Working with large numbers of different materials
This method is useful when working with sheet materials that is offered in a very large number of different finishes or colours but in only a few basic sizes.
The many finishes and colours make it tedious to enter a unique code for each material/colour combination.
GREEN-LAM-1 2440 x 1220
GREEN-LAM-2 3660 x 1220
GREEN-LAM-3 2440 x 1860
WHITE-LAM-1 2440 x 1220
WHITE-LAM-2 3660 x 1220
WHITE-LAM-3 2440 x 1860
Instead enter only the basic sizes in the Board library using a short general name for the Material code.
LAMINATE 2440 x 1220
LAMINATE 3660 x 1220
LAMINATE 2440 x 1860
Enter the finish or colour in the 'material' column in the Part list
PART/01 LAMINATE=GREEN 450 x 320 20
PART/02 LAMINATE=WHITE 670 x 420 39
PART/03 LAMINATE=WHITE 900 x 450 30
Cutting list - When the program creates the cutting list the LAMINATE material and sizes are selected from the Board library and the material code is changed to the full variable name e.g. LAMINATE-GREEN.
The program uses an exact match to locate the core material so that only the material exactly matching the first part of the material code (in this case LAMINATE) is selected. All the features (including material parameters) of the basic material apply to each variation.
Stock control - variable materials cannot be included in stock control (because there is no separate record of the number of each variation in stock).
Long names for colours - In some cases the use of variable names means that the overall length of the name exceeds the allowed limit for the material code.
MEL18=18 mm Melamine Sanibel Maple/White
In this situation use the Information box parameter 'Colour names' (in the Parts section) to store the finish or colour name in an information box for each part and enter the ordinary material code in the material field. e.g. MEL18
The program automatically works out the different groups of parts based on material and uses a dummy code for each material in the part list. e.g. MEL18=1, MEL18=2.
For reports in Review runs the dummy material name is replaced by the extended name.
Note - an = sign as the first character of the material code indicates a composite material (and is nothing to do with variable material codes).
