Pressure Pipes - Rotating Fittings

[PFHeller]

So it is easy to add a horizontal bend in plan view, and it is easy to add a vertical bend in profile view. But what if you want to take a horizontal bend and also rotate it vertically? I'm having issues doing this easily.

I discovered that if you 3dOrbit around the fitting in question so that you are looking down the axis of rotation that you desire, and then select the fitting, you will see a Rotation grip. However, when you go to use the rotation grip you find that it will only do 45 degree increments!! And most of the time you don't want that much of a rotation.

So i'm stuck with trying to use standard rotate to do the job. But the problem is, how do I get the EXACT axis of rotation that I want? I can get it very close visually, but it would be nice if that built in rotate grip wasn't stuck on 45 degree increments.

Is there a way to turn off the increments or change what increments there are? Or does anybody else have a better idea of how to do this? Thanks in advance!

[BrianHailey · Accepted solution]

Yup, you can change the increment.

[KirkWM]

Hey Brian, do you know if there is a way to rotate a fitting after a run of pipes has been added? It's weird that this rotation is not a visible (and editable) in the fitting properties. Do you have to delete all (but one) of the connected pipes and start again? I've experimented using a normal autocad rotate command but I'm not skilled at setting UCS in model view. Thanks. 🙂

[BrianHailey]

The rotate grip will only be available if pipes are connected to the fitting/appurtenance along the same axis. One pipe connected to an elbow. Two pipes on a tee straight through. Etc. If you have an elbow in the middle of a pipe run that you need to rotate, disconnect it from one pipe, rotate it, and then reconnect it. 

[Muthya]

A rotate glyph is not available here whether the fitting "Tee 250mm X 250mm" is connected or disconnected.

Idea is to rotate the fitting by (-) 90 Deg so a branch can be taken on both sides of the pipe.

Can you help me resolve this.

Thanks.

[BrianHailey]

You have to be in a 3D view in order to rotate the fitting around the axis of a pipe.

[ryan.beisaw]

where is that increment setting accessed from? i cant get to it from anywhere...

[MSchille-1994]

I have been doing this exact task on a roadway project where we are replacing the water main too.  I have been rotating the fittings utilizing old school 3d modeling methods I learned in high school back in the early 90's.

I use DDVPOINT to set my view that I want.

Then I zoom in on the fitting.

Then I set my UCS to be line up with the pipe that my fitting is attached to.

Then I use the vanilla AutoCAD ROTATE command and rotate the fitting any degree I want to about the end of the pipe.

The only issue I am having now is while this works for showing vertical bends in profile view,  in the plan view because the 45° bend is rotate 90°, the plan symbol for the bend disappears as the block rotates with the actual fitting.