Suggestions NEW USER AMEP

[DIW_HDsupply]

Hello to all here in the MEP forum

 

I'm new and getting my feet wet with AMEP. I have played around wtih the modeling and well have already wanted to pull my hair out...

 

I am very well versed in AutoCAD, but NOT MEP.

 

Do you have any suggestions to getting started with MEP.

I have viewd the tutorials on AutoDesk's site, and they leave me less than satisfied.

 

I am working as a shop drawing Draftsman.

We want to take advantage of MEP's ability to generate Schedules from propertys in the piping model. I have figured out how to add tags and generate a table, but i need to populate the table with more product specific data.

 

Any ideas on how to add/create new property set definitions to the pipe?

[tzframpton]

Here's a good resource for just starting out....

http://autodeskmep.wordpress.com/

 

Look at Post #20, and download a model that I have done before to get you started:

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?50215-Autocad-MEP-who-is-really-using-the-program&p=363917&viewfull=1#post363917

 

Hope this will get the ball rolling. Anything else you need, come on back.

 

*EDIT*

 

Forgot a few things

 

This book is priceless. Spend it, it's worth every penny:

http://www.amazon.com/Aubin-Academy-Master-AutoCAD-2011/dp/1111137927/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296849091&sr=8-1

 

AutoCAD MEP User Guide:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=15307081

 

Skill Builders videos:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=12785549&linkID=9240935

 

Detailed YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AutodeskMEPTechs

[DIW_HDsupply]

The book is on it's way, I've downloaded the User Guide, I've gone through the Skill Builders videos, I will view (but am not able to at work) youtube video's...

 

I thank you for your assistance.

[tzframpton]

The book is on it's way, I've downloaded the User Guide, I've gone through the Skill Builders videos, I will view (but am not able to at work) youtube video's...

 

I thank you for your assistance.

No worries at all. Give yourself plenty of time. Three to six months just to get familiar with the program. After that it should be ticking along easily. Any questions at all, come back and post up.

[DIW_HDsupply]

I am hoping to be a bit further along shortly. It is the companies directive to be using AMEP via schedules to be writing the BOM. I need to be able to start drafting shop drawings soon. As these are shop drawings, I do not have to enclude full site plans or be responcible for the design, I simply have to correctly represent my suppliers pipe, fittings, and components. I am hoping to be able to export 2D sections and views for these simplified shop drawings. I will have more questions, on populating the schedule, but I will post those as a new thread.

 

Many thanks StykFacE.

[tzframpton]

What type of shop drawings? HVAC, Piping/Plumbing, or Electrical? If it's HVAC and/or Piping I can really help you along with generating shop drawings. It's what I do day in, day out.

[DIW_HDsupply]

Unfortunatly it's piping, but this is not a far strech for me. 90% of this is reading the engineers designs and specifications and re-drawing there design, with actual components. I will have to check valve lay-legnth and provide spool dimensions. I have a titleblock and ctb files ready, I know this won't jive perfectly with the layers provided by AutoCAD MEP. My bandaid is that I can x-ref in the views & schedules, and change the layer colors in the viewport. This is not how I want to operate perminantly, but I need to be producing something soon. I'm quickly comming up on my 30 day review.

[tzframpton]

Well, AutoCAD MEP can do it and VERY effectively once you get a general grasp. And we are in the exact same trade so I can relate 100% to what you're after.

 

I just recently did a $2 million mechanical chilled water system with 16" piping and three 400 Ton chillers for a data center. I had to create fab-ready dimensioned for each spool piece in the shop drawings for our guys in the field to prefab everything up to squeeze in under a 36" raised floor. The stock catalog of piping, fittings and flanges are dead on. I checked submittal data through a Weldbend Flange & Fitting catalog and they're accurate. We used NIBCO lugged butterfly valves which I had to edit an existing default stock part in AutoCAD MEP and do a "Save As" with the proper adjustments to the valve thickness to provide accurate spool pieces.

 

And yes, it'll take you time to convert your existing Titleblocks, Schedules, etcetera to fit the new CTB file if that's what you're after. It would probably be easier than going the other way. :wink: