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Newbie needing help

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Message 1 of 3
adam.kloepping
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Newbie needing help

Until now I have drawn all my electrical schematics in AutoCad Mechanical.  I am completely overwhelmed with Autocad Electrical and looking for any advise I can get.  I would like to draw my schematics in the ladder format and I primarily always have a PLC and HMI.  I cannot find the PLC (1766-L32BXBA) I use in the list so I started to create my own but I am not getting anywhere and I will eventually need to add the other controllers in the MicroLogix 1400 and 1100 families.  I am surprised these PLC's are not in the database since they have been out for quite some time. Most everything I build will have very similar electrical schematics with just I/O terminology changing so I was hoping to create templates start from.  I know once I get my templates built that future project schematics will be a piece of cake but this one is frustrating me.  I may be making this harder than it needs to be but really could use some help. Thanks.

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Message 2 of 3
lionSG
in reply to: adam.kloepping

You can try use the PLC Database File Editor to create a new one by editing existing one which is quite similar such as 1761- Micrologix 1000. This can save you time than to create one from scratch.

For the footprint, you can go to ab website to download the drawing and add the block to your panel drawing.

Hope this helps.

 

Message 3 of 3
Vulcan1970
in reply to: adam.kloepping

Check out Dougs website, I went to Atlanta and did a training session with him and then an onsite training session with the rest of the company. I have somewhat been setting up standards for our company and his Tips and Tricks are very helpful. The help manual is also a great place to get information.

 

If you search on these forums you can find some old schematic samples that people have been kind enough to post. These will help get you started.

 

but first you will need to create a template

 

open a blank drawing and....

 

1) make sure that you set you wire types schematic > edit wires/ wire numbers > create edit wire type

    place every wire inside this location, also include the following types

    a) JUMPERBAR

    B) CABLE_CONDUCTOR

    C) WIRES

    D) ATTACHED

 

If the wire has the word JUMPER in its layer name then that wire will not show up on from to schematic reports

 

2) use the wd_tb attribute method for your title block setup

     I suggest going ahead and using the help file for this step to gain knowledge on how to set up this method

 

 

3) home> layers. layer properties

  make sure you set up all your different layer properties

  ill attach my screen shot

 

i would do these first then follow dougs 12 easy steps to creating your own template

his website is at the bottom

 

 

next i would try and make some schematics and see if you need to change your template.

 

Also, i will suggest to go with angle t markers instead of dots. The upside is that you can control if for example, you want to show that 20 things are daisy chained its possible to do this clearer with angle t's. This setting can be turned on in your project properties under styles, i chose Angle 2. some people actually leave it at dot and then manually go back and insert the angle t markers. 

 

 

Another thing that you need to decide is how you are going to do your ladder reference. I chose to use sheet number and then start off at the top of every schematic "sh#"01 so for sheet 9 i would have 0901 as my first rung. if you place a ladder in, only the top reference number is smart, the rest are dumb text.  If you choose to do this then you will  need to change all project settings to include a %S in front of the %N that is already in the format fields. i took a screen shot of this also. also you have to manually change every single plc module to include this parameter. That is before i was given this neat little script. Let me know if you need it and i will find it and post it. It changes all of the modules in about 5 minutes

 

 

 

these are just some starter tips. There is a lot more to getting your company ready. 

 

 

if there is anyway that your company could get him to come on site that would be very beneficial, i know it was for us

 

 

 

http://www.ecadconsultant.com/

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