Is there a way to link properties to extruded text?
I have a complicated part with lots of configurations, some of which are sheetmetal--or pseudo sheet metal. They are aluminum parts and will be laser cut. The different configurations are extremely similar in appearance, about 8" long with variations from part to part as little as .010. In order to tell the parts apart after they've been cut out, I need to mark them with the laser; but a laser won't etch aluminum, so I have to cut identification numbers into a sacrificial tab.
I don't know how to link the configuration name to extruded text, but since I had a complicated design table anyway, I used the Excel file to convert the configuration name to binary, then included 5 "bit" cutouts which are suppressed or unsuppressed by the design table, so that each flat pattern configuration has its part number represented by notches cut into a tab on the end.
It was a fun exercise for learning Excel.
Of course, if I were doing it all over again, I wouldn't put 20 different parts, plus all of the tooling to make all the different parts, plus assembly tooling into a single part file.