Main Window
Part Groups
Shows a list of all the part groups that have been defined. Each part group can contain a number of parts. This is to break down and help organize a long list of parts that otherwise might be difficult to work with.
Parts Area
Shows a list of all the parts that belong to the currently selected part group. Selecting a part will make it become the active part. This will show its corresponding welds in the weld list and one of its images in the Image Area.
Images
This area shows an image of a spot welded part. You can change which image is shown by clicking on the arrow buttons on the bottom. The images available to be shown correspond to which part you have selected. To manage the images press the “Edit Images” button on the bottom (see Image Editor for more details.)
Weld List
The list of all the welds that belong to a selected Part. Using this grid you can add, edit, and modify welds in the list. This list looks and acts much like a regular spreadsheet does. Each row represents one spot weld on an assembly line. Each column represents a property of a weld, and are explained below.
- 3T: A checkmark indicates if this weld is a 3T weld or not.
- Safety: A checkmark indicates whether or not this weld is a safety weld.
- Chisel: A checkmark indicates whether or not this weld can be checked by a hammer and chisel.
- Min Nug: The minimum size of the nugget.
- Setup Nug: The setup (nominal) size of the nugget.
- Min Ind: The minimum size of the indentation.
- Max Ind: The maximum size of the indentation.
- Plate 1: The thickness, in mm, of plate 1.
- Plate 2: The thickness, in mm, of plate 2.
- Plate 3: The thickness, in mm, of plate 3. This is only used if the weld is marked as 3T.
Like a spreadsheet, use the arrow keys to move around the cells and enter in new values. Pressing down to the end of the list will add a blank new weld. Pressing Insert will also add a new weld to the bottom of the list. Pressing Escape during any editing or adding will cancel the action.
The grid can be sorted by any one of these columns by clicking on the column name at the top of the grid. If you are adding or editing a weld, sorting will cancel the action.
To delete a weld, highlight the weld you want and press Delete. Be sure that you are not editing the weld before you press delete.
Main Menu
The main menu provides the following commands:
| Top Menu Dropdown | Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
| File | Save | Save all changes made to the database. Any current weld editing is cancelled during a save. |
| File | Exit | Exit the Designer application. |
| Edit | Paste from Clipboard | See Import Weld Data for more information. |
| Edit | Import XML File | Use this function to select a properly formatted XML file for input into the designer. See XML Import for more information. |
| Group | Add Group | Creates a new, empty part group. |
| Group | Delete Group | Deletes the currently selected group. All parts that belonged to this group are moved to the Default group. |
| Group | Rename Group | Allows you to rename a part group. |
| Part | Add Part | When selected, a small box pops up asking for the name of the new part. Type in a part name, and then press OK. The new part then is added and selected in the Part List. |
| Part | Rename Part | Allows you to rename the currently selected part. |
| Part | Delete Part | Deletes a part, and all of the associated welds, images, and inspection orders. This option is only available to the admin user, due to deletion being unrecoverable. |
| Part | Move Part | When selected, a list of other part groups becomes available. Select a different part group, and the currently selected part is moved to that part group. |
| Weld | Add Weld | Add a new weld into the weld list. This is the same as pressing the Insert key on your keyboard. |
| Weld | Delete Welds | Deletes the currently selected welds from the list. This is the same as pressing the Delete key on your keyboard. |
| Weld | Edit Selected | Allows editing many welds at once. This option is useful for setting many different welds to same parameters without entering information repeatedly. |
| Admin | Reasons | Launches the Reason Manager, see Reason Manager. |
| Admin | Inspection Order | Launches the Inspection Order Manager, see Inspection Order Manager. |
| Data | Setup Data Source | Launches the Data Source wizard, see Data Source Wizard. (Admin user only) |
| Data | Save Current Data | Allows saving all current RSWA data (users, passwords, inspections, etc) into one file for backup purposes. (Admin user only) |
| Data | Load Data | Lets you choose an RSWA data backup file to restore to. (Admin user only) |
Load Data will completely overwrite all of your current data. Use with caution!
All data operations can take a long time to complete, have patience.
Import Weld Data
Weld data can be imported from other applications, like Excel, by using the 'Paste from Clipboard (Ctrl + P)' feature found in the Edit menu. This feature will add any weld data found on the clipboard to the selected part. If the clipboard contains duplicate weld data or data that is not formatted correctly it will simply be ignored.
Import Weld Data from Excel
If you already have all your weld data in Excel, rearrange it so it looks like the data in the example. If you are missing certain information, just use a default value, like 0 or 'n'. Any default values can be edited later on from within the designer. Once your data is formatted correctly, select it all, copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl + C), bring up the designer, and then 'Paste from Clipboard (Ctrl + P)'.
| Weld Number | 3T | Safety | Chisel | Min Nug | Setup Nug | Min Ind | Max Ind | Plate 1 | Plate 2 | Plate 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| weld123 | n | y | y | 4.5 | 5.5 | 0.05 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0 |
| weld456 | y | y | y | 4.5 | 5.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.5 | 1 |
| weld789 | n | n | n | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Import Weld Data from other applications
When data is copied in Excel, columns are separated by tab characters and rows are separated by new line characters. So when copied from Excel, the example above will actually store the following string to the clipboard. Any software that can produce weld data in this format can export weld data to the designer.
weld123[tab]n[tab]...[tab]0[new line]weld456[tab]...