensions it shouldn't reflect to my parts library. Like this once you assigned material for a part ,the link between part and the material library will get disconnected.

I hope you got my point.

....

Mani

[acoates]

Hi Mani,

Thanks for that: I understand. In that situation I would modify the relevant property (dimension, Young's modulus, description etc) and save the modification as a new library component that I could then reuse elsewhere. Breaking the link makes no sense to me at all, I'm afraid. I'm hoping that somebody out there has created a workaround!

Andy

[acoates]

Quick nudge: does anybody have a method by which the link to the central material file can be maintained please?

[dschenken · Accepted solution]

There is no parametric link between the model and the file the information was copied from.

If you need this you will have to create your own software to update the values.

[acoates]

*Sigh*

Thanks for the confirmation, David. Yet another thing to keep me evaluating different software.

[JonathanHodgson]

I have to agree with others - it sounds like a slightly odd requirement.

If there is a parametric link, then if you make a change to the material file, it immediately affects an unknown number (hundreds? thousands?) of released drawings, all of which now need to be identified and up-issued, with new versions sent to suppliers, management of parts delivered or in stock to the previous issue, etc...

Plus, how often do the properties of steel (or whichever material) change?

[acoates]

If you reference a standard in a material description and the standard updates. That was why I initially enquired, but I am trying to close that can of worms using a different method anyway.

[dschenken]

That's the main advantage to linking to a central place - if there is an error in the material description or a change that needs to be made the link allows identifying all the affected parts. If the change doesn't affect the related items there's no reason to reissue, but if it does, then it's better than trying to pick through all the databases to change them one at a time. It's unlikely that a fundamental error will be made over the long term; but it is probable that additional characteristics will be added to the material description over time or that they will be tweaked - steel density changes a little depending on alloy, but someone may rough in a default during the initial design and that value needs to be more accurate during detailed analysis.