Question
How to create Pulled Pipe Bends in AutoCAD Plant 3D 2015
Answer
Rather than routing pipe with standard elbows in AutoCAD Plant 3D, you can create pulled pipe bends and returns of a user-defined radius.
Route with Pipe Bends
To route with pipe bends, you can toggle the Pipe Bends button on the Part Insertion panel of the ribbon.
Alternatively, you can select the pipeBEnd option from the command line during the pipe routing command.
Parameters
Pipe bends are defined by their curve radius, tangent lengths and path angle; these values may be viewed through the AutoCAD Properties window.
The default parameter values for pipe bends vary with the nominal diameter of the pipe; they are stored in a text file in the project folder and are not dependent upon the pipe spec. For projects using imperial units, the file is called PipeBendDefaultValues.txt; for metric and mixed metric projects the file is called Metric_PipeBendDefaultValues.txt .
Edit a Pipe Bend
You can edit the geometry of a pipe bend using the PLANTEDITBEND command; choose theEdit Pipe Bend… option from the context menu and modify the parameter values on screen (if you have dynamic input enabled) or through the command line prompt if not.
You can also edit the values through the AutoCAD Properties window directly.
System Variables
Pipe bends require pipe with a PL (plain) end type by default. You can the system variablePLANTBENDENABLEALLPIPETYPES to enable bends for all types.
You can specify the maximum path angle for a pipe bend. The system variable PLANTMAXBENDANGLE specifies the maximum angle for a bend. You can set this variable to values between 90 and 180. The default value is 90.
