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Hi. I’m Ursula Sadiq, Senior Product Manager with Autodesk Plant Solutions.
In this video we are going to create custom block based piping components.
We will use the custom components directly in the model as a specialty item, and we’ll
also add them to a catalog for use as a spec component.
Let’s begin with a drawing that contains some AutoCAD blocks that I’ve created for
this video. When creating blocks for based components,
the drawing does not need to belong to a project. Here we have five blocks. A valve with four
ports, a Gate Valve, two Actuators (a Cone shape, and a Hand Wheel),
and a flanged pressure gauge. When creating Valve Bodies and Actuators, it is a good idea
to match the insertion point locations. Here we see that the gate valve body insertion
point matches the two actuator insertion points. i.e. the insertion point of the valve is the
center of the valve, and of the actuators, the bottom of the actuators.
We are going to now convert these blocks into AutoCAD Plant 3D components. First, we need
to add port information to the blocks. How many ports, where are they, and how they
are oriented. We start by entering a command, plantpartconvert,
and select the block. Then use the Add option to create ports. We
specify the center location of the port, and then specify direction outward.
Turning on Ortho helps to specify port orientation. We accept the new location.
We have the first port. We will do the same for our remaining ports.
When we are done we use the Exit option. This saves the port information for the valve and
ends the command. Once the ports are added to a block, you can
use plantpartconvert command again to view or edit the ports.
So again, let’s take a look here: The left side ports are there, and the right side ports
are there. Now we’ll add ports to the other blocks.
We are going to zoom in to select the Gate Valve.
Select the block. And again use the Plantpartconvert command.
We are going to use the Add function to locate Port 1. And give it a direction.
Add then Add port 2, and give it a Direction. And we can press Exit. The ports on this part
are complete. Next we’ll work on the actuators. Actuators
are different, because they don’t have ports. But we still need to run the plantpartconvert
command, so that the catalog editor can recognize them and add them to the catalog.
So you run the plantpartconvert command, and click on the actuator, and exit. Do not add
a port to these. Actuators must have zero ports.
So we’ll run the plantpartconvert command on both actuators. Just clicking on it, and
then exiting. And now we’ll work on the *** pressure
gauge. The port is at the bottom so we’ll get a wireframe view. Making it a little bit
easier to snap to. Select the block. Run the plantpartconvert
command. Use the Add option. And center osnap to the bottom of this ***.
We want the direction down, but it’s not the working plane. Instead of fussing with
the UCS, I’ll enter (0, 0, -1). Wait, that’s not quite right. I need to
do the Undo option. Try that again. Forgot my @ sign.
So do a center snap to the bottom. This time @ (0, 0,-1).
That looks better. OK now we can exit, we have that one port
on this pressure gauge ***. I’m going to restore the view and zoom out.
And we are done adding ports with plantpartconvert. Before we start using these blocks in AutoCAD
Plant 3D, I want to take a look at some files we created though these last couple of minutes.
In this Custom Parts folder, we have the DWG that was originally there. An XML file, which
identifies what is available in the drawing. And a bunch of PNG preview images. If you
want to share or move your converted blocks, you need to include the XML and PNG files,
along with the DWG. All right, we can save and close this block
file. We’re now going to look at adding the pressure
gauge, as a custom component, to one of our piping drawings. It’s not a spec based component.
It is an off-spec block. We can create this directly in the model with
the Custom Parts Dialog. We’ll give it a test in this new project drawing.
After setting the size and the class, we’re going to Import Block From Drawing. There’s
our drawing, here are various parts with ports. We’ll pick the gauge. Now, in the Port Properties
we are going to set this to have a Flanged End Type.
We pick Flanged from the drop-down list. And we are going to set the facing of this ***
to be RF. And enter a pressure class of 300. And then
we are going to insert the part insert the part.
If we zoom in on this part and select it, we can see that it has a continuation grip.
Where I can continue piping from it. I’m going to route some pipe down and to the left.
Great, so now we have a new component as part of our line. This is fine for a one-off type
of component. But, what if we want to add it to a spec?
We are going to go ahead and launch the catalog editor so we can add these block based components
to the catalog. And then add these components to our spec.
So we’ll exit the drawing, load the spec editor. We are going to create a new, empty
catalog. We are going to name this new catalog Custom. And hit Create.
Then we are going to click the Catalog Editor tab, and click Create New Component.
We are going to select Use Custom Geometry so we’ll be able to select a block based
component. We’ll specify the Valves category. And we’ll give it a description. We’ll
use that four port valve. We are going to call it a Double Seat Valve.
And we will set the number of ports to be four (4). And finally we’ll set the size
range from 1" to 4". And press Create. After creation we’ll be in the General Properties
tab, where we will we set the Long Description. Then we’ll move into the Sizes tab, which
you’ll notice is different than the one seen for parametric components.
Instead of setting dimensions for each size, we will select a block.
First we’ll remove some sizes we that we don’t want. And then for a size we want
we’ll click the Select Model button. I have a different drawing here to select
from, which contains three versions of that four port valve, in three different sizes.
I’m going to go through and pick the model of the appropriate size, for each of these
sizes. When we create the blocks we specified port
location and direction using the plantpartconvert command, but the other port properties come
from the catalog. We need to set the port sizes. We have the
nominal diameters from the sizes we chose, but we need to add the matching port OD for
each of these parts. So here we’ll go ahead and enter it for
our 1" valve, our 2" valve, and our 4" valve. And then we’ll go ahead and enter Long Description
(Size) for each of these sizes also. Our Double Seat Valve, 4". Our Double Seat
Valve, 2". And our Double Seat Valve, 1". We are almost ready now to Save to Catalog.
I say almost because there’s one important detail. We need to create a folder that matches
the catalog name in the shared content directory. In windows explorer, we need to open the folder
that contains this catalog, and create a folder that matches the PCAT name.
Since our catalog is called custom, we need to create a folder also called Custom. Now
we are ready to save. Press Save to Catalog, and notice that our
part has been created. In this video, we have created block based
components, added them to the catalog, and added a block based instrument to the model.
In the next video, we will continue right from here in the Catalog editor, and use our
blocks to create actuators. Thank you for watching.