Hi,
I am having difficulty with a custom pipe routing elbow. I created the part and set it up through the routing component wizard. When I place the component into an assembly to start a pipe route it works fine, creating pipes at either end of the component, however when I add the component to an already present route it is not added as a component of the route and no pipes are created. How can I fix this?
I have attached a picture of the issue as well.
So I am able to drag the elbow into the component folder, however it still doesn't act like a pipe routing component. It doesn't create a pipe at the open end of the elbow, and when I draw a line coming from that end a pipe isn't generated.
Not to mention, the part should automatically be placed in the component folder when I drag and drop it into the assembly, just like other components in a pipe route.
Are you editing the piping route when you add the elbow? Have you properly set the part up using the routing library manager, set the connection points and route points?
Yes and yes. When I went through the routing library manager, I set it up as an elbow and it said everything was accounted for and it allowed me to complete the part without any errors.
In routing the elbow creation is driven by the 3D route sketch. To add elbows and pipes to a route, RMB on a section of the route and select "Edit Rout". From there add lines to get where you need to go. When done click on the green check and the pipes & elbows should appear. If you wish to change the elbows to a different style, while editing the route sketch RMB and select "Route Segment Properties", from there under Bends - Elbows you can browse for the location of your custom elbow.
While "editing the route", right click the route/connection point of the new elbow and choose "add to route" from the pop up menu.
Thanks, that worked. I am still having trouble however with automatically using these elbows. I tried setting the route properties as Kevin Moss explained in order to have the sketch automatically add the elbows, but it would still add the normal automatic elbows.
I do not have much experience with pipe routing but you can try this:
To start your route put in the first and last connections regardless of elbows and run your orthogonal (?) route. Then drag in an elbow and drop it on the route line/corner. See if it snaps into place and breaks your route accordingly. This may require route points instead of connection points but I am not sure.
Steve
Hi Justin,
This happens when you place a routing component when not in "Edit Route" mode. You have placed the component when in "Edit Assembly" mode.
Try the procedure in "Edit Route" mode, it will automatically fall into components folder and you can create pipes.
I am in "Edit Route" mode when inserting the custom elbow, which is why I don't understand why it isn't working the same as other components.
The beauty of routing is you don’t have to insert every elbow. While editing the
rout, one simply adds a sketch line to the end of an existing line in the 3d sketch. The software
automatically adds a dimensioned fillet to the corner and when you’re finished
sketching the elbow appears.
The dimension on the fillet in the sketch has to match the "ElbowArc" dimension in the corresponding elbow part file.
So that's why I made this thread as well: Link.
My hope was that the elbows I made would be inserted automatically, and sized appropriately for the pipe route. However, the elbows do not work properly, and do not get inserted when I draw a corner while creating a pipe route.
If the elbows don't work properly on a newly started pipe then either
- the elbow is set up wrong
- you are doing something wrong
- or you don't start a route in a correct manner, see below where one selects the standard type and size of pipe as well as the type of the standard elbow to be used in that route
I have been meaning to respond to this thread, however PC had a software issue that kept causing the Solidworks Pipe Routing Library Manager to crash. I finally got this issue resolved however, and I went through all the steps again to try to catch any error. I created both a pipe and an elbow. I then tried to set my route properties, and got the following error.
I'm wondering if it is associated with the fact that I didn't set a pipe schedule, as I wasn't sure how to do this. I made a part specification called Schedule, but that doesn't show up in the Routing Library Manager. What do I need to change to allow me to use the pipe I added?
When I select the pipe that Solidworks already uses, I am able to save the route properties. When I created a quick test route, this was the result:
The elbows finally appear (which is a win, I guess), however the pipes no longer appear. I believe this is associated with the fact that I had selected the pipe I created as the pipe which the C-Points utilize on the elbows. This error appeared when I left the 3D sketch pointing out that it could not use those pipe.
Any ideas on how I can resolve this issue?
could be that the Pipe you are selecting and the elbow do not have matching Size and schedule.
check both Items have the same Size and schedule available?
So as I mentioned above, I am not sure how to set the schedule for the pipe, I will look into that and try it. As for the pipe size, both the pipe and elbow have several configurations. The pipe has a couple more than the elbow, but all the ones the elbow has the pipe also has, so that shouldn't be an issue.
if you know your pipe is set-up correct check the Elbow.
make sure it is pointing to the correct Pipe file and set the size, this is configuration specific.
Yes, it should be set up correctly, and I selected the pipe in that menu. I assigned both the pipe and the elbow a schedule, so I no longer got the error when confirming the route properties, but the pipe still isn't showing up. This is what happens as I draw the route:
Once I click the icon in the top left to exit the sketch, this happens:
(I added an extra line in between the images.)
Edit: I forgot to mention, the error I was getting when I would place the elbow into the route about the pipe was simply because the pipe file was open.
Second Edit: I just noticed I get the following error, which doesn't make sense to me:
All of the elbow configurations are present in the pipe configurations. Do they need to have the same name or something?
can you post your Elbow and Pipe file?
I attached the parts I am working with.
sorry, future version. still running 2017
Still running 2017 as well.
Should be changing over sometime this week at which point I'll take a look at your files if nobody else has done so.
No need. I figured it out. I had the pipe schedule set to "Sch 40" while the elbow was just "40." Once I set the schedule to the same value it worked out.
Edit: I do have a follow up question however. Is there an element I should add to the design table so that each elbow size generates a different length pipe stud from the connection points? At the moment they all generate the same size stud, which is hidden inside the elbow for the larger pipe sizes.
Size and Schedule have to match!
I'm not a routing expert by any means but you can drag that component into the folder if you want it to be housed there.