Autoballoon issues

[JD80]

After a few years of using SW I finally found autoballoon. It's not working quite right for me.

It drops the balloons in a circle (as I asked) but the leaders are very long, half the balloons are off of the sheet.

It also double balloons some parts, I want it to balloon each part but that's too much.

It attaches to the corners of parts. I find this to ambiguous as it points three balloons to an intersection of parts. This doesn't really let production know which part is which. I've browsed through the options and can't find how to change these behaviors.

Summary:
-shorter leaders on balloons
-balloon each part once, and only once
-balloons attached to center of part or away from intersections.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

There is no option to vary the items in your summary. You will have to adjust the Ballon position and leaders manually.

 

[handleman]

Autoballoon is an interesting toy, but completely useless in my opinion for the very reasons you list.

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[JD80]

Interesting. One day I will need help with something possible. Thanks for the replies. Looks like ballooning manually is going to be the faster option.

 

[drawoh]

JD80,

I have seen the results of auto-explode and auto-balloon features. I hate them with a passion.

Your drawing is a tool for communication, in exactly the same way a written document is a tool for communication. There is grammar, syntax and organization. So many people out there do not understand this. They follow a Generate Drawing procedure without regard for clarity. Automatic features are an ideal way to do this.

It is obvious that crappy drawings mean your fabricators and assemblers do not know what they are doing. It is less obvious that crappy drawings indicate that you do not know what you are doing.

I cannot tell you how many mistakes I have caught because I generated a clear drawing view.

JHG

 

[lumenharold]

I use the auto-balloon feature to put the balloons in the sheet then fix them as I need to. I find it a minor hassle but not a real big deal. I'd think a sophisticated software package like SW would would do a better job though. I've never had multiple balloons on a single part unless the part is made up of multiple components and I've inserted a multi-layer BOM. Then that's what I've asked for. There is a tic box for ignor multiple instances as well.

Harold
SW2008 SP3.0 OPW2008 SP0.1 Win XP Pro 2002 SP2
Dell 690, Xeon 5160 @3.00GHz, 3.25GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX4600

http://www.lumenflow.com

 

[JD80]

lumenharold,

Most of the assemblies have the same part multiple times. It's clearer which part is which if each instance is ballooned.

Autoballoon is actually tagging both the left and right side of the part.

It's just faster and clearer in most cases for me to click balloon and tag each part, given the way autoballoon is functioning. Using autoballoon, I'd have to delete the extra balloons and flip on the filter for balloons. Most balloons seem to be attached to vertices (I have a hard time grabbing the arrows instead of the vertex without a filter).

 

[ctopher]

I also never use auto-balloon. It's quicker for me to add them as needed.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)

 

[lumenharold]

I'm not saying that I recommend using them, just that I find them reasonable for the size assemblies I deal with. I have never been very fond of SW for generating 2D's (but then detailing isn't all that much fun is it?).

Harold
SW2008 SP3.0 OPW2008 SP0.1 Win XP Pro 2002 SP2
Dell 690, Xeon 5160 @3.00GHz, 3.25GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX4600

http://www.lumenflow.com