Solidworks 2013 Bible

Chapter 29: Working with Tables and Drawings

IN THIS CHAPTER

Creating the Bill of Materials

Inserting and displaying Design Tables

Using Hole Tables to describe drawing details

Creating and controlling Revision Tables settings

Employing General Tables

Using tables in models

SolidWorks enables you to create several types of tables on drawings, such as the Bill of Materials. Design Tables that are used in parts and assemblies can also be shown on the drawing to create a tabulated type drawing. Hole Tables enable you to chart the center locations and sizes of holes for easy access to manufacturing data. Revision Tables can work with Workgroup Product Data Management (PDM) or by themselves to help you document the revision history of a drawing. General Tables are also available for any specialized items that are not covered by the other table types.

Driving the Bill of Materials

The Bill of Materials (BOM) is one of the most frequently used types of tables that are available in SolidWorks. BOMs are intended for use with assemblies, but you can also use them with individual parts for specialized applications. The information that you can expect to see on a BOM includes item number, filename, quantity used, description, and any other custom property that you would like to add to it. A typical BOM is shown in Figure 29.1.

BOMs are made in one of two ways: The default BOM is made from a special SolidWorks table, while an Excel-based BOM is driven by Excel. Although Excel offers some ...