Victaulic CAD Blocks in MEP 2012

[Epicurwin]

How do I get these into AutoCAD MEP 2012 and 2011?

 

http://www.victaulic.com/en/downloads/cad-files-software/vic-blocks-3d/

 

The instructions are for 2007 and therefore I have no idea how to get them to work.

 

http://static.victaulic.com/assets/uploads/cad_file/Victaulic/Vic%20Blocks%203D/Vic_Blocks_3D.pdf

 

Any help would make my life better.

[ReMark]

Can't open the PDF for some reason.

[Epicurwin]

A link to the PDF is shown on the page for the download, maybe that will work. Or you could read this. I know it's horribly formatted, but I need to get sleep.

 

Vic Blocks 3D

Instructions

Installation:

1) Download the Vic Blocks 3D zip.

2) Extract the files to the structure listed below.

C:\Program Files

Follow the install instructions as required.

In AutoCAD set a support search path to the newly placed files. Click on the Tools pull down

menu and select Options... Under the Files tab, click on the plus (+) to open the Support File

Search Path. Click the Add... button and type in the following: C:\Program

Files\VB3D_Complete\ and press the Enter key. Click the Apply button and select OK to

close the dialog box.

3) Start AutoCAD and load the DesignCenter

by finding the Tools pull down menu and

selecting DesignCenter (Fig. 2). You can

also access this by pressing CTRL+2.

4) After DesignCenter opens, change the

view to a file tree by locating and selecting

the Folders menu tab in the DesignCenter

(Fig. 3).

5) Select the VB3D_Complete folder and

find the appropriate module of Victaulic

fittings that you would like to open. Here

you will find the master sheet drawings.

6) You are now ready to start placing

Victaulic components on a drawing.

Please review the information sheets

provided with this package for more about

Vic Blocks 3D.

7) To Load the Pipe Menu:

Launch AutoCAD, go to the Tools pull

down menu and select Customize

Menus...(Fig. 4) On the Menu Groups

tab click Browse... Next locate and select

the VicPipe.mns menu file in the Menus

folder (located in C:\Program

Files\VB3D_Cmplete 3D, where C:\ is the

drive in which VB3D_Complete was

installed) and click Open. Next, click the

Load button. The menu group will appear

in the Menu Groups: area. Next, select

the Menu Bar tab. Under Menu Groups,

select Vic_Pipe. In the Menus area,

select VB3D_Complete. In the Menu Bar

area and choose where you want the

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

menu to be placed (The menu will be

placed before the highlighted item). Click

Insert, and then Close (Fig. 5). Refer to

page 6 for placing pipe.6

Vic Blocks 3D

Instructions

Fig. 5

Fig. 4

[tzframpton]

That has been around for a long time. Just a big FYI, these are not AutoCAD MEP compatible as they are not parametric AEC Objects.

 

AutoCAD MEP does have fittings that represent Victaulic parts. I have verified the dimensions and they are accurate to the Vic catalog.

[Epicurwin]

What are they? I've tried the rigid couplings but when I put insulation on them the show up completely wrong. The insulation doesn't show up correctly.

 

 

This is with the rigid couplings, when I tried the ones from the submittal, style 107 they create huge triangles coming out of the pipe. Why can't I get the insulation to show correctly?

Edited June 30, 2012 by Epicurwin

[_Anthony]

I am working in MEP 2012...where would I find these parts???

[ReMark]

What parts are you referring to?

[_Anthony]

victaulic fittings

[ReMark]

victaulic fittings

Download the fittings at the website link provided in post #1.

[_Anthony]

Are these MEP compatable parts?

[ReMark]

This is what is posted at the Victaulic website. MEP is not specifically mentioned if that is the criteria you are going by. If I were using MEP and the program did not ship with something very similar to these blocks and I did not want to spend my company's good money not to mention the time it would require to create all the blocks from scratch I would use them. But that is entirely up to you.

"Designed specifically for AutoCAD users, Vic Blocks 3D is a dimensionally accurate, three-dimensional block library that was developed to assist with Victaulic piping system layouts. It includes block symbols representing the main product line, drawn at full size. A common insertion point has been designated in each block and nodes are provided on all connection points for ease of location and placement. Each coupling block contains two (2) nodes that represent the gap takeout that occurs when a coupling connects two (2) grooved piping components (fittings, valves and/or pipe). Components are inserted using the AutoCAD Design Center."

[_Anthony]

I was able to load fittings and they are viewable in design center, but is there a way to include them in a tool palette and how would I create ti?

[ReMark]

Tool palette creation is covered in your Customization Guide.

[cadludde]

In Design Center you can rightclick on a folder or dwg containing blocks and select "Create Tool Palete"

 

/Patrik

[Bryan316]

That has been around for a long time. Just a big FYI, these are not AutoCAD MEP compatible as they are not parametric AEC Objects.

 

AutoCAD MEP does have fittings that represent Victaulic parts. I have verified the dimensions and they are accurate to the Vic catalog.

 

 

 

I could really use a hint here. I've gone through all the routing preferences and the closest I found was Grooved with clamp-on fittings. It doesn't seem the right size.

[tzframpton]

I could really use a hint here. I've gone through all the routing preferences and the closest I found was Grooved with clamp-on fittings. It doesn't seem the right size.

I believe they are the right size, but it's been too many years. We're Revit only in our office now so my AutoCAD MEP days have been done for quite some time now.

 

-TZ

[Bryan316]

I found it! GROOVED! It even generates the fittings in low resolution so you can see where the bolt heads would align. That way you can rotate the fittings to make sure installation allows for wrenches to fit in there, along with human hands, to tighten or remove them.

 

 

I have a feeling that everything larger than 1-1/2" diameter should and will be drawn this way. Showed my boss, now he wants me to download and organize every block Victaulic has on their website. I want this to become our new standard!

[tzframpton]

Good deal. Have you looked into AEC Schedules? You can produce BOM's and quantities pretty easily to provide even better deliverables.

 

-TZ

[Bryan316]

Right now, we are not the installer. We're doing building layouts and integration. They give us the building, and the supply mains, according to the architects. Then they want us to run all compressed air, chilled water, coolant supply and dirty return, nitrous, natural gas, industrial process waste, potable and non-potable water, and any other piping requirements. The worst is the coolant, because of the debris-laden fluid needing steep downhill grades and high velocities. So all coolant supply and return must be planned and coordinated, then all other disciplines can go around them.

 

 

But then they also need to go around building steel, HVAC, electrical bus runs and safety boundaries, and exhaust stacks. So being able to generate a full 3D building, then everything inside ran in 3D, helps considerably. But being able to use MEP piping so we can stretch and pull and raise and reroute and have everything automatically follow your changes? That is enormous. Our deliverables are the plan layouts of the pipe runs in schematic form. So I'm manipulating the Display Manager and Style Manager to make this automatic. 3D models, and schematic plan views.

 

 

So I'm trying to find solutions to all our glitches. The worst? Reducers. I now need to figure out how to get around the super-sized reducer symbols.

[tzframpton]

I believe there is a global setting that resizes reducers. Might check around any type of "settings" or the MEP Tabs of "Options".