New and Lost

[Anonymous]

I have just jumped from autocad LT 2010 to MEP 2014.

I have scanned the internet as these queries have most likely already been covered, I work mainly producing ductwork drawings for site and also manufacture, first couple of issues I have come across are, we manufacture square bends with 100 throats, the system seems to be set at 50 with no option to adjust, can adjustments be made? We also may at times use the throat to make up for a short stumpy bit of duct IE if we are left with 100 or 150 at end of a straight run we would add it to the throat rather than make a small straight.

Also, I cannot get branches to move off centre line of main duct, this is not a problem for workshop but for design, as sometime by taking the branch off 50mm higher to clear adjacent duct we can avoid having to make an offset.

Any help to get up and running would be much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I think what you are looking for is how to make a parametric duct fitting. This is probably not the best thing to try and do when first working with Amep. I am sure anyone that draws duct has had to do it, and could share there custom fitting with you.
Check your in box. I sent you a link on how to do this yourself.

[Keith.Brown]

To get your branches to move off of the centerline you will need to understand anchors and which anchors AutoCAD MEP uses in certain situations.  When drawing ductwork if you select a grip and 'pull' ductwork from the center of the duct and draw a takeoff then AutoCAD MEP will anchor the takeoff using a not so desirable anchor.  You can select the takeoff and on the property palette then select the Anchor button and the dialog shown in the picture below will popup.  As the picture shows there is not much you can adjust as far as moving the tap up/down the side of the duct.  

However, if you place the tap on the duct instead of dragging it out of the duct then AutoCAD MEP will use a completely different anchor to attach the takeoff to the main run.  Using the same procedure as above but this time selecting the Takeoff Position button we now have alot more ability to move the tap up/down the side of the main run as the picture below shows.

If you select the Side dropdown then you can choose which side the tap will be placed on.  By default it will always say center but you should change it to one of the 4 sides.  Please note that AutoCAD MEP determines the side of the ductwork by looking from Connector 1 to Connector 2 and taking into account the obect UCS.  In previous versions of MEP, placing duct where the depth was greater than the width would cause the duct to rotate 90 degrees so that the top of the duct was actually the side of the duct.  This no longer happens in current versions.  (2013 and beyond i believe).

By modifying the Side and the Justification dropdowns you should be able to get the tap to place anywhere on the piece of duct that you want.  

Hope this Helps.

[Keith.Brown]

I forgot to mention that if you use the justify button on the property palette when routing ductwork and you have it set to something other than center then using the center grip of the duct to place a takeoff will force AutoCAD MEP to use the correct anchor.  Bottom Center is my preferred setting as it will allow you to place the bottom of your duct exactly at the elevation you specify.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, I will have a plunder through the info you sent me.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, this was most helpful.

As far as transitions go, I have found under DUCT FITTING drop down, a DUCT TRANSITION UTILITY to connect two ends of duct, it asks me to select first duct then second duct, but when I select second duct it comes up with an error that "objects must have same connection type", I have checked, both have integral flanges, am I missing something or does this utility not work for offset tapers, it did connect two ducts as an offset,both ducts having the same dimensions.