CAD Forum

Hello,



Need to figure out a way if it is possible to control two configurations and create a child configuration for each by using a design table.

For example, I have 101,6 x 5,74 mm pipe that I use in weldment profile and I tried to make several cuts, and for the other configuration, I used some hole drills.

So what I need to control is;

- Pipe diameter (as it is called from weldment profile maybe it is not suitable so you might want me to use custom solid creation..)

- Pipe length (which I figured by copying the primary value into the excel column to adjust)

- suppresing / unsupressing features

- Creating child config for each pre-made parent configuration that you will see in the SW 2020 file.



- to do a feature suppression / unsupression (which I tried to do so but an error occurs immediately that prevents this situation as in the screenshot)

- Hole spacings etc.



I also share my cad file that will give an idea.

My office might not be compatible with this as it is 360 and heard that 2016 works better on Solidworks, don't know why I cannot change the drop-down menus...



If my office have a problem maybe i should export an excel sheet and play with the options and import back to SW.

As i have plenty of these stuffs, this will be great if i can make this in only one SW part file or in excel sheet for sw..



Hope there is some way for this other than creating multiple part for each pipe size and each feature that includes..

Just to be clear, are you asking how to create child configurations from a design table?

Also, in regards to the error, what happens when you use the pull-down to select a value rather than inputting a value?

Hey bdokertur

I hate the data validation drop down and generally turn it off To create a derived config in a DT its as simple as putting a config name in the $PARENT column.

I believe if you leave a cell blank then it will be Linked to Parent, if you enter a value it is This Config.

or at least thats the way it's supposed to work.

In my experience derived configs are not worth the hassle as they always cause problems

The short answer is Derived Configurations can be controlled in a Design Table. Here is a quick example I just did on one of my parts: HOWEVER, I generally avoid derived configurations as they can easily get messed up. Instead I'll use regular configurations. In the Design Table if I need a configuration to always use a dimension value from its "parent" then in that child's cell for that dimension I'll just link it to the parent's value.

In my example the "Child of Test 1" configuration implicitly has the values of the configuration Test 1 for its empty cells, i.e., E5=50, H5=44, I5=18, even though those cells are blank. My practice would be to make this configuration independent by copying the parent row and pasting it in the worksheet, changing it's configuration name. This obviously also copies all the values of the parent so it is easy to change the ones that are specific to this configuration. All the values that are supposed to always be the same as the "parent" get populated with links to the parent's cells. In this example that would be E5=E4, H5=H4, I5=I4. I love the power of Excel so my practice is to add comments to these cells and to shade them so I know they are linked to others. The blank cells in the DT end up getting messed up too easily (for me).

Here is a shot from one of my parametric gear files: I like colors!

Again, Derived Configs can be controlled in the DT, but I see more potential problems than benefits so I generally don't use them.

Design Tables are fun for making composite properties based on parameters. For example, you can populate a Description field by using =CONCATENATE or =CONCAT to pull numbers or text strings from cells and put them together at your bidding. Try using configuration names, colors, dimension names, suppression states, and dimensions.

mike miller wrote: ↑Thu Nov 11, 2021 10:47 am Design Tables are fun for making composite properties based on parameters. For example, you can populate a Description field by using =CONCATENATE or =CONCAT to pull numbers or text strings from cells and put them together at your bidding. Try using configuration names, colors, dimension names, suppression states, and dimensions.

A key benefit of DT's is their foundation in Excel. It is easy to leverage the broad capabilities of Excel.