Assembling multiple pipes into holes

[M1k3y2014]

Hi!

I have my own educational project where I mainly do different pipe settings related to heat exchangers and pipes connected to silos etc.

What I've done now is something quite similar to the picture below:

http://www.google.fi/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allweld.ca%2Fimages%2FHeat%252520Exchanger.jpg&i...

I had 122 pipes in my system, and although I could use mirror and pattern to some extent, it still took me over an hour to get it all done, plus my assmbly tree looked terrible with different mirrors and copies of my pipe. Is there any way to select all the holes I want the pipes to go through at once, even in cases where no pattern is present and the pipes aren't even parallel to each other?

And if this isn't possible, then how should I work with these different patterns and mirrors not to get such an awful assembly tree?

[swalton · Accepted solution]

I would use feature patterns in my tube sheet to locate all the holes.  You can nest patterns one inside another, so you should only need a few seed holes to get started.  Use circular patterns with 2 elements to "mirror" across a single plane of symmetry.  

Place your tubes in the seed holes with an insert constraint and uses the pattern component tool to grab the 1st nested pattern.  Once that is done, use the same tool to nest each previous result into the next higher feature pattern in your tube sheet. 

If your holes can't be put into a feature pattern or set of feature patterns, then you get to constrain them as you have done. 

PTC Creo has a feature pattern tool with many more features that could be helpful in this case.  It would be nice if Autodesk added more functionality here.

[M1k3y2014]

Just one question related to the reply, to see if I got it right: If my pattern would, for some reason be in the shape of an "S", for example, or other patterns that aren't circular or rectangular, I'd have to just pick each pipe individually and constrain them?

[swalton · Accepted solution]

Actually, you can select a curve with the rectangular pattern tool and the features will follow.  Constrain your tubes to the seed hole, and use the component pattern tool as normal.

See my screenshot.