Symbol builder
Three-phase symbols such as disconnects, line reactors, filters, and circuit breakers are all two-part symbols. There is a parent that goes on the first phase wire, and a child that goes on the other two wires. Therefore, each three-phase symbol is composed of a parent, a child, and a child. Create these symbols as you would any other parent-child symbol. Be sure to follow the symbol naming conventions outlined in HELP.
As for proper insertion, this is handled automatically so long as you set it up right. That involves the Icon Menu Wizard and how you named your symbols. First, start the Icon Menu Wizard.
Next, right-click in a blank area to pull up a submenu. From there, choose 'Add Icon' and then 'Add Command'. In the next dialog that pops up, select 'List', and in that list, look for WD_3UNIT. This command inserts 3-phase symbols. Select it and you'll be taken back to the previous dialog.
To format it, you will manually enter the name of the PARENT BLOCK ONLY. There should be one (1) space between the two terms of the command. Example: WD_3UNIT HCB1
Fill in the rest of the fields for your new icon. Give it a name and an image, and finish the wizard. This should be all you have to do. If you named your parent and child symbols correctly, the software will automatically build the whole 3-phase symbol for you. It will insert the parent, then go find the child, and insert it onto the other phases. (This is why the naming has to be correct.) It should do this with almost any wire spacing. Also, it will connect the symbols with a dashed link line, so be sure that if you are making the symbols on your own that you have X8LINK in the parent and X8LINK and X2LINK in the child. (For the vertical symbol, you would use X1LINK in the parent, and X1LINK and X4LINK in the child.) Those attributes are required for the automatic generation of link lines. If you aren't familiar with setting up link lines in a symbol, see 'About Schematic Attributes' in HELP.
Hope this helps,
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
Screenshot 1 shows that you made a WD_3UNIT command for 'VDS11-Sample'. The error message says it cannot find the block 'HDS11-Sample'. One symbol name is for the vertical version, the other is for the horizontal version. Seeing this error most likely means that:
1.) Either you haven't created the block HDS11-Sample, or you have saved it in a location that isn't a part of your normal ACADE search paths, OR...
2.) You're trying to insert the vertical symbol you did make onto some horizontal wires.
Keep in mind that when you insert a symbol, ACADE will evaluate the wires where you're telling it to go. It will automatically choose the appropriate symbol for you, depending on the orientation of the wires. If no wires are there when you insert the symbol, then the command will fall back to the default ladder orientation in that drawing's settings. This is why the Icon Menu isn't separated by horizontal and vertical symbols--the software handles it for you.
What seems to be happening here is, you're either trying to put your symbol on horizontal wires, or are trying to put it into a drawing with NO wires but one that is set up for vertical ladders.
Give your test drawing another look. Since you drew a vertical version of the symbol for the test, be sure to have some vertical wires to land it on. You should be able to test the command without creating the horizontal version of the block. You just have to have some wires for it to land on.
As for your block, as ThomasBatson pointed out, it looks like you have everything in one drawing file. To clarify, you should have a total of TWO drawings. First is the parent, second is the child. It doesn't matter that it's a three-pole symbol, it will still be built from only two block file drawings. Five-pole symbols are still built from only two blocks. As I said before, the command will insert the parent block on the first phase, and the it will insert the child block on the second phase, and then it will insert ANOTHER child block on the third phase. The parent block should have ONLY the parent, and the child block should have ONLY the child.
A three-phase symbol is, in fact, three separate blocks. You can select them individually in the drawing, if they are placed correctly.
Hope this helps,
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
OK...
When creating blocks, everything should be on Layer 0 and just be simple lines, attributes and text (if required).
No wires, blocks or anything like that. You also need to create two versions of each block. One for the Horizontal and one for the Vertical. Also the final thing you need to do once you have you block working is to run the PURGE command on the block dwg to clean everything out that is not required.
The Search error probably came up as it was looking for the HORIZONTAL version of the block where you have only created the VERTICAL version so far. Try inserting the blocks on a VERTICAL wire and see if they insert properly.
If this does work, you just need to create the Horizontal versions of the block.
You also need to have the blocks saved in a directory in your search path.
Go to your Project manage and Right click on the Project name.
Select Properties from the bottom of the pop up menu.
In the Project Settings tab (First tab) there is a section titled Library and Icon Menu Paths.
This lists where ACADE will search for blocks when you try to do an insert.
It should look similar to this depending on your computer setup. The various directories will depend on how ACADE is set up on your system and the block library you are using.
With custom blocks, most of us recommend creating a directory called 'Custom Blocks' or something similar.
Add this directory to the search path above your normal library in the listing similar to above.
Place any custom or modified standard blocks into the new directory. ACADE will then search the directories as listed so it will find your custom blocks before moving into the standard block library.
Another problem is that you have created 3 blocks with the two child blocks called VDS21-Sample1 & VDS21-Sample2.
ACADE will be looking for a block called VDS21-Sample to match the VDS11-Sample block. You may need to rename one of the blocks to actually get it to work properly. Having the child blocks with different names is not a problem but you do need to specify the different name in the Icon Menu command.
Finally, I noticed that in your blocks that you don't have the X#TERM@@ attributes. These attributes are the actual points that ACADE uses for the wire connections. The TERM@@ just holds and displays the terminal or pin number for the associated X#TERM@@ attribute. As it stands, ACADE will not be able to connect wires to your blocks.
If possible, can you attach the actual block files to your dwg.
We can then give them a once over and point out/fix any errors for you.
Regards Brad
Brad Coleman, Electrical Draftsman
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.
Hello Sir,
As per your instruction i went on to create the symbol and found success. but now the problem i'm facing is when i insert my 3ph custom symbol on 3 phase wire, symbol doesn't match to wire spacing [either it may be in horizontal or in vertical]. what might be going wrong this time..??? Help me out... down i have attached pics both in horizontal and vertical
This is a common problem with users...
The main cause is a scaling mismatch in the drawing settings.
Go to the drawing Properties and swap to the Drawing Format tab.
In the Scale section make sure the Feature Scale Multiplier is set to 1.
Select Inch or MM Full Size depending on your local standards.
From the fact you have the Wire spacing set to 10, you probably want the scale set to MM Full Size.
Click OK to save and exit.
Try inserting the block again and let us know how you get on.
One thing to keep in mind is that the different symbol libraries are also drawn at different sizes to match the general measurement standards of the relevant country. For example, the symbol libraries used in the US are drawn in the Inch scaling while European based libraries are drawn in the MM scaling to suit the appropriate standards.
Make sure that you are using the correct library to suit the scaling you have selected.
Regards Brad
Brad Coleman, Electrical Draftsman
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.
Please attach the latest versions of your blocks and the dwg you are inserting them into so that we can take a look at it. This will allow us to check various settings and try various solutions to find the right one easily.
Regards Brad
Brad Coleman, Electrical Draftsman
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.
A quick look at the Drawing Format tab reveals that while you changed the scale, the wire spacing is still setup for INCH.
A good spacing for mm is 15mm minimum for the ladder & Multi-wire spacing and the width sized to fit the title block you are using.
Try changing those settings and see if it works for you now.
Also, if you are still having problems with ACADE not finding the blocks when trying to insert using the WD_3UNIT command, make sure the icon you added to the Icon Menu is for a COMMAND rather than a BLOCK. I got caught by that when I tried to add your icon to my test menu as it's been a while since I did one.
Once I had those fixed, I was able to insert a 3phase multi wire and then the blocks inserted & lined up properly.
Although I did notice that the Link attributes are in different positions between the Child and Parent blocks. They just need to be aligned properly but are not block breaking.
Regards Brad
Brad Coleman, Electrical Draftsman
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
Hello Sir,
Can u show it by example of placing the link attributes to the custom made symbol. It ll b very to me...
I've attached the two Horizontal blocks with the LINK attributes lined up in the centre.
Compare them to the originals you have by inserting the originals with a linked line and then these two with a linked line and you will see what I mean about them not lining up properly.
The attachment points for the X#LINK and X#TERM?? attributes is the INSERTION point and it's generally best to use the generic left insertion for these attributes.
Regards Brad
Brad Coleman, Electrical Draftsman
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.
