Nice New Way to Draw Batt Insulation

[Libbya]

In the past I've tried various ways of drawing batt insulation and recently came up with a way that works very well for me.  I used a Batt Insulation hatch as the main part of a dynamic block.  I made the hatch associative with a boundary on the defpoints layer.  I added grips for moving, rotating, scaling and stretching it.  The dynamic block is sized so that the initial insertion of 1 would equal a width of 1 unit.  In other words, at inserting it at a scale of 1 for imperial units will make a batt that is 1" thick.  This allows you to type in the desired width of the batt on insertion (e.g. typing in 5.5 will give you a 5-1/2" thick batt to fit in a 2x6 wall).  The basepoint grip in the bottom left corner allows you to move the block and is the basepoint for the rotation grip.  The stretch grip pointing UP opposite the rotation grip allows you to scale the batt.  The stretch grip nearest the basepoint allows you to stretch that side of the batt while maintaining the end angle.  The grip at the right bottom (inline with the basepoint and rotation grips) allows you to stretch the other end of the batt while maintaing the end angle.  The stretch grip in the corner above it allows you to adjust the end angle.  You'll want to scale the width to the correct size before adjusting the length/angles as the scaling changes those other lengths.  I appreciate the help I've received from others here in the past.  Attached is the block.  

[Anonymous]

Hello Libbya

I've read your new idea on drawing and inserting batt insulation, have tried many time to insert into a drawing by following your steps but have been unsuccessful.

Can you please explain it simpler? I fairly new to autocad and this is going right over my head.

PS I'm using decimal dimensions if this has made a difference.

Many thanks.

[dbroad]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing the dynamic block.

When I'm using AutoCAD Architecture though, I prefer the Insulation tool(Division 07) on the Basic tab of the Detailing Group of the tool pallettes.  It hooks into the annotation tools better.

[Libbya · Accepted solution]

rodeorick - You need to use the INSERT command and then browse to the file I posted and insert it as a block into your drawing.  Attached is an updated version that allows scaling of the width without affecting the other dimensions.  I also housed the block in a file rather than saving the block as a file so you can play with it more easily.  I also reworked the grip layout a little after using the block for a little while in order to make it more user friendly. 

dbroad - the detailing tool is interesting, but unless I'm mistaken there are not any editing options to it once it is placed other than to delete it and start over.

[Anonymous]

Libbya

Thanks for your responce and uploading another dwg. I've followed your advice and inserted it into my drawing though I think I might be complimenting things slightly.

Should I be needing to explode your block to remove the outside border?

[Libbya]

The border is on the defpoints layer and will not plot.  There is no reason to try to remove it.  Exploding the block will remove all the dynamic functionality.

[dbroad]

I typically don't need to edit after placement.  The batt insulation is the last thing I add.  If I need to edit, I just move it over, select the moved object, right click and add selected.  It links with the property pallette, the layer key system and with keynotes.  It also tapers, which is something the block approach cannot accomplish.

[Anonymous]

Thanks again Libbya. Makes more sense now.

[Anonymous]

Thanks dbroad. I'll post again should I come into any difficulties. Don't fully understand your reference to property palette, layer key system etc but hopefully this is something I can explore again.

[Libbya]

dbroad - "It also tapers, which is something the block approach cannot accomplish."

What do you mean by 'tapers'?  

[David_W_Koch]

A run of batt insulation does not have to have a constant "thickness".  There are situations where the area to receive batt insulation narrows; the AEC tool allows for that.

[dbroad · Accepted solution]

Rodeorick,

ACA has advanced detailing features, far above those available in AutoCAD alone.  To best use these featues, the properties palette must be kept open as many of the prompts that would appear at the command line in an ordinary command are selected via property palette as you might on a dialog box.  Otherwise, the commands use defaults.

ACA also has a layer keying system that makes sure that each AEC object or component, including notes and dimensions get put on a consistent layer that plots the appropriate lineweight and linetype and appears in a unique way on the screen.  AutoCAD only has layers and layer states.

The detailing palette group uses the detail component manager which contains thousands of different components that are well formed and thought out organized according to the CSI MasterFormat.

[David_W_Koch · Accepted solution]

Here is a quick Screencast showing the application of tapered insulation, using the Detail Component tool.

EDIT 2024-07-26:  I posted a new video to replace the one that was here but is no longer available.

[Anonymous]

dbroad

Thanks for your recent posts. To be honest I'm still struggling to make the batt insulation taper but I assume its because I'm not using the architectural version.

Perhaps you explain another issue I'm having concerns with please?

I have drawn a template for a title panel on an A3 page in paperspace. Can I copy, paste and scale the same title panel onto an A1 page in another paperspace layout?

[dbroad]

You're welcome.

I don't see why not.  Use copyclip to get the information from the A3 layout, switch layouts to the A1 sheet, and then pasteorig.  You would then need to do some stretching and/or scaling.

[Anonymous]

THANK YOU!

[Libbya]

David, thanks for the screencast showing the taper.  The block version that I posted will not taper the width of the insulation in the same manner, but it tapers in the manner shown in the attached screencapture.  I can see how the detailing tool would work well.  I really like the flexibility and post-placement editing ability of the block version.  To each their own.  

[David_W_Koch]

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@Libbya wrote:

[snip]...To each their own.  

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Indeed.  I have never taken the time to wrap my head around dynamic blocks.  But if it works for you, go for it.

[ntellery]

"Can I copy, paste and scale the same title panel onto an A1 page in another paperspace layout?"

I would suggest not.  Do you really want the title block on an A1 sheet 4 times as large as on an A4?

There might be room for a larger title block for a bigger sheet but it's not normally scaled.

My title block sits in the corner by itself with no larger sheet border. If you can live with that you can just use the same title block.

You can also look into Dynamic Blocks on which you can add a selection tag and choose different sheet sizes.

Typically the title block might stay on but the different sheet borders would be on different (selections) sorry can't think of the correct term.

Learn about sheet sets and fields including custom fields which are excellent tools for auto filling your title blocks.

(std autocad stuff btw, not ACA).

[Anonymous]

This is great! thanks for sharing.