The H-Factor

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) connected pipe needs a pipe elevation:

In Case Two you can label the pipe with a slope of 0 over 0. A pipe elevation is required on the pipes connected as both ends. A similar case was discussed previously in Letting HydraCAD Figure the Slope of Sloping Pipe:

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 free demo, so we are going to check it out.

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 by using the Set X-hairs by Picking command from the HydraCAD Utilities toolbar).

Solution: Triple-click on a riser nipple. Pick the Spin button until the openings line up as they should. Pick Apply or Select VP to finish this one and go on to another.

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 put in an inch mark, it will
show up when you size pipe. If you want to change it after you have already started a drawing, pick the HydraTools pulldown then pick Options and then pick Access Drawing Unit Setup. The next time you elevate the drawing and bring it back down, the inch marks will appear/disappear as you set them.

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 the past you could only Stretch the Vertex.

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 should be set to Computer Generated.

Elevating the system to 3D resulted in the following piping configuration:

Something is obviously wrong, here.

The grid that had this problem had branch lines that run with the slope of the building. Both mains were tied into the branch lines with User Specified riser nipples. The problem with doing that is that is it extremely difficult to calculate the exact length that the riser nipples will be to meet the differing elevations. The solution is to make the riser nipples on one side of the grid Computer Generated. The quickest way to change these is to use the Edit Riser Nipple command on the Riser Nipple flyout of the Piping toolbar. Or type in ERN.

Pick the first button – Change to Comp Gen/User Spec. Then Pick Computer Generated and pick Apply.

Select the riser nipples to change. You will see a magenta circle around the selected riser nipples. This tells you that those riser nipples will have their length Computer Generated.

Many of us use Copy and Paste in AutoCAD. Often when using Paste, we try to eyeball and line up the block we are pasting, or use osnaps. But there is a better way.

Example: Say you need to Copy the plan view of a stairway detail from one drawing to another, and naturally, you want to keep the valve and piping arrangement in the same relative position on each drawing

1. In the original drawing pick the Edit pulldown menu and pick Copy

2. Go to the target drawing and pick the Edit pulldown and pick Paste to Original Coordinates

That's it. You can also use the Copy with Base Point command from the same pulldown. Select a common reference point, like the corner of the stairway. Then use the Paste command and you will see that your crosshairs reflect that point.

Here is a quickie – if you need a block count in a hurry, type in BCOUNT at the command line. You will be asked if you want to select all blocks (ENTER) or just some. The output is displayed on the text screen (F2):

Block………Count

——————-
Tos………..4
CAP………..3
VAFF……….2
VBTS……….1
OPHEAD……..18
TESTPT10……1
REFPT………92
pipex………186
blkrdef1……4
HEAD1………150
HEAD13……..5
HEAD15……..3
SIDE1………3
36-48………1
30-42………1
24-36………1
LGTITLE…….3
NORTHARR……3

This is the last major new AutoCAD 2011 feature I will devote a blog entry to. There are some others, and the new features of things such as POLYLINES and LINETYPES will probably start showing up in various V51 commands in the near future.

This one is one the fringes of sprinkler design, but I am sure someone will find it useful.

1. Draw a sloppy rectangle by using a PLINE and Closing it after picking four points.

Pretty sloppy, huh?

2. Pick the Parallel parametric from the Parametric ribbon panel. You will be asked to pick two objects. Pick one of the lines that is going in the correct direction as your first object. Pick the opposite side as you second object. The second object you pick will be made to be parallel to the first one. repeat with the other two opposite sides.

There you go! As you stretch one side, the opposite sides will be adjusted to remain parallel.