Work with Cable and Harness drawings

Cable and Harness nailboards and nailboard views support the Autodesk Inventor bill of materials for all harness objects except segments and splices. This means all harness objects with a unique part number, including all virtual parts associated to an existing harness object, are listed as separate components in the BOM.

In Cable and Harness sometimes cut-length items such as wires, cables, ribbon cables, and looms that are represented with unique part numbers in the BOM need to be 'rolled up' and treated as one object. This is done by using the Stock Number property. All other harness objects of the same type with the same part number are rolled up by default.

Place a Parts List in a nailboard

After you create a nailboard or nailboard drawing view, you can add a parts list. A parts list is generated from a BOM and shows all or only certain parts and subassemblies listed in the BOM database.

  1. With a nailboard drawing active, click Annotate tab Table panel Parts List .
    Note: If necessary, right-click and select Finish Sketch to make Parts List available.
  2. In the Parts List dialog box, browse to and select the harness assembly file to use. (Do not select the parent assembly file.)
  3. Click OK.
  4. In the graphics window, click a location to place the table.

You can modify the settings for a parts list after you place it in the drawing or nailboard. You can right-click the parts list in the browser or in the graphic window, and then select options to change the display and other elements of the parts list.

Add Stock Number property values to prepare for roll-up

To prepare harness objects for roll-up in the BOM, you must add a custom stock number property and value for each object to include.

  1. In an active harness assembly, right-click the object to roll up, and then select Harness Properties from the context menu.
  2. From the properties dialog box for that object, click the Custom tab.
  3. On the Custom Tab, click the Name arrow to select Stock Number from the list.
  4. For Type, ensure that Text is selected.
  5. Enter a value. Typically the part number is used.
  6. Click Add, and then click OK.

Roll-up parts list in nailboard

Once the Stock Number property and value is added to the appropriate objects and a parts list is placed on the nailboard drawing, you can initiate a roll-up. When you roll up by Stock Number, the length in the parts list represents the total length of the objects combined into 1 entry on the BOM.

  1. Right-click the Parts List Table, and select Edit Parts List from the context menu.
  2. In the Edit Parts List dialog box, click Group Settings.
  3. Click the Group check box.
  4. Verify that Stock Number is selected as the First Key.
  5. Clear the Display Group Participants check box.
  6. Click OK.

Print harness drawings and nailboards

You print nailboards and standard drawings that include harness assemblies using standard Autodesk Inventor printing capabilities. The tiling capability enables you to print a single drawing across multiple pages, which is key when printing nailboards or other large drawings. Registration marks are printed on page corners to allow alignment of printed pages. Page identifiers contain the drawing and sheet name and a table cell number to help keep pages in order.

You can print a single sheet, a range of sheets, or all sheets in the active drawing.

  1. Click File Print.
  2. In the Print Drawing dialog box, set the print range, scale, and number of copies. If necessary, you can click Properties to open the Print Setup dialog box, and then change the paper size and orientation.
  3. If the drawing is too large to fit on one sheet, click File Print. On the Print Drawing dialog box, in the Scale box, select Model 1:1, and then select the Tiling Enabled check box.
  4. If necessary, select Preview to confirm your expected prints.
  5. Click OK to print.
    Note: Check the All Colors as Black option to print the drawing in black and white. Embedded images and shaded views are still printed in color. You can print all lines with the same line weight by selecting the Remove Object Line Weight option.

Refer to Autodesk Inventor Help for details on other printing options:

Include splices in harness drawings

By default, splices in a harness assembly are not included in a standard Autodesk Inventor drawing. You must include the splices manually before they are displayed. Harness changes to one view do not update any other views in the drawing.

  1. Open or create a drawing of an assembly that includes a wire harness.
  2. In the Drawing Manager browser, expand a view, and then navigate to the harness assembly in which to recover the splices.
  3. Right-click the harness assembly, and then select Include Splices from the context menu.

    Like nailboard drawings, splices that do not contain wires are excluded from the drawing.

Note: To display the part of the splice that is hidden by other geometry, right-click the view in the graphics window, select Edit View, and then click Hidden Line.

Include centerlines in harness drawings

By default, centerlines of wires, cables, and segments in a harness assembly are not included in a standard Autodesk Inventor drawing. You must specifically include the centerlines for each harness object type in a drawing view. Harness changes to one view do not update any other views in the drawing.

Note: Wire, segment, and cable centerlines are controlled by the 3D Sketch Geometry layer.
  1. Open or create a drawing of an assembly that includes a wire harness.
  2. In the Drawing Manager browser, expand a view, and then navigate to the harness assembly in which to recover centerlines.
  3. Right-click the harness assembly, select Include Centerlines, and then select the harness object to include. You can include any combination of wires, cables, and segments in the harness assembly.

    All centerlines used for wires, cable wires, and segments with at least one routed wire, are included in the graphics window. Like nailboard drawings, segments that do not contain wires are excluded from the drawing.

Parent topic: About Cable and Harness drawings