Extrude Pipe question.

Charles Alan Butler

Created 2 pipe solids and want to create a weld joint. One is 30" & the other is 12".
Using the Extrude (_dmExtrude_MO_SO) and selecting the cut end face too but into the 30" pipe I used the Limit option to extend the pipe.
Problem is that a hole is cut into the 30" pipe, which I do not want.
Did I use the wrong command or option for this task?

Charles Alan Butler

Well there is not a hole in the 30" pipe. My mistake.
With a little free time I'm back trying 3D and struggling.

What is the best method to create a pipe solid.
I created a cylinder & then used the shell command but that left the ends capped.

Roy Klein Gebbinck

There are many ways to create a pipe. The most obvious are:

1. Create two cylinders and use the _Subtract command.
2. Make sure boundary detection is ON (SELECTIONMODES), create two circles, click between the entities and _DmExtrude. Note: initial circles are left behind.
3. Create a cylinder, offset a circular edge (SELECTIONMODES: select edges must be ON) and _DmExtrude.

The last method is probably the most efficient.

Louis_Verdonck

Yet another method is as follows:
1. Draw a circle.
2. Move the cursor over the circle and select Polysolid in the Model command group in the Quad.
3. When extruding the circle you can control the thickness of the pipe and the height of the extrusion in the dynamic dimension fields. Hit the Ctrl-key to decide whether the circle defines either the inside or outside diameter of the pipe or the center line of its thickness.

Charles Alan Butler

Thanks for the tips.
My SELECTIONMODES is currently set to 3
Not On/Off

Charles Alan Butler

OK found another way to make a pipe.
Circle, then dmExtrude to length, creates a surface.
Then dmThicken to make into a solid pipe.

This is fun and frustrating at the same time.
I have information overload.

Charles Alan Butler

I have two pipes now, one 12" and one 30" perpendicular axis.
Extruding the 12" into the surface of the 30" to create a saddle joint. _dmExtrude_MO_SO
But they become one solid. But I want to keep them as separate objects, just butted together.

Hans De Backer

While extruding, the TIPS window pops up, offering various ways to extrude: Auto, Unite, Subtract, ...
Hit the Ctrl key till you reach the desired extrude behavior...

Roy Klein Gebbinck

@Charles Alan Butler:
The SELECTIONMODES variable combines three settings. Search for it in the _Settings dialog. Hint: There is also a toolbar with the same name.

Charles Alan Butler

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

FYI the quad and Tips is not working on my system. Tech support has been looking for a cause for several days but no solution yet.
This is making for more struggle as I learn more in the 3D environment.

Hans De Backer

The Quad and Tips are configured to work when a 'virgin' new user profile is used...

Charles Alan Butler

Hans I don't follow?

Are you saying I need to change my Profile?
Current settings for Quad but no Quad shows up.

Hans De Backer

Yes, temporarily changing to a new profile is probably the easiest way to check if the problem is caused by an unusual combination of settings in your current profile, or by another 'thing'.
Checking with a freshly ghosted profile helps a lot to rule out many possible causes.

Charles Alan Butler

OK Dbl Clicking a default profile starts a new BC session & the Quad is working.

Hans De Backer

Ok, that the Quad is working now is the good part of the news.
The settings that are visible in your screenshot look Ok at first sight.
The difficult part will be to identify which setting or combination of settings is causing the Quad not to appear.
If you want help with that, please file a support request, our analysts will be glad to assist.
Kind regards,
Hans

Charles Alan Butler

I did file a request a month ago and just now asked what they found.
Let's see what is said. I had uploaded my entire BC support folders to them.

Roy Klein Gebbinck

You can export settings to a .csv file via the _Settings dialog (see the button at the top). If you do this for both your 'good' and your 'bad' profile you may be able to identify the variables that are causing your issue. You will need a file comparison tool.

Charles Alan Butler

Tech figured it out.

In the main .cui file (CCL-Root - Default Workspaces.cui) you defined

but all Quad definitions/tools point to menugroup 'BRICSCAD'.

So, either:

• change your menugroup name to BRICSCAD
  or

• point all quad records to CCL-ROOT menugroup

Charles Alan Butler

I have another issue.
See attached drawing. I need to know the process used to trim the intersecting pipes.
The smaller pipes need to be trimmed by the larger pipes.
I used push pull before to pull the smaller pipes away from the larger pipes & then again with Limit to create the intersection.
That process is time consuming so I am looking for a trim process.
I could not find a way to get Subtract to work. I do not want a hole in the larger pipes.
DWG is saved as ACAD2010.
I'm gone for a few hours so don;t expect a reply right away.

Thanks

Hans De Backer

Just making sure I understood correctly:

• push-pulling the small pipe away takes 2 to 4 seconds depending on whether the current view needs to be rotated to select the end face
• extrude with 'L' option (limit) takes, say 5 seconds.
  This is too time consuming so now you're looking for a way to complete this operation in considerably less than 10 seconds?

Charles Alan Butler

Hans, you are much quicker than me in 3D. But mentally I was thinking about the 2D trim command.
Nothing like that in 3D?

Charles Alan Butler

Another thing, when trying to use the push/pull selecting the end surface of the small pipe, the larger pipe prevents me from selecting it because it is inside the larger pipe.

Hans De Backer

V18 will include connection tools that make the operation you attempt (a lot) easier and faster, I cannot disclose more details before the Bricsys 2017 International Conference next week...

To select faces that are behind other geometry:
are you aware that the Tab key allows you to iterate through the faces currently under the cursor? Keep your cursor over the desired pipe end and hit the Tab key once or twice, usually that will suffice to see the desired face highlight. If the last operation you performed on a face was pushpull, there is no need to move the cursor into the Quad to select pushpull again, just right-click, it will start the most recently used command for the hovered entity type.

Also, instead of 2dWireframe, you may want to try X-ray visual style, you will notice selection of obliterated stuff becomes easier.

Charles Alan Butler

That's good to hear. It's time for me to re-up my service contract with BC.

Yes, I'm seeing that the view mode makes a difference for selection. I could not find a button ICON for X-ray, so I built my own.

Note that using the push/pull with Limit to mate the two surfaces.
How do I separate them? The Separate command does not work for me.

Charles Alan Butler

I found a trim process that keeps the parts from joining. (Now this is time-consuming to me)

3D Solids Trim Process from command line, Found it here http://www.screencast.com/t/QZqD9gIWj27i

INTERFERE

Select first set of Acis objects or [Nested selection] :

Opposite Corner:

Entities in set: 1

Select first set of Acis objects or [Nested selection] : [SELECT PIPE 1]

Select second set of Acis objects or [Nested selection] : [ENTER]

Opposite Corner:

Entities in set: 6

Select second set of Acis objects or [Nested selection] : [SELECT PIPE 1]

Create interference solids? [Yes/No] :y [YES]

Comparing 1 solids against 6 solids.

Interfering pairs: 6

Highlight pairs of interfering solids? Yes/: [ENTER]

:

_subtract
Select ACIS object to subtract from: [SELECT PIPE 1]
Opposite Corner:
Entities in set: 1
Select ACIS object to subtract from: [ENTER]
Select ACIS objects to subtract: [SELECT OBJECT IN WALL OF PIPE 2 CREATED FROM INTEFERE]
Entities in set: 1
Select ACIS objects to subtract:

[SEPERATE COMMAND]

_solidedit
Enter a solids editing option Face/Edge/Body/Undo/eXit: _body
Enter a body editing option Imprint/seParate/Shell/cLean/Check/Undo/eXit: _separate
Entities in set: 1
Enter a body editing option Imprint/seParate/Shell/cLean/Check/Undo/eXit: _x
Enter a solids editing option Face/Edge/Body/Undo/eXit: _x
[SELECT REMAINS OF TRIMMED PIPE 1]
Opposite corner:

<1 found>

: _erase [ERASE REMAINS OF TRIM]
Entities in set: 1

Charles Alan Butler

His project on the main frame I need to do this process 22 times.

Hans De Backer

FYI: at the bottom of the right panel of the Toolbar tab of the Customize dialog ( = CUI command), you will find a number of useful controls that can be added to any toolbar.
The Visual Styles combo allows to set the X-ray (and other visual styles).

Alternative: the properties panel also offers a Visual Styles control.

Not clear what you mean with 'push/pull with Limit': only DmExtrude has the Limit option.
When using DmExtrude it is important to keep an eye on the Tips window that pops up at the bottom of the screen (by default, that is)
It shows the active DmExtrudeMode, which is 'Auto' by default.
In the Settings dialog you will find the DmExtrudeMode setting, which controls the Auto behavior.
When tapping the Ctrl key, the Tips window will indicate the newly activated mode.
Every time you tap, you move to the next mode, and at the end there's a wrap-around to the Auto modus.

Going by what you wrote I have the impression you used the Unite extrude mode. The union of two tubes is not so straightforward to cleanly separate, as you experienced.
If it were 'building' shapes like walls and slabs, the Split command could do the job easily, but tubes are harder to separate.
By the way, the Separate command does a different thing: it is meant to separate unconnected (disjoint) lumps of the same solid.
Another command that can be useful in this situation is Slice, but still, the way to go is to avoid undesired unions, they are a pain to get rid off.

Roy Klein Gebbinck

Here is how I would extend the magenta pipes ('Pipe 8' layer) to the central pipe ('Pipe 30' layer):

1. Switch to Front (or Back) view.
2. _Isolate the five magenta pipes.
3. _DmExtend the pipes in one go by window-selecting the end faces (use the Tips widget to select faces instead of entities). The pipes should extend well into the central pipe (which is now invisible) but not touch. Make sure to choose the 'Unite' option of the _DmExtend command.
4. Use the _UnIsolate command.
5. Create an in-place copy of the central pipe and _Erase its internal cylindrical face.
6. _Subtract the temporary solid from the 5 pipes. Again this can be done in one go.

A 'unite only with parent solid' option would be useful for the _DmExtrude command...

Charles Alan Butler

Thanks for the words of wisdom. I'm still very clumsy with the commands & confuse them when they do similar things in my uneducated mind.
Roy, I'll give that method a go.

Charles Alan Butler

Another issue I have is drawing the intersection of two C channel OR 2 square tube members.
They intersect at 90 degrees and need to be miter cuts. Seem to me as though you should be
able to Subtract & keep the subtracting member. Why is that not an option on the command?
I'm looking into using a cutting plane to make the miter cuts but no luck so far.

PS I did find a setting DELETETOOL to allow the subtracting member to be retained. Wow no
on-screen toggle for that setting? Still digging.

Charles Alan Butler

Never mind, looks like TAPER makes that job easy enough.