Hello guys,

I'm helping a friend with an interesting project. The aim is to create a human sculpture from PVC pipes (like these - link). All pipes are same size and length, approx. 150 pcs.

He needs:

1. each pipe in a separate file;
2. adding some sort of identification like: Row 1 Pipe 1, R1P2, R2P1, etc.;
3. measuring the length of each pipe (for materials provisioning). I’ve found in another thread this very useful script Stocksize.swp (attached) which adds a custom property with the part dimensions and can be easily added to the BOM.

So far, I’ve:

1. stacked all the pipes (linear pattern) in a single SLDPRT file.
2. Using INTERSECT I’ve trimmed the pipes to the desired form of the human body (imported from a file). That left me with a huge number of bodies in one file.
3. Exported the bodies to files creating an assembly (Insert –> Features -> Save Bodies) with a separate file for each pipe, copying the custom properties (Stocksize.swp dimensions) to each file.
4. Generated drawing file from the assembly in order to create the BOM table with the pipe lengths.

The issues I’m facing:

1. Automating the names of the files. When Saving bodies, I have the option to auto assign the names and the result is Intersect1[xxx]. Is there an easy way to automatically rename them? Maybe the right approach would be to export them row by row?!
2. Stocksize.swp is generating the correct dimensions until the INTERSECT command is applied. Afterwards there is a difference in the result and the actual dimensions (using SW Measure tool) varying from 0.x to 3-5mm. I’ve tried using #TASK’s predefined script “Add overall dimensions” and it generates the same dimensions as the first script.

I would really appreciate any tips and tricks to optimize the process or use different approach for better workflow.

Thank you!