Make sure you do it this way - Editing pipe libraries

This is short and sweet...but I've been editing a lot of piping libraries lately...make sure you follow these steps:

1. Select existing fittings that match desired parts - creating from scratch is not only painful, but foolish..for my buttweld pipe, I started from standard and went forward from there...
2. Make a copy of the fittings you need to a new location - preferably, where you plan on storing these when they're added to a project or template.
3. Select Corresponding Lookup tables - edit the fittings family to see what the referenced lookup table is - then make a copy.
4. Rename Tables to match your standard - don't use the same names, especially if you're editing the values.
5. Edit tables for correct sizes (again -review each fitting family and determine what dimensional parameters correspond with the correct ##values##).
6. After editing, copy the Tables to default pipe lookup table location.
7. Next, edit fitting to correctly located the lookup table (this must be in the final location – otherwise, the table may not find the correct file)
8. Copy edited fittings to shared location, or load into your template.
9. Create a test project, and define the pipe types, setting the fittings.
10. Verify the pipe size material used matches the standard used to define the fittings, so OD, flange diameter, etc. match - don't forget about this, it's stored under the Mechanical Settings, under pipe sizes - we use the ones we purchased from CADworks, with some modifications to add pipe sizes.
11. Flex/Test fittings and pipe types to make sure they work right!

 I've tried this both ways - making from scratch, and working from copies - and it's a heck of a lot easier to work from the copy.

 

Now - go make those pipes right!