Electrical Design Software | Elecdes Design Suite by Scada Systems Ltd

How to Add Non-Electrical Parts to the Bill of Materials

Fundamentals

The materials reports will contain entries for all of the components that you have inserted in your schematics, panel or plant layouts, and Instrument Manager database or Cable Scheduler database. These are generally electrical components, which need to be shown on the drawings or included in the database.

Extra parts are the non-electrical parts, such as a relay base, a panel vent, a lamp bezel, mounting accessories, a label holder, or a handle.

Extra parts can be added to the materials reports by three methods:

  • insert accessories in a panel or plant layout,

  • specify a list of extra parts in the attributes or catalog fields for an electrical component,

  • or reference a hook-up or installation drawing that contains a table of extra parts.

Accessories in a panel or plant layout

Accessories are standard Paneldes components that are simply not electrical components, for example a vent. Paneldes' accessories are normal components from which materials reports are generated.

See Place an Accessory for more information.

EXTRAPARTS (and AUX4) attribute or EXTRAPARTS catalog column

A catalog record (for the primary subcomponent if there is more than one) can contain a list of extra parts in the column named EXTRAPARTS. This may be used to automatically include several extra parts in the materials reports for each and every usage of that type of device in your project. This works for parts in Paneldes or Elecdes drawings in your project.

A schematic symbol can contain a list of parts in an attribute named EXTRAPARTS. This may be used to automatically include several extra parts in the materials reports for that particular component but not other instances of the same type of component.

A component in a panel or plant layout drawing can contain a list of parts in the AUX4 attribute following the text "EXTRAPARTS:". This may be used to automatically include several extra parts in the materials reports for that particular component but not other instances of the same type of component.

A user-friendly Extra Parts Editor dialog can be invoked from convenient locations in EDS procedures (such as as the Raceway Insertion dialog in Paneldes), and will build a valid EXTRAPARTS specification for a component from the parts you choose.

EXTRAPARTS format

  • The format for a list of extra parts is : "MFG1, CATNO1 ; MFG2, CATNO2 ; ..." where MFG1 is a manufacturer codes of one or two digits and CATNO1 is the catalog numbers for a part.

    Each pair of MFG and CATNO specifies the catalog reference for one extra part to be included in the materials reports.

    There is a comma between MFG & CATNO and a semi-colon between each part and the next.

  • For a panel or plant layout component the AUX4 attribute must start with "EXTRAPARTS:", for example "EXTRAPARTS: MFG1,CATNO1 ; MFG2,CATNO2".

  • If the MFG code is the same as the main component being inserted in your drawing, then MFG can be omitted as follows: "CATNO1; CATNO2; CATNO3;".

  • If you require multiple inclusions of a single part number then enter a number followed by @ before MFG or CATNO.

    For example, "CATNO1; 4@CATNO2; 2@CATNO3" can be read as one of CATNO1, four of CATNO2 and two of CATNO3.

  • If you require multiple of a single part dependent on the length of a straight piece of raceway in Paneldes, then enter a / followed by the length by which the straight raceway is divided. The final quantity of extra parts is always rounded up to the nearest whole number.

    For example, "CATNO1/1.5m; 4@MFG2,CATNO2/5m" can be read as one of CATNO1 for every 1.5m, and four of CATNO2 from manufacturer MFG2 for every 5m of straight raceway.

  • Similarly, if you require multiple of a single part dependent on the number of a type of item used in your project, then enter a / followed by the number by which that quantity of items is divided. This might be a rack for example into which up to eight cards can be inserted, so you only need one rack for every eight cards.

    For example, "CATNO1/8; 3@CATNO2/8" can be read as one of CATNO1 for every 8 items, and three of CATNO2 for every 8 items.

    The final quantity of extra parts is always rounded up to the nearest whole number.

EXTRAPARTS example

For an Elecdes symbol or in the catalog:

  • EXTRAPARTS attribute or column contains: "0,GLAND1 ; 4@0,GLAND2".

For Paneldes:

  • AUX4 attribute contains: "EXTRAPARTS: 0,GLAND1 ; 4@0,GLAND2".

This example will add one item with part number GLAND1 from the general / samples catalog (MFG code 0) and 4 items with part number GLAND2 from the general / samples catalog.

Hook-up or installation drawing

A hook-up or installation drawing contains extra part blocks, which appear on the drawing as a table of materials. Each electrical component can reference a hook-up drawing to include hook-up or installation components in the materials reports.

Hook-up drawings are referenced from the <EDS>\MET_HOOKUP or <EDS>\IMP_HOOKUP directory. When the materials reports are generated, Ebase will copy the referenced hook-up drawings to a sub-directory named \HOOKUPS under the project directory.

Instrument Manager generates its own hook-up drawings into the \HOOKUPS sub-directory. If a hook-up is referenced from an Instrument Manager component then Ebase will only read the extra parts blocks from the hook-up drawing that Instrument Manager created; it will not try to copy the hook-up drawing to the \HOOKUPS sub-directory.

Referencing a hook-up drawing

  • Hook-up drawings are referenced from the electrical components in your project by specifying the file name of the hook-up drawing in the EXTRAPARTS (and AUX4) attribute or EXTRAPARTS catalog column.

    Whenever an electrical component references a hook-up drawing, the extra parts defined on that hook-up drawing are included in the materials reports. One hook-up drawing can be included multiple times if referenced from multiple components. The quantity for each of its components in the materials reports will reflect the number of times that the hook-up has been referenced.

  • The file name of the hook-up drawing (including ".dwg") replaces the list of MFG and CATNO for extra parts that is described above.

    For example, set the EXTRAPARTS catalog column or symbol attribute to the value "Hook-up FT.dwg" to include the contents of the drawing named "Hook-up FT".

    Set the AUX4 attribute of a panel or plant layout component to the value "EXTRAPARTS: Hook-up FT.dwg".

  • The reference to a hook-up drawing can have a multiplier and per-unit-length value.

    For example, the AUX4 attribute of a raceway length could specify a bracket and its mounting hardware as follows: "EXTRAPARTS: [email protected]/5m" which means that two times the contents of "UBracket.dwg" will be used for every 5m of raceway. The hook-up drawing for the bracket could contain numerous parts listed in extra part table blocks.

Instrument Manager automatically creates this link between Instrument Manager components and their hookup drawings.

Extra part blocks, oeTable

The extra part block, oeTable, contains attributes to specify the description and optionally the manufacturer code and catalog number for a part; the quantity required for that part; a user-defined "item" number or code; and an identifier for labelling that part on a picture of the installation shown on the hook-up drawing. You may add additional attributes to the extra parts block to show more detail in the materials table and include more detail in the materials reports.

Extra parts defined in extra part blocks do not have to come from the EDS catalog files. They can be manually entered parts.

Extra part blocks create entries in the partial and full material summary reports: BOMSA and BSUM. The extra part blocks are not named components so they are not included in the itemised bill of materials.

You can insert extra part blocks from the Reference and Indicator Symbols menu in Elecdes.

For more information, see Extra Parts Table Symbols (Elecdes).

Extra Parts Editor

The Extra Parts Editor dialog is a more user-friendly configuration method for an EXTRAPARTS specification. The dialog can be invoked from convenient locations in EDS procedures (such as as the Raceway Insertion dialog in Paneldes).