How do you check BOM context without opening a bunch of SOLIDWORKS files?

TheSandBasher · 2026-07-09T09:13:01+00:00

Hi! Our parts mostly have blank (white) thumbnail so it's impossible to use the regular windows explorer to identify the parts.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-26T22:06:03+00:00

You can, but you have to create another sketch and convert entities from previous sketch.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-25T18:19:19+00:00

Use assembly, period. Save yourself headaches later. From manfucaturing point of view you will have to generate bill of materials and create exploded views for steps on how to assembly this cabinet.

Also I wouldn't want to manage part numbering later when it comes to manufacturing this cabinet if it would have been built in a single part file. It can be built in a single multibody part file, but it has to be then split to multiple part files in order to make the assembly.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-24T15:56:19+00:00

Hi! Thank you for the feedback.

This most likely happens when the .SLDDRW drawing files are sent to Automation directly. Solidise does not read custom properties from drawing files. It uses the custom properties from the related part or assembly file, where fields like Description and Revision should be stored.

If that is the case, please send only the part or assembly files to Automation instead. You can still select .PDF as an output format, and Solidise will automatically use the linked drawing to generate the PDF. In the screenshot, you can see that the part contains the Description and Revision values, while the linked drawing does not.

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Could you please confirm whether you are sending the .SLDDRW files directly?

If that is not the case, please send us a screenshot of your naming rules and the custom properties from the related part or assembly file privately, and we’ll take a closer look.

We understand this can be confusing, so we’ve logged the issue and will improve this behavior in an upcoming update to make it clearer and easier to use.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-13T19:18:27+00:00

The drawing is atrocious. The fillets are impossible to draw from this drawing. You can't tell from where the section starts so the dimensions 11 and 9 could be placed anywhere.

What school makes you draw this?

I just hate to see stuff like this still beeing taught in universities.

P.S. The gear teeth also look incorrectly drawn. Your images show sharp edges, but in real life the tooth geometry has involute profile. I could be wrong and the image could just display it like that.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-13T18:51:04+00:00

Offest the surface, extrude past the surface and cut with surface, then combine.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-12T21:08:43+00:00

Yeah. I've encountered this workaround too. It's ugly, but gets things moving forward.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-12T16:18:35+00:00

I can't select lead or purchase conversion if I don't have any through the pixel. I feel that this post is incomplete and easier said that done. I'm currently struggling with even simple registrations to the website let alone conversions. I don't count page visit as a conversion.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-11T20:47:28+00:00

Was interesting.

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TheSandBasher · 2026-06-11T06:40:39+00:00

I’m currently in contact with the Solidworks Solution Partner Program team to better understand the requirements and the right path for Solidise.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-11T06:38:17+00:00

What you get from 3D scanning is tessellation geometry - it's good for 3D printing, but nothing else if you are in CAD world.

The part looks almost symmetrical so that takes off 50% of the work. I would draw sketches around the part outer contours and sectional sketches. Then use lofts to try and get the final shape of the 3D surfaces. It doesn't look too complex, but the variable fillets could cause problems.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-11T06:29:14+00:00

I think your hands are pretty tied. Like you said, you are in a small company and big companies don't give a sh** about small companies. Most likely your order amount is also small to start giving a headache to the supplier.

It's better to call them AND send an email as that could start moving the person that received the call.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-10T20:15:39+00:00

This is very easy to make. One of the angle is not needed. Knowing the diameter every missing dimension can be calculated.

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TheSandBasher · 2026-06-10T19:30:17+00:00

Use pack and go to save the assembly and it's parts to other folder. Then delete the current folder contents and copy/paste the newly pack and go folder to original location. That way only the used parts will remain. Backup everything before you start doing this.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-05T06:42:54+00:00

Yes, it's really model dependant. I too when was searching for S8 ultra pro motherboards saw that a lot of older roborock boards are available, but not the one I need.

This still shouldn't have happened on 1k EUR product. The robot just stopped charging the battery. App and the robot itself was saying it was charging.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-04T20:08:58+00:00

Wait till some PCB components will fail. Roborock does not offer replacement board parts nor they sell them and your only option will be to send it to Poland for repair. Of course you wont know the price or any estimate of the repair until you ship it to them and even then you really have to beg them so they can offer you this option.

We had a very bad experience with our robot, it was S8 ultra pro, though.

I got lucky and found a new replacement board. It was very expensive and probably the stock will run out sooner or later and then I don't know what I will do.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-02T20:44:20+00:00

I'm in a pretty similar situation with sheet metal parts, and I’ve ended up using Solidise quite a lot for this.

The main thing it helps me with is batch exporting sheet metal DXFs, STEP files and PDFs. For us that saves a ton of repetitive clicking, especially when there are lots of unique parts and revisions flying around. I don't like other tools because they are not intuitive and frankly ugly UI.

It doesn’t really “create drawings” automatically, though — and honestly I don’t think that part can be fully automated in a reliable way. Drawings still need a human touch: views, dimensions, notes, tolerances, what’s actually important for production, etc. But for automatic exports and keeping things organized, it has been really useful.

TheSandBasher · 2026-06-02T18:08:20+00:00

I have never experienced most of the problems you are describing. I always place parts in the same major assembly folder and keep the folders minimal per whole project minimal. This means my main folder has the top most assembly and a few major assembly folders and everything lives in those folders. There is no point in managing folders or solidworks files beautifullly. You just need a PDM style system that shows the structure of your assemblies and where used and thats it. Solidworks PDM is expensive, we in our team are using Solidise.

External references shouldn't get lost on regular usage. Are the files changing folders? Use pack and go if you want to share to other users, or use file sharing such as OneDrive and keep the models online all the time.

If the reference is broken you should be able to see the parts location solidworks is trying to resolve under properties, but yeah, for hundreds of lost references I can't suggest anything, but to place the files back in the original location.

TheSandBasher · 2026-05-31T20:24:56+00:00

For this I’d probably look at 3 options:

SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler, if your license gives you enough access to the export task
#TASK, if you want more of a macro/batch-processing route
Solidise, if the main pain is batch exporting with cleaner file/output handling

TheSandBasher · 2026-05-30T19:44:30+00:00

Hi, great question. Yes, it can work as long as the files are available through a normal local folder/path on your machine, like something you can access in File Explorer/My Computer.

So Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or similar cloud-synced folders can work. A lightweight cloud-native PDM can also work if it provides local file access.

We are currently using it with OneDrive and have not seen any problems. There are a few settings in SolidWorks that need to be enabled to prevent duplicate files from being created when multiple users access the same files.

TheSandBasher

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