An interesting procedure was posted by Keith Streich, but some time had passed since the OP, and I was afraid it would be buried. Keith's post is shown below. Bill Allemann
It's not perfect and would appreciate anyone's input.
RH & LH Weldment Procedures
Prerequisites for opposite hand weldments, automatically updating all documentation showing.
1.. Added or removed parts and sub-weldments. 2.. New or eliminated machining operations to any parts, sub-weldments or to the base weldment (part & assembly features). 3.. Changed part or sub-weldment orientations or locations (mates). 4.. Proper bill of materials generation for both RH & LH weldment with minimal user intervention or modifications. 5.. All parts and sub-weldments must not be modified, but maintained as separate part and assembly files, allowing for proper documentation and representation.
Since Solidworks "mirror component" command can not automatically perform all of these requirements, the following procedure will accommodate the above conditions with minimal effort to when creating and modifying RH/LH weldments.
Key points and modification issues.
1.. The base weldment will have all parts and sub-weldments inserted and mated in the RH (right hand) weldment. This will allow future users to know which weldment requires revisions. 2.. The "Join" feature will be used in the RH weldment to glue all parts and sub-weldment together before mirroring. Future weldment modifications must have the "Join" feature suppressed before any part or weldment changes and then unsuppressed when done (this is no longer required with the current version of SW). If any parts or sub-weldments were added or removed to the RH weldment, the "Join" feature needs to be edited and all new components added to the feature's "Parts to Join" input. 3.. Solidworks automatically hides parts when creating or editing the "Join" feature, so one must show and hide parts and sub-weldments before and after modifying the RH weldment.
Steps for LH weldment creation.
1.. A new part will be added to the RH weldment, which will contain nothing via the command "Insert | Component | New part". The naming conversion should be the RH weldment number with the wording "Weldment, RH, Composite" following this number (example: XXXXX-0XXX, weldment, RH, composite). This blank part should be reference to any plane in the RH weldment. Once this part has been added, finish editing it and then re-edit it in place, perform an "insert | feature | Join" and select all parts and sub-weldments by either the graphics window or feature tree, accept this to finish the command and then finish editing the part. This operation will create one feature in this new part file consisting of a single body comprised from all the original parts and sub-weldments. The original parts and sub-weldments should all be hidden in the RH weldment when this command has been completed and only this new part shown. SAVE! 2.. Perform an "insert | mirrored components", select an appropriate face or plane to mirror about and then select the new part (ensure the part's box is checked). Select "next". 3.. The file name should be the RH weldment number with any appropriate suffix and with the wording "Weldment, LH, Composite" following the number (example: XXXXX-1XXX, weldment, LH, composite). Accept this to finish the new mirrored part. SAVE! 4.. Click on the configurations tab and rename the default configuration to "RH Weldment". 5.. Add a new configuration "LH Weldment" 6.. Ensure the "LH Weldment" configuration is current, switch to the feature tab and right click the new LH part and select "Fix". Right click the RH part and select "Suppress". 7.. Now make the "RH Weldment" configuration current, switch back to the feature tab and right click the LH part and select "suppress". SAVE! 8.. Now a single assembly file contains both RH & LH weldments controlled via configurations. Modify any custom and configuration specific properties to properly specify BOM information. SAVE!