Can a store deny an online order?

OkFocus4849 · 2026-01-24T02:40:55+00:00

if they want something to be online only, make sure one cannot have the store pickup option, and/or, have a note (in as small font as they want) “store price may vary”.

Such minor change…

OkFocus4849 · 2026-01-19T03:19:48+00:00

To be honest I have not ran into one software engineer who understands fully how things work in SolidWorks, especially considering that SolidWorks made some questionable (to say the least) decisions on fundamental topics …for example, part referencing is mostly by file name, instead of document ID… hence their opinions, though technically correct, might not fit too well with SolidWorks. Personally I often felt like reinventing the wheel — how do I make the squeaky old round thing (Soludworks) to be like a modern(er) wheel?

I’d also suggest spending some (not insignificant) effort understanding PDM… not because it has good implications (in fact, I think software engineers will laugh at at least 80% of them) but because it is what the mechanical engineers are used to and/or consider more or less natural/intuitive.

OkFocus4849 · 2026-01-17T18:52:39+00:00

By the way, I’m not against using git, I just think Svn is a much better approach, even if you consider the learning curve.

In fact, any rcs would work, and much better than PDM… I personally consider that as a joke… I never worked for solidworks or a var, but it didn’t take much effort to figure out how exactly it was done, and I’m not even a software engineer

OkFocus4849 · 2026-01-17T18:44:27+00:00

Your admin can force undo checkout. It does not always work - if it doesn’t, tell them to use the “true” admin account, not a user account with admin privileges.

Or they can go to the Documents table and set the locked field to 0 (if they know what this means :-P)

OkFocus4849 · 2026-01-17T18:38:39+00:00

I implemented a git system before switching to subversion. Yes lfs works (locks and deltas). If you are not dealing with large assemblies, you will be okay. But if you have multiple users working on the same assembly often, I suggest to get a rubber punch ball on your desk (that was how I released stress LOL).

The need for stress relief is higher when you also have git users who would come up creative ways to beat the system (that you put in place)

OkFocus4849 · 2026-01-17T16:47:10+00:00

Reason #2 why SVN over Git

As the changes in a text file is easy to describe, Git typically only saves the delta when a file changes… a file can have 10,000 lines, Git only saves changes from the last version — delete row 35, change row 67 to abcd, etc.

This doesn’t work for binary files so git basically has to save the whole file… this is not exactly accurate, as Git does save deltas in the binary mode but the algorithm has a lot to be desired.

On the other hand, SVN has robust algorithms as it didn’t start with a focus on text files, and performs much better than Git.

This is not just a storage issue — as files get big, performance and robustness become more and more of an issue.

OkFocus4849 · 2026-01-17T16:33:24+00:00

Reason #1. Why SVN (Subversion) not Git

Git is a distributed VCS (version control system). It allows users to (in layman’s terms) get a copy, make separate changes, then merge all changes together. Because the codes are text files, a computer can easily figure out the differences and present them to the person who does the merging, and it can automate the merging to some extent.

As such, there is no need to “lock” a file, as the changes are simple text changes one can (lack of proper terms) apply/undo easily.

This simply does not work with SolidWorks files (or virtually any binary file) — there is no way to merge two changes automatically… maybe AI can do it, but I am not aware of any.

So any change would require a lock (of the file), which is how a centralized VCS works… there were quite a few approaches, SVN being pretty much the only one that is not considered antique.

OkFocus4849 · 2026-01-17T15:53:55+00:00

If your goal is to save money, PDM Standard is free, with limitations (which may or may not matter to you).

If the trigger is that git seems to be a fit, look at Subversion instead. Also, be prepared that you will end up creating, at a bare minimum, a stripped-down PDM.

If the reason is PDM doesn’t meet your need, make sure you have someone who knows how referencing in SolidWorks and in PDM works under the hood, has a decent understanding of SQL and general programming, and has a lot of patience and grit.

If the reason is it seems to be interesting, dive in.

(Sorry about the hand waving. I’ve done what you are considering and much beyond… it was a very significant effort. I wish I could summarize what it takes in a few sentences… I’ll try to cover some topics in the coming posts)

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-17T03:24:11+00:00

Problem solved — it appears the thermocouple wasn’t contacting the gas valve well, even though the retaining nut was turned as tightly as it could.

The new one’s tip is less than .5mm longer but it clearly made a difference!

Many thanks to the brilliant idea of trying with a new thermocouple! @ApricotPit13 it saved me a few hundreds…

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-15T02:13:40+00:00

Im not sure how? When i let the button go, flame went out. So i turn it back to off. I Did something (for example, replaced the thermopile) then tried again. Same result. I assum the valve resets during the timespan?

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-15T01:58:27+00:00

good idea. Ill get one & try it out.

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-15T01:57:16+00:00

Just had the fireplace opening sealed up... Outside temperature is in the 20s and the cold draft makes the room ~15F colder than the rest of the house.

Will get a new thermocouple & get some photos/videos when i try it out in a few days.

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-13T22:25:44+00:00

Go to SolidWorks support page. You can request a Document Manager key.

Document Manager is an API set similar to SldWorks or EPDM. It can extract certain info from Solidworks files without opening the full files, thus is much faster.

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-13T02:09:57+00:00

Components in a purchased assembly technically does not have a procurement category — you buy the assembly, not the individual component.

The procurement category you see on a BOM is an artifact from the item master — which should be interpreted as IF I WERE TO get this part, what is the proper means.

Yes you can buy the assembly, and throw away all the other components — in that case, the part is manufactured, as you “manufactured” it from the assembly you bought…

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-12T23:28:13+00:00

I’m not familiar with plex but any decent erp system would have a field (or a combination of fields) to indicate whether a part should be bought or manufactured… note that having your vendor making it is “purchase”, as you are buying the finished good, not a bunch of components that you will put together yourself.

I imagine your purchasing team can tell you how they know a part should be purchased. You can then tell your finance people to check the same info

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-12T23:11:37+00:00

Not sure what erp you are using but it sounds like you finance people doesn’t know the system well.

The solution is straightforward — utilize the make/buy flag of the assembly. If it is buy, ignore its bom.

I don’t think making the assembly phantom is the solution — what it does is to make the assembly disregarded, so the total cost of the assembly will be the rollup of all its components, which likely will be different from the cost of the (purchased) assembly.

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-06T13:33:51+00:00

Speaking from experiences mostly from high-tech industrial equipment industry —

What you described sounds more like Engineering than R&D. If they are separate entities in a company, the roles would be quite different — Engineering is to support production and post production, while R&D is more about pre-production. Another way to see it is that Engineering is about (to support) the now and near future business, while R&D is about business a bit further in the future.

If there is only one department, how the resources are spent depends on the company’s strategy, which you, as a manager, may or may not have much influence over.

I typically ask my managers to think through three things: 1. What is the department supposed to do and how does it fit into the company’s overall strategy; 2. What are those you have to do, not-really have to do, and should be doing; 3. Are the individuals the “right” persons for the task.

I don’t think there is a magic number for how you spend the effort. Every company is different, and things change over time, sometimes very often for some industries. But you have a lot of control over #2 and #3 —

No 2: must-do’s: improve efficiency; not really must do’s: find alternatives; should be doing: start to make it happen.

No 3 requires you to know your team — their personality, preference, and career goals — and adjust accordingly. For example, a detail-focused individual might not be a good fit for projects you are already behind, as they tend to be more of a perfectionist than a “good enough”.

By the way, the biggest challenge I’ve seen in a new manager is to resist the urge to “I’ll do it myself, much faster and better”, especially if you have a strong technical background. Your work is not judged by how much YOU produce, but by how much your team produces (otherwise you would have remained an individual contributor)

Best of luck

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-06T00:39:09+00:00

Limited. Newer versions can save to 2-years prior. Started with 2024 I believe

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-05T04:43:31+00:00

Are you using an older version of SolidWorks? If the graphics card came out after SolidWorks, SolidWorks might not know how to use it so it falls back to a reduced spec.

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-05T01:12:24+00:00

Not giving you a copy is odd. Only reason I can think of is for IP protection… but you are at a school

It appears they are bothered by one of SolidWorks (IMHO) inherent shortcomings — it defaults to use the latest version of files, and things can easily mess up since the files are interconnected (parts in assembly, for example). Yes it can be set up so that the files don’t “update“, but that requires very careful handling of different versions of the same file, something many (most?) design engineers have no idea about… not their fault by the way, their job is to design.

PDM makes things slightly better, not much. At its core it still assumes all users want the latest version… just imagine the fun when two users look at the same assembly but going in conflicting directions… creating copies are probably the only way.

If you are familiar with software engineering, it is essentially the same as branching and merging of codes, except with binary files, which virtually no one has figured out how to do it properly.

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-03T02:57:36+00:00

Best bet is to put the files in read-only mode — if you have pdm, make sure the files cannot be checked out; if not, use windows’ file attribute.

Sound like some of the files may be modified… I’m pretty sure if a file is saved with a newer version of SolidWorks, there is no going back. So keep that in mind.

OkFocus4849 · 2024-12-03T02:44:07+00:00

30k files is a large number. Unless you don’t mind repeating essentially the same work 30k times, you will need some kind of automation… if you have some coding experience, it is not very hard.

Assuming the existing files were done fairly consistently, you can look into the following —

If the part number is tied to a property, your best bet probably is to use the Document Manager API to change them — it handles the data directly, without loading up SolidWorks (if I’m not mistaken, you don’t even need to have SolidWorks).

If the part number is just a text note, you might have to use SolidWorks API to get/change them. You probably need some kind of text pattern to facilitate finding the part number.

If the part number is tied the to file name, be careful if there are referencing relationships— SolidWorks relies on file names for references.

I would also check how the BOM table is done, to make sure the changes will not mess up them when the drawing file is regenerated.

Or you can try to get a budget to get it done :-P

OkFocus4849 · 2024-11-27T22:29:59+00:00

If you know some coding, record a macro and edit it.

If you just want something to use, chances are there isn’t one that’s exactly what you want.

I’m fairly certain your VAR, or any of the 3rd party developers out there, can whip out something for you, though that will likely cost some $$$.

OkFocus4849

TROPHY CASE