Revising drawings & xrefs

[Doove]

Hi all

At the moment I have a survey xref that is inserted into several drawings and never changes.

I have a services drawing and a building drawing which both reference the survey drawing and each other.

If I alter a building component I up-rev the building drawing then decide if the change warrants an up-rev of the services drawing.

However, all xrefs are overlays, as per office standard.

So at the moment after the drawing is signed off I save a copy of a drawing with the next rev number. Then bind all xrefs to the issued rev and move it to an "issued drawings" folder. So now I have an archived copy of what was issued as that rev, plus a working copy with the next rev number on it.

I then have to go into the 'working copies' that are existing/up-revved and re-path the source xrefs manually.

Plus the 'issued' drawings have now gone from approx 1MB to 4 MB.

As I'm fairly new to working with Xrefs, I wonder if someone could tell me if there is a better way to manage all this, as I'm worried that a junior draughtsman or someone in another office will be a little lazy and mess it all up!

It's starting to feel like xrefs aren't really worth the worry about possible revision / issuing / archiving / contractual problems BUT they reduce drawing time and copy errors plus they cut out possible design problems like someone updating a civil detail and not letting the mechanical guys know there has been a change - anyone know what I mean?

I would dearly love someone to either say - 'yep, that's the only way to do it, get used to it' or better yet 'Doove you are an idiot, why aren't you doing it this way which is perfect, error-proof and simple.'

cheers

[rkent]

As you have found out, changing the number of the file with a rev creates a lot of work. Rather than change the file name, save the file first to a folder with the rev number and keep working on the working copy in the active project folder. If you must have different file names leave the working copy as is and after copying rename the lower rev file only. So your working copy would always be M01 and then the revs would be M01A, M01B, etc.

[StykFacE]

rkent hit it perfectly. Don't rename the current drawing. Archive the "older versions" is what we do in our office. Its just simply making a copy, renaming and/or dating the file BEFORE you make the changes to the XREF.

[Doove]

...ah ha... feel a bit of a tit now...

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Tell me - do you prefer xreffing or would you prefer having each drawing independent?

[rkent]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Tell me - do you prefer xreffing or would you prefer having each drawing independent?

Xrefs are the way to go for any A/E work. Years ago, before xrefs were used by my then current employer, I had a small $4K mistake (although management didn't think it was small). The structurals moved a pump pad back on their drawing and consequently my piping stopped short in the field. I instantly "saw the light" and have used xrefs since. The days of inserting another disciplines drawing into yours are long gone.

[Doove]

Hi guys

thanks for the advice, have a meeting tomorrow with the UK CAD management here and will be mentioning your comments.

I'm having trouble with nested Xrefs though.

I've detailed the problem in a thread in this forum title 'Binding Xrefs causes CTD'.

I wonder if I could be cheeky and ask you to take a look and comment?

cheers
Doove