Revit Process Piping

[sagnewYUXLR]

I have a system that will need to be a mixture of butt welds , flanges, etc. 

can revit handle this? if i have a 100m length of pipe modelled with tees coming off etc (which i want to remain butt welds) can i then go back cut in a set of flanges etc once we know the spool lengths we want? 

also if I have a flange family (ductile iron) when I bring my parametric gasket family in, it will automatically bring in a flange, but if i try do this with my system that i need to be a mixture of buttweld/flange it wont bring a flange in as I can't add a flange to the routing prefs without revit without it bringing in flanges where they are not wanted/needed. i.e at every joint , we don't normally show weld gaps but is this a possible solution to this? 

thanks 

many thanks 

[RobDraw]

Are you using system pipe or fabrication parts?

It sounds like system piping from your description but it's not clear.

[sagnewYUXLR]

system pipes. 

many thanks 

[RobDraw]

Why?

[sagnewYUXLR]

more detailed families, flanges with bolt holes etc 

also i dont think you can add cobie data to fab parts etc 

[RobDraw]

I'm going to have to disagree with your reasoning but that's something that has a list of factors that can make it a choice but I'm one that likes using the right tool for the task at hand. Are you a fab shop or design firm delving into fab level modeling?

It's been a while since I played with system piping but I think this is something that takes a lot of up front work with pipe types and routing preferences and can be frustrating to get just right. I think it's easier with fab parts and services. 

[sagnewYUXLR]

we do design to fabrication. 

we've used fabparts in autocad and making switch over it was decided we would go with families as we get models in from consultants who have modelled in families.  

[RobDraw]

After 15 years on the design side, I'm now doing fab. We are using a mix of families and fab parts. The piping and fittings are fab parts. Equipment and accessories are families. Like I said, I am new to fab. I'm also not responsible for the services database. It's a division of duties thing and it seems to be working well. 

[sagnewYUXLR]

no probs thanks for the update. 

[RobDraw]

What do you have for settings for the system now? You will probably need multiple pipe types and routing preferences based on size at a minimum. It gets complicated real fast and can snowball big time with added complexities depending on your requirements. 

[sagnewYUXLR]

have created pipe types for S10, S40, STD weight carbon, S10S, S40S, Ductile Iron etc. 

[RobDraw]

That's a good start. 

How about systems and routing preferences/requirements?

[sagnewYUXLR]

that's where it starts to get a bit tricky. our systems are a mixture of welds and flanges. if i add a flange to the routing prefs i end up getting flanges where i dont want them but then i lose the ability to cut flanges in etc. 

[RobDraw]

That's what I've been trying to get at. Save yourself a lot of work by focusing on one system. Get it to work consistently before duplicating tasks across multiple systems. It's a royal PITA doing a bunch of repetitive work across multiple systems only to find out you gotta do it again.

Share what you need for a system and as others see this you will get some more direct answers on the different variables and how to make them do what you want.