Autocad

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DHkorn

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Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section but I'm not sure where to put it.
Does anyone have, or can point to, an Autocad toolbar or button that would draw a nice raceway arc with an arrowhead on a drawing with a couple of clicks, maybe even with wire-hash marks?

Thanks in advance, love the forum.
 
DHkorn said:
. . . an Autocad toolbar or button that would draw a nice raceway arc with an arrowhead on a drawing with a couple of clicks, maybe even with wire-hash marks? . .
Click to expand...
Build a block with a custom icon on a toolbar to start it. Set up the block so it will have handles on it so it can be stretched like an arc. Sorry, that is as far as I can go. I would think the help menu would show you how to get it put together. :)
 
I create "Blocks" for OpAmp circuits, stuff with arrows, etc.
I copy them in, then explode, make final mods.
AutoCad is a powerful tool!

I also use LTspice, which will run circuits through a computer simulation!
It has the same idea for creating standardized blocks, making in-site mods.
 
DHkorn said:
Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section but I'm not sure where to put it.
Does anyone have, or can point to, an Autocad toolbar or button that would draw a nice raceway arc with an arrowhead on a drawing with a couple of clicks, maybe even with wire-hash marks?

Thanks in advance, love the forum.
Click to expand...

What on earth would you want to waste time putting arcs/homeruns and tick marks on a drawing for? It clutters it to no end, and means nothing as the EC will install the most economincal way anyway. Then he's stuck doing red-line field mark-ups and your stuck doing conform to construction record drawings.

Simply use a circuit number and schedule for circuits not connected to a panel, switchboard, etc, and use the panel schedules for everything connected to them. Eliminate arcs, arrows, homerun designations, and for goodness sakes, no tick marks.
 
kingpb said:
What on earth would you want to waste time putting arcs/homeruns and tick marks on a drawing for? It clutters it to no end, and means nothing as the EC will install the most economincal way anyway. Then he's stuck doing red-line field mark-ups and your stuck doing conform to construction record drawings.

Simply use a circuit number and schedule for circuits not connected to a panel, switchboard, etc, and use the panel schedules for everything connected to them. Eliminate arcs, arrows, homerun designations, and for goodness sakes, no tick marks.
Click to expand...


Yea but....If you don't do that, how can it look good on paper?:grin:

steve
 
I fully agree with kingpb. I haven't used those awful loops/arrows/tick marks for well over 20 years!!!

I put by the receptacle symbol what circuit it's fed from and that's it. Any electrician worth a whit knows what to do fom there.

RC
 
Ragin Cajun said:
I fully agree with kingpb. I haven't used those awful loops/arrows/tick marks for well over 20 years!!!

I put by the receptacle symbol what circuit it's fed from and that's it. Any electrician worth a whit knows what to do fom there.

RC
Click to expand...

I like the various comments I've read on this subject.

FIRST, I draw our jobs in AutoCad, placing the standard symbols in the standard places (like Recepticals, Switches, LoadCenters, wire #, ckt#, motor#, photo-eye# as available) and I make blocks for the standard info.

THEN, I quickly draw eliptical lines to show which recepticals are connected on a circuit, and which switch goes to which light. These loops go outside the details of the building plan, so as not to clutter the standard data.

I'm worth a whit, and I know what to do from there.
I'm also an educated electrician,
and over the years I've grown accustomed to doing things this way.
I have strickly blue collar co-workers who prefer the bare-bones approach,
and they know what to do from there, also.

To each his own.
Again I say, I like the variety of comments that are posted in this forum.
 
You might consider giving MEP a try. I understand what you are talking about I a master electrician turned engineer. After severial years of doing commercial residental I now do heavy industrial/controls. (better money and more fun)LOL. I thnk once you try MEP you will never want to go back to vanilla ACAD. You can try it free for 30 days.

Ken
 
So, you just put the circuit number by the receptacle. And if someone wants to know how many receptacles are on Circuit #17, for example, they have to look at every single receptalcle in the project.

The one benefit of drawing arcs is that you can quickly see which receptalces are grouped on a circuit.

I don't think its all about how fast you can draw a plan. Drawings are a tool that the building owners and their contractors will be using for years to come. It's worth the time it takes to make the drawings clear and legible.

I'm not saying you should always draw wiring, but sometimes its worth the time it takes.

Steve
 
I don't like the arrow things for home runs. The arrow points sometimes in the general direction of the panel but maybe not...
The ultimate would be to actually show the entire conduit run. I did a water dept. project and they had a chart which delimited every conduit with size, wire size and circuits, from where to which panel.:cool:
When I build a panel, I like to know exactly how many conduits enter it, what size they are and from which direction they are coming from. Where are the receptacles on cirkuit #17? I have to spend 17 minutes search all over the plan sheet for them.:mad:
This should not be done on the work site but planned by the loafer clad dudes in their air conditioned offices.:roll:
~Peter
 
peter said:
The ultimate would be to actually show the entire conduit run. I did a water dept. project and they had a chart which delimited every conduit with size, wire size and circuits, from where to which panel.:cool:
When I build a panel, I like to know exactly how many conduits enter it, what size they are and from which direction they are coming from. Where are the receptacles on cirkuit #17? I have to spend 17 minutes search all over the plan sheet for them.:mad:
This should not be done on the work site but planned by the loafer clad dudes in their air conditioned offices.:roll:
~Peter
Click to expand...

Were I to place all of that information on the drawings I can expect the electrical contractor to have a lot of red-lines at the end of the job. I believe all of that detailed information should only be included on very specific and critical pieces of equipment. I am not worried if the electrician grouped two circuits together that feed an office area, as long as they take into account derating.

Generally I like to arcs for light switching and also in the rooms showing circuitry. The tick marks are nice for modular furniture when 1-4 circuits go into a J-box.

As far as the home runs and grouping in conduit I have always been told the electricians perform those based on site materials, interferences with other equipment, and other situations that cannot be designed for in the office. If I were putting a job out based solely on low bid, there may be some less than desireable electricians working on it with unknown results, it would be nice to have some quality control. The horror stories abound in this forum.

But yes, I do make very pretty drawings from the office....
 
DHkorn

As mentioned before, you could create several Blocks (WBLOCKS) for the Homeruns w/ tick marks - a Block for 2 wire runs, 3 wire runs, 4 wire runs ,and etc.

Additionally, you could include some Attribute text with each H.R. Block, so when the Block is inserted, the Attribute Manager comes up too - giving you the ability to insert the typical H.R. Information; such as:
  1. Panel Name,
  2. Circuit Number(s),
  3. Number of Conductors,
  4. Size of Conductors,
  5. Conduit Size
If you want to get really serious, there are several "Advanced" options available:
  • Custom Menus: for accessing and inserting Blocks + Text & Attributes,
  • AutoLISP Routines,
  • VBA,
  • Object ARX
There are many time saving routines available with the AutoCAD Application, and even with external Applications - like Excel, Access, and Word.

Let me know if you have more questions.
Scott
 
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