SolidWorks BOM (Cut list) grouping of same bodies.

 

  • SW BOM will group opposite hand parts (if the ‘user specified name’ is the same). 
  • SW BOM (Cut list) won’t group the bodies of opposite hand parts even if they are exactly the same (they are the same geometry, although the opposite hand part is created at the assembly level and thus SW creates it with the move/copy feature). 

     

Simple example – if I have a ladder and there is a top and bottom (can’t be rotated due to how it would be used) and there is a handle on one side. Now I want the handle on the other side (opposite hand version). Both of these ladders would have all the same weldment bodies, although when constructing you would weld the handles on opposite sides. The issue is that I want  the cut list to include both ladders and not treat them separately. 

NB - this is a basic example (yes I could recreate the opp-hand and name them the same), but this is not a good solution if you have a lot of opp-hand parts that you don’t want treated as a new parts.

 

Has anyone found a solution to grouping all bodies that are the same geometry in SW  cut list BOM?