Hello all,

Question about overall dimensions today. Is there a way to have overall dimensions that only go across branches but do not come out at all for valves? The problem I am having is that I want overall dimensions where I have o-lets for vents and drains but I do not want overall dimensions that go across my flanged valves.

My dimension settings are Composite and Across Branches. If I use Valves Across Branches setting then I get a dimension to the center of flanged valves, which I do not want.

Doesn't seem like it is something ISOGEN can do but I thought I would throw it out there see if someone has figured it out before.

I have the same problem except i i need overall dims from face of flanges to face of flanges or center of branches. No shops use dims to center of flanged valves why is this not an option to dimension to the face of flanges instead of center of valves?

Also when i change overall dimensions to "break at spools" it doesnt change anything i still get a long single run dimension spanning across flanged valves... this is not accurate seeing as a flange would designate a new "spool".

Flanges don't designate spool breaks, but rather a component set as not "fabrication" category; typically the gasket but possibly the entire gasket/bolts/valve/gasket/bolts group.

And there should be an option setting for dimensioning to ends of valves. There's a number of different options that need setting, such as size (and possibly valve type under ICONFIG, but that's just from memory).

thanks for that info, i hadnt realized our bolts and gaskets were on "fabrication" with the rest of the components. our next issue is that we have butterfly valves that get cap screws and no gaskets but the Iso still shows gasket spaces. also when we get our "overall" dims to come in they include gaskets in the overall... how would i get the overall dimension to go from face to face?

The gasket isn't indicated by the gap, it's either BOM mark number only, or a block (looking at your control valve, you've got gasket graphics turned on).

Old-school manual isos would show a tick mark on the dimension side for gaskets; the gasket "box" graphic can be redefined but it won't always come out on the correct side of the flange. We normally leave it "virtual" (no graphics) and use the gasket part number reference to indicate whether it's needed or not (that's where the gasket prefix comes in handy e.g. "F5 G12 B13" (flange is BOM item 5, gasket is BOM item 12, bolts are BOM item 13).

There should be a switch to control gasket dimensions; check option switch 9, position 2.

Thank you for the help sir!

I know how to turn the gasket graphics on and off, i have them turned on now as a crutch because even the flange connections without gaskets show gaps where there shouldnt be any. with the graphics turned on its more obvious to the fab shop that the gaps without a dimension or gasket graphic is not actually a gasket but flange to flange connection. unfortunately its still leaving an undesirable fab drawing that could lead to the shop making mistakes.

if the gaskets are not indicated by the gaps, why does isogen even show gaps in the first place? It appears to me that it is indicating a gap at a face of flange connection. Showing the gaps in and of itself is not necessarily the biggest problem i have. the biggest problem is that there appears to be no rhyme or reason behind the intelligence cadworx is using to place the dimension on either side of a face of flange when placing overall dims. On the control valve for instance the left side overall dimension terminates at the correct face of flange, then shows the gap, then the overall dimension on the right side begins at the face of the valve not the spool flange and included the gasket gap within it. this is not ideal for fab drawings going to the fabrication shop. We cannot send fab drawings to the shop where these guys are expected to add or subtract gasket dimensions from the spool lengths. we are having to manually modify all of these iso's and its adding massive hours cleaning things up when we have to do it on 500 isometric drawings.

When you look at the butterfly valve in the second pic there are gaps where no gaps are actually present. graphically this is not correct and old school isos would not show a tick mark here either since there is no gasket because it is flange to flange.

Traditionally, isos have always shown a gap between flanged connections, gasket or no... it's a schematic drawing, not a true-life detail. And ISOGEN (it's not CADWorx which is creating these) is all about traditional isometrics.

If you want "proper" spool isometrics you'll want to try some of the spool types (rather than "combined") which do a better job. Otherwise you should skip ISOGEN entirely, and export PCF to SPOOLGEN or other spooling isometric software.

If you're *not* making drawings for direct fabrication, step back a bit and don't worry about the small details. Let the guys in the fab shop do their job; when presented with overly detailed drawings will just ignore all that extra work you put in.

these are direct to the fabrication shop here in house. we are trying to utilize isogen to produce fabrication isometric drawings. we are 99% there we just need another 1% to be perfect so the fab shop is not adding up or subtracting dimensions and we are not manually editing iso's in the design dept. Is there no way to force the dimensions to the face of flange of the spools versus one side of a spool flange and the other side of a valve face?

"Traditionally, isos have always shown a gap between flanged connections" true when these connections are not face to face without gaskets. the gap or hash/tick mark between the dimensions designates a gasket gap. I would beg to differ, In my 20 years as a piper I've never seen from a drafting perspective wafer or lug butterfly valves without gaskets get a gap or gasket tick mark its always been a single line to the face of flange dimension.

I know plant 3d can do this pretty easily.
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/a...c38d5c2f57.html

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-p...wf/td-p/6977594

and so can bentley: https://communities.bentley.com/products...enplant-modeler

maybe there is a way to force or fake the gap to respond how we need it to graphically be represented accurately?

Is it possible to get an overall dimension to span across to a CL of a connecting component?

bump, would really be nice if we could get dimensions across to continuation graphics... i know they recently fixed this in Autocad Plant 3D