The H-Factor

Reducing Entropy

Recent Posts

Unblocking a Group of Files

After downloading a file, it is often Blocked. You must right-click on it, pick Properties and then check the Unblock item: But doing a dozen or more files gets old, real fast. I just learned a way to Unblock a batch of files at once. It involves using PowerShell, a Microsoft tool that is a…

Adding Hanger Types to HydraLIST

If you want to use a new type of hanger, or are a fab shop that gets a job from a contractor that uses a hanger type that you do not have, it is easy to add that new hanger type to your own machine. A hanger is an assembly, and an assembly is just…

Welcome

Recently our previous blog service (Typepad) ended their business – so, we have a new home. It will take a bit to get images back and displaying properly, but we are working on it! Final pageview count of original Typepad blog: 387,232

October 2026
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Author: art

  • Say you have a standard return bend. A 1" 0-4 (CC) feeding an armover that feeds a head. It looks something like this: Now say you need to offset that head to the next tile up, but want to keep the same connection point to the branch line. In short, you want it to look…

  • The most recent HydraNEWS (just two weeks ago) newsletter was blocked by over 200 subscribers due to spam blocking software, their ISP or their IT by department. Usually, these are entire companies that cannot receive the newsletters. Some things you can do 1. Add arthur@hydracad.ccsend.com to your safe senders or whitelist. How to do this:…

  • I stumbled across this AutoCAD command today while looking for a solution to another problem: "ATTSYNC – Updates block references with new and changed attributes from a specified block definition. Use this command to update all instances of a block containing attributes that was redefined using the BLOCK or BEDIT commands. ATTSYNC does not change…

  • This little link does a lot – click it to determine all kinds of things about your computer. Try it. Support Details

  • In V50/V51 we consolidated all the hanger details (and fittings, riser details, etc) into group drawings. To create your own hanger detail it is probably best to modify one we already have. From the CLEANUP toolbar, select the second button (which is a flyout) and select Hanger Details. This will open a drawing containing all…

  • In my opinion, probably the best new feature in AutoCAD 2012 is the Viewport Label Menu. This is in the upper left of the drawing area: Especially when it comes to 3D fittings. Lets say you created a 3D riser and you want to display the SW Isometric View and have the Visual Style of…

  • This was written by a coworker – Steve Downing – for a customer who had to have an answer for the AHJ as to why the equivalent lengths for C100 piping are less than those for C140: 'The fitting equivalent length modifiers were intended to keep the friction loss (Pf) thru a given size fitting…

  • We all have drawings that go bad. Over time, the minor errors build up and overwhelm the ability of AutoCAD to cope. How do we attempt to fix them? This is our usual plan of attack, in order: 1. Run RECOVER 2. Run Super Purge (PURG) 3. Start a new drawing and insert bad drawing…

  • Many years ago, customers asked us to give them an 'atta boy' for getting no errors when running Checkups. That evolved from just the Congratulations dialog box to the dialog plus the Congratulations spoken message. The voice being used depends on the version of Windows you have. On Windows XP, the voice is officially known…

  • One of the longstanding requests from customers has been to be able to use other than E and T for their Elbows and Tees when they AutoCalc. They may be calcing a CPVC job, so they want to use other fittings that are assigned to CPVC specific products, for example. Or they may use FireLock…