Fan-in Fan-out tutorial

[dougmcalexander]

I teach AutoCAD Electrical as in independent consultant in the U.S. and Europe. Everywhere I go there seems to be confusion about implementing the fan-in and fan-out cable feature. I am attaching a drawing I use in class to illustrate applying this tool to a 3-wire cable that connects a proximity sensor on a machine to a terminal strip in a junction box. There are notes on the drawing to explain how it works. I am posting this is a service to those who may appreciate clarification on this issue.

[Davidc1204]

Hmm, looks like the ability to edit a post has been lost in the upgrade!!

Doug I should have added if your contact would like to email me direct I would be very happy to explain my work method, it may be easier for him to do this than try to figure out what I'm doing (wrong/unexpectedly).

I would rather he post his email for me to reply to if he would like to go down this route.

I'm still no farther forward, I tried resetting my project by removing and adding one of your cableproj2 drawings but keeping the drawing settings then matching my project settings to those of your drawing. I then deleted the fan in/out components on my drawing purged rebuilt then changed the drawing to match the new project settings read from your cableproj2.

Then I rebuilt again and then drew my cable layout but I still get the signal description where the cable core colour should be.

In the same project your cableproj drawings work as expected. I must be doing something wrong!

Regards

David

[Davidc1204]

Ahh! - I think I've got it.

To some extent it was staring me in the face but I was dogmatically following your method Doug as it was the one I learned first and didn't spot the obvious.

 In the detail here http://www.augi.com/publications/hotnews.asp?page=1624 The Cable marker precedes the Fan In/Out source on one of the cable conductor cores not as you have it Doug with the cable marker after the Fan In/Out source on one of the multiwire cores (as it's not a wire layer then I suppose it's not really a core), when I build my circuit with the cable marker first it works.

Perhaps someone from Autodesk would like to clarify just how the Fan In/Out source and cable markers are meant to work as Doug has taught this for a long time and it obviously works for him.

I'm just glad I've got the thing to work - It was driving me nuts!!

[grahamLewis2010]

Hi Doug,

I am trying to get my head around the wire fan-in/out and came accross this post with your tutorial date 2006. I downloaded it but it wouldn't open in my acade 2010. is there an updated version or do you know where ther is another good resource for me to look at...

many thanks

Graham

[dougmcalexander]

See if this will work for you.  It is saved as a zip file.  Unzip to your project folder.  Do bear in mind that this sample is one I use for my IEC classes and thus references the IEC library and icon menu.  If you did not install the IEC library you may be somewhat limited as far as editing this sample project.

[jwton]

Do you have a video showing this? I am trying but am just not getting it to work.

I pick the source signals ok but how do I get the verticle wire and fillets to work?

[dougmcalexander]

I have no video.  This is an exercise I go through in class.  The vertical line is created by first inserting a standard AutoCAD line, then using Match Properties to assign it to the _Multi_Wire layer.  When you insert the fan-in/fan-out symbol the existing wire is divided and the layer _Multi_Wire is assigned to the wire segments on one side of the fan-in/fan-out symbol.  The fillet is optional but you can do this if desired using the standard AutoCAD fillet tool.  Remember that the actual signal flow jumps from the fan-in/fan-out source to the fan-in/fan-out destination.  The _Multi_Wire is mostly just for the graphical appearance.  Do anything you wish to the look of the _Multi_Wire.  Since the _Multi_Wire actually carries no potential you must use a stand-alone cross-reference if you wish to depict that the wire continues on a different page.

[jwton]

what does the source fence insert do/mean?

[dougmcalexander]

Fence means that the function applies to any wire that the fence line touches.

[gtm123w]

Over time I have been trying to implement more features of ACADE into our drawings. I wanted to start using the Fan In/Out for cables that need to span between drawings but have no clue as to how this works. I don't know if I have the sequence of commands wrong or what. Do you start with plain wires or do they have to have cable markers first?

Many tutorials seem to start mid stream and have ill-defined assumptions.

Currently I have 4 wires that merge (not connect) into a "fake" cable to which I add a stand-alone arrow with the drawing reference. What really do I gain with Fan In/Out?

[dougmcalexander]

You gain by being able to sum all wires into one line so your drawing looks neat.  You can also use this to sum cable cores into one line to represent the cable.  For more information go to www.ecadconsultant.com and click on the Tips/Tricks page.  Look through the index for a topic entitled, "Using the Fan-in/Fan-out feature to document cables and cable cores."