1. Open Spooling.dwg from the exercise folder. This model contains a pipe
spool.
Chapter
2. Right-click in the gray area beneath the CADmep toolbar. Select
AutoCAD > CADmep Spool Tools. The Spool Tools submenu toolbar
appears. Position or dock it where it is easily accessible.
3. Select the Define/Create Spool(s) button from this submenu or enter
SPOOLDWG in the command line. The Define & Create Spool(s) dialog
appears. The first you use this command, most of the settings are blank.
4. Spool Name is a unique name for the spool. These names are alpha- numeric and will increment numerically with each additional spool. Enter
S p o o l i n g
5. Click Path, browse to the exercise folder and pick the Select button.
CADmep displays paths with slashes rather than backslashes. The path that Windows lists as "C:\Autodesk\Exercise" displays as "C:/Autodesk/Exercise". This does not affect software operation. If the selected path displays without a final forward slash, add it to
the end of the path.
6. Template selects the spool drawing template file. Pick the Template button, browse to the exercise folder, highlight Spool_Template.dwt and select Open.
7. Click the Job Information button. The Job Information Dialog appears.
Some basic job information has already been entered. Make no changes to Job Information.
Click Cancel to return to Define & Create Spool(s).
8. Select Change Color (or Colour) to enable it. Several options are
activated.
The Color drop-down menu selects the color of the duct/pipe-work
section.
The Bump Color button increments the section color without having
to open the color drop-down menu.
Color Range sets the AutoCAD colors that are listed in the color drop-down menu. The values are the AutoCAD color numbers separated by commas.
Click the Bump Color button as needed to set the section color to
Red.
For every Spool created, CADmep automatically increments the section colors.
S p o o l i n g
9. The Set View to option selects the AutoCAD View for this spool from a
pull-down menu. Set it to SW Isometric.
10. Enable the Set Status option. This allows Item status to be set by the spooling process. Click on the drop-down and select 5: Issued for
Manufacture.
11. Enable the Report option to create a Bill of Materials within the spool drawing.
Note: When using the Report option, the prompt for report placement is relative to the bottom left-hand corner of the report.
12. From the Report drop-down menu select Spool_Equipment report format.
13. Click the Setup button. The Select Report File dialog appears. This allows creation of new reports.
15. Enable the Update Title With Report option and use the drop-down menu to select the title_block report format. This option uses a report format to populate the spool template title block.
16. CADmep uses a scripting programming language to automate tasks. The
Execute Script File option allows selection of a script to automate
spooling. Do not enable this option for this exercise.
17. When enabled, Export Item Data creates a CSV file using a pre- configured Item Data Export report. Do not enable this option for this exercise.
18. The Tags section has many options that control the setup of Items Numbers and leaders. When enabled, Tags settings will automatically
S p o o l i n g
place the Item Numbers with our without leaders.
Display makes Number Tags visible in the spool drawing.
Prompt For Positions asks for the location of Item Numbers during the spool process.
Lock Leader works only when Prompt For Positions is enabled. It automatically places leaders based on the position of the Item Number tag.
Renumber changes the Item Numbers of spooled Items to a specified starting number.
Same Number for Identical Parts allows identical Items to have the same Item Number.
Note the option near the bottom of this dialog to Create in Layout
Tab. Spool drawings can be generated on additional layout tabs
within the same drawing file or as separate AutoCAD drawing files. Spools generated as layout tabs within the same drawing are
automatically updated if changes are made to the model.
Spools generated as separate drawing files are not linked to the original drawing file and are not updated when changes are made to the model.
In North America it is common practice to generate separate spool drawing files to distribute to the shop floor. For this exercise, disable this option.
The Select All option is disabled when the Define/Create Spool(s)
button (SPOOLDWG) command was selected. It is only accessible when using the Batch Create Spools command.
The Create Spool on OK option creates the spool drawing using the
options that are checked in a new job file. Leave this unselected if you wish to change settings and update an existing spool. Do not enable this option for this exercise.
19. For this exercise, enable only Display, Lock leader, Renumber, and
Same Number for Identical Parts. Set the Renumber starting value to 1.
20. Select OK to start the spooling process.