Electrical drawing success starts with using the Insert Ladder tool to automatically create smart ladder diagrams.
Transcript
00:04
AutoCAD Electrical makes it easy to insert a ladder diagram,
00:08
a common type of electrical schematic that was clearly named after its appearance.
00:13
With multiple wires running perpendicular to two outside wires,
00:18
the layout literally looks like a ladder.
00:21
The Insert Ladder tool automates the creation process.
00:25
To create a new ladder, on the ribbon, click the Schematic tab,
00:29
choose the Insert Wires/Wire Number panel,
00:33
and then click the Insert Ladder tool.
00:36
The Insert Ladder dialog opens with options to define the appearance of the ladder.
00:42
For example, you can set the Width, the Spacing between each rung, and the Length.
00:48
For Length, you can enter either the total length or the number of rungs.
00:53
For this example, enter a value of 6 Rungs, and then press ENTER.
00:59
The Length is automatically calculated, based on the Spacing value.
01:03
The 1st Reference value is based on the highest number of ladders in the drawing.
01:08
In the Phase group box, try switching between the 1 Phase and 3 Phase electrical diagrams
01:14
to see how the dialog changes in response.
01:18
Ideally, whenever you open this dialog,
01:21
select the phase first to enable the relevant options,
01:24
and then move on to the other settings.
01:26
In this case, choose 1 Phase.
01:29
Under Draw Rungs, select any of the options to see a preview of the ladder to be created.
01:36
For example, if you select No Rungs, only the two outside wires are drawn, with no rungs or bus.
01:43
The default value, Yes, draws all rungs and bus pieces.
01:48
In the Skip field, you can enter the number of rungs to skip.
01:52
For example, entering 2 and pressing ENTER skips every 2 rungs and draws every third rung.
01:60
For this example, set the value back to 0, and then press ENTER.
02:04
Click OK to confirm the selected options.
02:08
Back in your drawing, AutoCAD Electrical prompts you to specify the start position of the first rung, or type in a value.
02:16
For this exercise, click in the upper-left corner to place the first rung and draw the ladder.
02:22
In theory, you could also use the Insert Wires tool to draw the same collection of wires,
02:27
but as you can see, the Insert Ladder tool is much faster than drawing the wires individually.
02:33
The ladder you just created is typical of IEC style drawings
02:37
and has no reference numbers associated with it.
02:40
Reference numbers come from the XY coordinates set up in your title block drawing.
02:45
For any drawing, the reference number scheme is configured in the Drawing Properties dialog.
02:50
On the ribbon, Schematic tab, click the Other Tools panel, and then select Drawing Properties.
02:57
In the Drawing Properties dialog, select the Drawing Format tab.
03:02
Under Format Referencing, notice that the default for this drawing, the X Zones option, is selected.
03:08
X-Zones is similar to X-Y Grid, but with no Y-axis.
03:14
Reference Numbers assigns a column of reference numbers to each ladder column.
03:19
Select each of the three options to see how the preview changes.
03:22
For this example, select Reference Numbers, and then click OK.
03:28
Next, delete the ladder you just made and create a new one with reference numbers.
03:34
In the drawing, press and hold the mouse button as you drag to select the previously created ladder,
03:40
and then, on your keyboard, press DEL.
03:43
Click the Insert Ladder command to open the Insert Ladder dialog.
03:48
Set the First Reference value to 1100, and then press ENTER.
03:53
For the Length, set the number of Rungs to 9, and then press ENTER.
03:58
Leave the remaining options set to their defaults and click OK.
04:03
In your drawing, click to select the insertion point.
04:07
AutoCAD Electrical creates a ladder with reference numbers assigned to each rung.
04:12
Reference numbers, or really, the first wire reference number, is what makes a ladder intelligent.
04:20
It contains all of the information about the ladder and is inserted as a block with attributes.
04:25
The remaining numbers are simply text entities, for your reference only.
04:31
To compare the two, with no command running, select the first reference number,
04:36
and you can see that it is a block reference.
04:39
On your keyboard, press ESC to deselect the first number.
04:43
Select any other reference number, and you can see that it is text only.
04:49
In reality, you could delete all text entries without changing the functionality of the ladder.
04:55
The insertion point of the first block includes all the information used by AutoCAD Electrical
05:00
to determine the locations of inserted components and their tag values.
00:04
AutoCAD Electrical makes it easy to insert a ladder diagram,
00:08
a common type of electrical schematic that was clearly named after its appearance.
00:13
With multiple wires running perpendicular to two outside wires,
00:18
the layout literally looks like a ladder.
00:21
The Insert Ladder tool automates the creation process.
00:25
To create a new ladder, on the ribbon, click the Schematic tab,
00:29
choose the Insert Wires/Wire Number panel,
00:33
and then click the Insert Ladder tool.
00:36
The Insert Ladder dialog opens with options to define the appearance of the ladder.
00:42
For example, you can set the Width, the Spacing between each rung, and the Length.
00:48
For Length, you can enter either the total length or the number of rungs.
00:53
For this example, enter a value of 6 Rungs, and then press ENTER.
00:59
The Length is automatically calculated, based on the Spacing value.
01:03
The 1st Reference value is based on the highest number of ladders in the drawing.
01:08
In the Phase group box, try switching between the 1 Phase and 3 Phase electrical diagrams
01:14
to see how the dialog changes in response.
01:18
Ideally, whenever you open this dialog,
01:21
select the phase first to enable the relevant options,
01:24
and then move on to the other settings.
01:26
In this case, choose 1 Phase.
01:29
Under Draw Rungs, select any of the options to see a preview of the ladder to be created.
01:36
For example, if you select No Rungs, only the two outside wires are drawn, with no rungs or bus.
01:43
The default value, Yes, draws all rungs and bus pieces.
01:48
In the Skip field, you can enter the number of rungs to skip.
01:52
For example, entering 2 and pressing ENTER skips every 2 rungs and draws every third rung.
01:60
For this example, set the value back to 0, and then press ENTER.
02:04
Click OK to confirm the selected options.
02:08
Back in your drawing, AutoCAD Electrical prompts you to specify the start position of the first rung, or type in a value.
02:16
For this exercise, click in the upper-left corner to place the first rung and draw the ladder.
02:22
In theory, you could also use the Insert Wires tool to draw the same collection of wires,
02:27
but as you can see, the Insert Ladder tool is much faster than drawing the wires individually.
02:33
The ladder you just created is typical of IEC style drawings
02:37
and has no reference numbers associated with it.
02:40
Reference numbers come from the XY coordinates set up in your title block drawing.
02:45
For any drawing, the reference number scheme is configured in the Drawing Properties dialog.
02:50
On the ribbon, Schematic tab, click the Other Tools panel, and then select Drawing Properties.
02:57
In the Drawing Properties dialog, select the Drawing Format tab.
03:02
Under Format Referencing, notice that the default for this drawing, the X Zones option, is selected.
03:08
X-Zones is similar to X-Y Grid, but with no Y-axis.
03:14
Reference Numbers assigns a column of reference numbers to each ladder column.
03:19
Select each of the three options to see how the preview changes.
03:22
For this example, select Reference Numbers, and then click OK.
03:28
Next, delete the ladder you just made and create a new one with reference numbers.
03:34
In the drawing, press and hold the mouse button as you drag to select the previously created ladder,
03:40
and then, on your keyboard, press DEL.
03:43
Click the Insert Ladder command to open the Insert Ladder dialog.
03:48
Set the First Reference value to 1100, and then press ENTER.
03:53
For the Length, set the number of Rungs to 9, and then press ENTER.
03:58
Leave the remaining options set to their defaults and click OK.
04:03
In your drawing, click to select the insertion point.
04:07
AutoCAD Electrical creates a ladder with reference numbers assigned to each rung.
04:12
Reference numbers, or really, the first wire reference number, is what makes a ladder intelligent.
04:20
It contains all of the information about the ladder and is inserted as a block with attributes.
04:25
The remaining numbers are simply text entities, for your reference only.
04:31
To compare the two, with no command running, select the first reference number,
04:36
and you can see that it is a block reference.
04:39
On your keyboard, press ESC to deselect the first number.
04:43
Select any other reference number, and you can see that it is text only.
04:49
In reality, you could delete all text entries without changing the functionality of the ladder.
04:55
The insertion point of the first block includes all the information used by AutoCAD Electrical
05:00
to determine the locations of inserted components and their tag values.
