Q: A Customer asked today: "I need to add some head symbols into the (classic) flex head selector options. We are using head 18 and head 9 which are not found in the selections.  Can you help me add them so they are available?" Here are the simple steps to do that with ours or…

A few years ago I posted the basics about setting up a network version of AutoCAD and/or a Building Design Suite. A customer called today asking how to do it with a new AEC Industry Collection he just bought. I told him I wasn't sure how to do that, as I wasn't sure myself if…

Some couplings result in a 1/8" or more pipe separation, after they are added to pipe. On long runs of pipe, the multiple separations accumulate, and result in a pipe that is too long overall. For example, a run of pipe with 16 couplings can result in the pipe creeping 1/8" per coupling for a total…

The first Service Pack for AutoCAD 2017 was released a couple of weeks ago. I have had no troubles with it over the last two weeks. The update can be downloaded from the Autodesk Knowledge Base at: AutoCAD 2017 SP1 The Readme file that accompanies the update explains how to install it and what changes were…

From a long-time customer and friend: 'I had a question about center to center dimensions on pipe. We do tons of CPVC, and the ½” increments aren’t necessary. Can I force 1” increments on the center to center dimensions?" This can be done by setting the default drawing pipe dimension rounding to the nearest inch.…

I had no idea this command existed, but found it when looking for a better way to rename a layer after a customer reported an error while running an AutoList. The cause of the error was that the pipe block layer, SPRKDATA, was built in the drawing as sprkdata (lower case). While may of HydraCAD's routines…

Say you need to select all 1" riser nipples but don't want to go through a large drawing looking for and selecting them individually. How to do that? This way: 1. Select all items in the drawing. Alternatively, you could just isolate the riser nipple layer and select those   2. Open the Properties palette…

I was playing around with some lights and noticed that the Align Cross-hairs with Ceiling command works once again as it used to. That means that once again it only takes one pick to find an Intersection in a ceiling grid (or any hatch pattern)! This ability disappeared with AutoCAD 2015. I had reported it as a bug…

So, you want to have an area carved out around sprinkler heads so that other trades don't impinge on your space (yeah, good luck with that!) but aren't sure how. Well, It's pretty easy – what you need to do is to edit some of our sprinkler heads and basically draw a 'cylinder' around them.…