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…
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
A customer called today asking how to enter a 1″ black plastic underground pipe for the calc. This particular situation sounded unique enough that I did not tell him to add that pipe type to our database, as I would have if he expected to see this pipe type used repeatedly. I told him to…
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Need a list in a hurry? Don't care about assembly or weld-instructions or sorting? Then try these two: CPVC List (CPVC)- Yeah, I know you aren't using plastic, but so what? CPVC list will give you a complete listing of fittings, piping and heads in a simple text document. Just do a Replace and change…
Setting a hanger up to hang from bottom of steel is fairly straightforward. What is not straightforward, however, is what happens next. Setting it up simply consists of checking the Bottom option in the Hang From area. This turns on the Steel Depth option where you can enter that value. Hangers using a Steel…
Our friends in New York asked us for a tool to cut piping up into a given length (usually 7') so that it can fit in a jobsite lift. The command for this is Cut Into Pieces (CIP). It is on the coupling toolbar on a fly-out with Custom Coupling: The dialog box is: The…
In earlier (2008 and older) versions of AutoCAD, when you started the MTEXT command you would get a toolbar popping up that had all the formatting options that applied. In 2009 and newer – no toolbar. Instead you would get a ribbon panel for MTEXT editing. This was something that was bugging me all along,…
There are two ways to mark sloping pipe in HydraCAD V5x. Both require the use of the Define Sloping Pipe command on the Pipe Elevation flyout of the Piping toolbar. The alias is DSP. In Case One you can just label the pipe with the slope you want to denote. Only the upper (or lower)…
A user called to ask if there was to secure a drawing file so no one else can change it. Seems the AHJ is demanding a DWG file, so sending a PDF or DWF won't cut it. One of my coworkers (George) found this app by googling: CadVault Has anyone tried this? There is a…
Problem: The picture below shows apparently false defline (Dline) errors. What's up with those? Cause: Look at the riser nipple 'clam-shells'. The opening does not line up with any piping. The user inserted the riser nipples and then rotated the drawing. (side-note, he should have just changed his crosshairs to align with the sloping building…
From a Customer: Q: Is there a setting that allows you to put the inch mark (“) after pipe sizes? Some of our drawings have the inch mark and then newer drawings leave the mark off? A: Yes. When you start a new drawing, there is a place there for adding a suffix. If you…
One more nice thing about AutoCAD 2011. If you create a Polyline it automatically has extra vertices added between each segment: Notice the different-looking grips in the picture below. If you hover over a grip at the end of a segment you will be given the option to Add or Remove a Vertex whereas in…
This problem is not what it might seem at first glance. While it is true that the water supply block may not be at the end of a pipe, it is more likely that the riser nipples somewhere in the grid (it is usually seen in a grid) are set to User Specified when they…
The H-Factor 