Learn how to mark geometry as parts, generate a Bill of Materials (BOM) and create parts lists and balloons from the BOM.
This video was recorded on AutoCAD Mechanical 2015, but continues to be valid for AutoCAD Mechanical 2025 toolset.
| Time Stamp | Commentary |
|---|---|
| 00:04 | This video is all about adding a parts list and balloons to an assembly drawing and this time, let’s start by looking at the final drawing first. One of the first things you’ll probably notice is the parts list and the balloons. I’ll zoom in a bit to show you where they are pointing to. Can you see the blue circle with the cross? This is called a part reference. It labels a geometry as a part and also contains information about it. When you want to create a parts list it all starts with adding these part references. |
| 00:39 | Let’s go back to an earlier stage of the drawing and see how to do that. I want to add a part reference to this gland. First I switch to the annotate tab and click the Part Reference button, I select the geometry and attach the part reference. As you can see I place it on a line. I could as well click in free space, but then, when I move the part, the reference won’t move with it. In this dialog box AutoCAD Mechanical toolset asks me to add some information like name, description and material. And that’s it, we created a part reference. |
| 01:18 | Of course, you can always go back and edit a reference. As usual if you want to edit an object, just double click it or in this case you can as well use the ribbon and select Edit on the part reference drop-down. When you do that all part references will be highlighted. This makes it easier to select them. As you can see there are quite a few that we didn’t create. The answer is, they all belong to standard parts. In AutoCAD Mechanical toolset standard parts automatically come with part references. So no extra work here. Let’s say I want to edit the component properties of this pin. I click and the dialog box pops up. There’s already some information for this part. Let’s say I want the name to be the ISO number only. Ok, so now we have all the part references we need. |
| 02:15 | Next thing I’ll do is to generate the bill of materials, or in short, BOM. This is sort of a database for all part references. When I click the BOM button, AutoCAD Mechanical toolset scans the drawing and collects all the information from the part references and lists them in a table. Each column represents a component property and you can easily add or delete one. Now look at the screws. Even though they are the same item, they are placed in separate rows. One for each copy. But no worries; the BOM gives you the option to merge rows. First I sort the list by name to find all repeated parts. Then I select the screws and click Merge. Now they have one item number and their quantity is 2, just how we wanted it. After merging all repeated parts, the BOM looks like this. Working with BOMs becomes especially interesting when you want to insert different parts lists, for example for sub-assemblies. Then you can manage them here. But for this example let’s just leave it like this. |
| 03:30 | We created part references and generated a BOM; that means we’re ready to insert balloons. I click the Balloons button and pick the Select All option in the command line. My selection is now restricted to part references. I want to avoid repeated balloons, so I only pick the upper half, deselect the duplicate washer and place them horizontally. Due to merging, the item numbers are not consecutive. But we will edit them later. |
| 04:07 | Let’s go on and insert the parts list first. I want to place it above the title block. I click the Parts List button and the dialog box pops up. This table is derived from the one you’ve just seen in the BOM dialog box. Changes here effect the BOM as well as the parts list and vice versa. So it’s up to you where you want to make your changes. I click OK and place the parts list. |
| 04:37 | As you can see, we still have to rearrange and sort the item numbers. To do that, I go back to the balloon panel and click the Renumber command. In the command line I specify the start and increment value as 1 and pick the balloons one after another. Look at the final result. In addition to the Balloons, the parts list has also changed. |
| 05:11 | Last I want to sort the parts list by item number in ascending order. I double-click the list, click the Sort button, specify the key and we’re done. Even if I delete or add new part references later, the BOM and the parts list will update automatically. |
| 05:37 | Finally, let me sum up what we did to come here. We added Part References, generated a BOM and eventually placed balloons and inserted the parts list. There are many more things you can do with BOMs, Balloons, and parts lists. Check the AutoCAD Mechanical toolset Help for more details. |