Terminal Block Catalog Look Up

[Anonymous]

I want to create a panel layout drawing without a schematic. I can't find the catalog look up for terminal blocks for entering footprints onto my layout.

[dougmcalexander]

You can click browse from the panel component insert menu and browse to the folder of the terminal brand you want (i.e. Entrelec, Siemens, etc.). Select a block. They are named according to manufacturer standards. For example an Entrelec 6mm feed-through series terminal is M4-6.dwg. Place that down and assign the MFG and CAT. When you assign the MFG and CAT under Catalog Lookup, ACAD Electrical may prompt you that a new footprint is needed and if you allow, it will replace the footprint with the appropriate one, based upon the MFG and CAT you entered. Bear in mind that you can browse to any terminal symbol that is close to what you want and ACADE will change it out if necessary, once you assign MFG and CAT. You can also just place down a generic rectangle using Insert Footprint (Manual) tool, then assign MFG and CAT and let ACADE drive from there. Use the Copy Footprint tool to place down the rest of the blocks for that strip.

[Anonymous]

Thanks,

That's what I started doing. It just seems like such a work around for something that is pretty basic to the system.

[dougmcalexander]

Well said. But bear in mind that at schematic level the terminal symbols are generic so a common symbol is appropriate. When it gets to panel layout the footprints can be as simple as a rectangle (like the old days) or they can be "scaled" representations of what the blocks really look like. Since there are soooo many brands, shapes, and sizes of blocks, it would require a maze of menus to do that through the icon menu. To me it is simpler to just click browse from the icon menu and go straight to the folder of the terminals you wish to place down. You even get to see a thumbnail representing what the block looks like. No, you can't just point your mouse at a place on the screen, right-click, and select a terminal part number and have it appear on screen. Software is getting smarter, but let's not encourage them to make it so smart, they no longer need us to drive. What the program does allow is for you to add your favorites to the icon menu, using the icon menu wizard. If you only use a certain brand of blocks, and certain blocks within that brand, the icon menu would not be so cluttered, and I could see that being a manageable way to do it. Out of the box though, ACADE has to be more generic, allowing us users to customize to fit our specific daily needs. But you can certainly use the icon menu wizard to add your favorite blocks to the menu for quick selection. You could edit the symbols to already carry the MFG and CAT values and as soon as you place the footprint down, the part number is already there, thus you don't even need to click Catalog Lookup. Isn't it nice to even be able to start from the panel layout first though?

[Anonymous]

You see, that's my point. I could not select a generic TB icon, as in the schematic side. Then use the catalog select, as in the schematic & panel side, for specific footprints.

No I would not expect the menu icons to point at any specific footprint. There just isn't any link from the insert TB to the catalog look up selection that would be a very basic process.

Instead you would go to for example AB's block folder and grab block ABTBC070 and insert that footprint. Then edit that TB and go to catalog selection. You are not required to go through this process to get the right footprint for a relay which has a myriad of footprints to choose from.

[MTE Controls]

You can create an icon for the panel insert footprint. Arranging the menu the way you like, You would draw a terminal to represent all terminals, or use one that you would use most often as your base. Then insert it and the standard catalog look up will work and insert the assigned drawing to that catalog , if there is one attached to that catalog number. Be sure to have a back up of the file first just incase.