AutoCAD MEP 2010

All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

Phil Nower – Hazen and Sawyer

MP114-1 Discover how to fully utilize the power of AutoCAD MEP 2010 Software. This class will take you from a
blank drawing file to a finished contract drawing with clear understandable step-by-step procedures. This class will
also give you a sound understanding of the basic rules and concepts that drive MEP software, a must for beginning
users of MEP and a plus for the more advanced users as well.

About the Speaker:

Phil Nower has been using 3d modeling to solve design challenges from 1989 to present. He started to produce
parametric spread sheet driven 3d models with Mechanical Desktop R14 for the Petroleum and Chemical Industries.
When he became employed at Hazen and Sawyer he had the opportunity to use AutoCAD MEP to build several
large scale Water Treatment Plants as well as small scale pump stations. Phil is the primary content builder for Hazen
and Sawyer producing most of their parametric content that is distributed throughout the company.
pnower@hazenandsawyer.com
 AutoCAD MEP 2010 - All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

Today’s Class
• Where’s My Short Cuts?
The 3d Holy Grail
• What are we searching for exactly?
What is AutoCAD MEP all about?
• Multi Discipline Software
• Kiss
MEP Beginner Basics
• Kiss
• Connected Systems
• The Beginners Guidelines for Plumbing and Piping
• Routing Preferences and System Definitions
• Properties Dialog Box
• Routing Pipe in any direction using the Compass
• Mechanical Joint Piping 2010
• MEP 2010 and Civil 3d 2010 are Talking to each other

Today’s Class – Where’s my Short Cuts?

Today’s class will concentrate specifically on addressing the challenges that beginners face
when they first start to learn MEP software.

Once the beginner has acquired some of the basic concepts of MEP software, like “Where does
this 3d catalog content stuff really come from?”, or “What do pipe system definitions do
exactly?”, then that person is not a beginner anymore and is ready to learn some tips and tricks
on how to pick up productivity.

But until these basic fundamentals of the program are fully understood, learning tips and tricks
might not help the beginner out and actually might hinder their progression in further
understanding the software.

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 AutoCAD MEP 2010 - All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

The 3d Holy Grail

What are we searching for exactly? Where’s the end game with all this technology? Obvious questions
but… For beginners facing the challenge in learning any 3d software it might be important for them to
understand why they are learning this software and what the end game or the “3d Holy Grail” is.

The below is an attempt to convey the concept of 100% centralization of data. Whereby all information,
data, drawings, materials, etc, etc… That is required for any engineering project can be traced back to one
centralized location.

4d = Time
Schedules
Sequencing
Lead Times
Staging Areas
Shipping 5d = Cost
BIM
Quantity
Centralization of Data Take-Offs
Cost
Estimates
Clash
Detection

The 3d Model

Mechanical
Civil
Structural
• Communication Between all Disciplines Architectural
o Contract Drawings HVAC
Electrical
o Presentation Images Instrumentation

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 AutoCAD MEP 2010 - All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

What is AutoCAD MEP

software all about?
AutoCAD MEP is a multi-discipline
object oriented software platform.
AutoCAD MEP brings in smart
objects into a drawing file from all of
the disciplines that are required in an
MEP engineering firm. MEP does not
use lines, arcs and circles to produce
designs. For today’s lecture we will
be covering the basics in Plumbing
and Piping. When a pipe is brought
into a drawing file that pipe already
has in it many properties attached to
it like, elevation, system, connection
styles, etc, etc, etc… and it is these
attached properties coupled with the
ability that all of the following
disciplines can operate from one
software package that makes MEP a
powerful tool. “Architectural,
Structural, Mechanical, Plumbing
and Electrical”

-KISS: It’s easy to make a difficult task into the gorilla that ate your lunch. It’s harder to make something that’s challenging
into something that’s simple and easy to understand. MEP is difficult to learn because right from the start you are activating
and drawing data from several different sources at the same time. In order for plumbing or piping to work the definitions must
be functioning, the routing or line styles must also be fully operational and correctly reading from the catalog content, the
display manager as well as the cut planes and display configurations need to be correct as well. To help me out in getting you
off the ground with MEP I’ve labeled the primary aspects of MEP that you will encounter as soon as you start to work with
plumbing or piping. Reviewing these guidelines brings into play every item that you will need to operate MEP.
Create Connected Systems from
the Start:
By following the guidelines for
beginners below you will have the
ability to create a connected system.
Q: What does this offer you? The
short answer…. Almost
everything
.
Advanced Editing Capabilities: if you
need to adjust the position of a pipe,
the entire system adjusts accordingly,
if you change the size, connection
style or system that change is made
throughout all of the connected items.
Having a connected system will also
let you apply the many other features
of MEP like; plumbing sizing tables,
pipe and fitting schedules, etc, etc...

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 AutoCAD MEP 2010 - All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

The Beginners MEP Guidelines for Plumbing and Piping

1) Always start from the correct template file, never from an old drawing file
In order for MEP objects to act like they should, they need the supporting data that is found in the Style
Manager and Display Manager. You can open up a 2d or an older AutoCAD drawing file using MEP, but if you
do… understand that it will have none of the support data found in the Style Manager and Display Manager.

Look for the MEP Object
2) Always start piping and plumbing from placed equipment
When you are beginning to use MEP it is very easy to miss one of
the many dialog box items that you need to operate for plumbing
and piping. However since MEP is an object oriented software if you
always start piping or plumbing from placed objects “equipment” to
placed equipment, you will maintain a connected system and that’s
where the time saving attributes of MEP are.

3) Check that the Compass is Enabled

To double check if your compass is
enabled go to the pull down menu

4) Make sure that the Ortho is turned off

When you are routing either piping or plumbing you’re drawing fittings from the content library.

Having the Ortho on will only

allow you to see the 90 degree
options on the compass

Having the compass enabled and the ortho off

you will be able to see all the options available
to you when you’re either piping or plumbing.

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 AutoCAD MEP 2010 - All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

5) Make sure that the General Osnaps are turned off

When you begin to use MEP you do not want to
mistakenly run pipe or plumbing from end point of an
object to an end point of another object, or from the center
of an object to an end point or center of another object.

6) Make sure that the MEP Osnaps are turned on

Get in the habit early to run pipe and plumbing only from pipe end
connector and pipe curve connector MEP Osnaps. This will enable
you to create connected systems and allow you to apply the many
other features of MEP.

7) Take your time to always look for the MEP Osnaps

The MEP Osnaps do not appear quickly, you have to wait and look for
them. If you don’t you have a greater potential not to properly connect to
another MEP object. Remember that piping and plumbing read the same
MEP Osnaps.

8) Learn to select any object and then “Right Click”

A large amount of the commands that you can do to any
MEP object can be accessed just by selecting that object
and “Right Clicking” it. From walls, slabs, mass elements,
pipes, pipe fittings, plumbing lines, MvParts, etc, etc, etc…
if the object was made using MEP software, you can right
click that object and find out what you can and can’t do with
it. For the example to the right, I’ve selected a pipe. Then I
right click on it, and all of the commands that are applicable
to that object appear. All of the MEP objects have this
ability in them. You can right click and see what commands
are available for that specific object, from plumbing and
pipe fittings to concrete slabs and structural steel members.

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 AutoCAD MEP 2010 - All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

Pipe and Plumbing System Definitions

System Definitions controls what layer the pipe is created on,
what abbreviations are used for the labels, what rise drop
styles are used for the pipe system, how the pipe is displayed
as one line or two, etc, etc… it does not control what fittings,
connections and type of pipe are being used. These can be
edited and new ones can be created.

Plumbing Line Styles and

Pipe Part Routing Preferences
Pipe Routing Preferences and Plumbing Line Styles directs MEP
to look for specific fittings in the content Library, by establishing
specific sizes that are attributed to a routing preference. You can
use any Pipe Routing Preference with any Pipe System Definition
and you can use any Plumbing Line Style with any Plumbing
System Definition.

System Definitions Focuses on drafting standards,

layers, etc, etc…

Line Styles Pipe & Routing Catalog Content

Preferences

Note: The Properties Dialog Box is

The Properties Dialog Box
automatically activated every time
the pipeadd Command activated

Reads the Pipe System Definitions

Routing Preference, Controls what

fittings, pipes and connection types to
look for in the catalog content

Self explanatory… however the Elevation lock

lets you run pipe from general osnaps without
resetting the elevation. For example you can
run pipe along a wall with a 6” selecting end
points if you have the elevation locked first.

Here is where you can set a slope for

your pipe run.

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 AutoCAD MEP 2010 - All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

The compass serves as

tool to route pipe in the X,
Y and Z Coordinates. Type
P in the command prompt
and the compass will
change orientation.

From purely a beginners technical perspective when it comes to trouble shooting, having the compass enabled will
automatically eliminate one of the first mistakes that people make. This is to unwhitingly attempt to force pipe fittings
based on angles that are not supported by the catalog content.
For example, instead of having 150 Ductile Iron Elbows being properly inserted into your pipe line, you might get a
bunch of generic elbows populating your ductile iron piping layout all over the place.
What happened? The short answer is that one or more of the values that control those specific fittings could not be
applied to the routing that you attempted to do. If you did not have the compass enabled you night have mistakenly
attempted to put a 42 degree elbow in a piping layout instead of a 45 degree elbow, because Ductile Iron Elbows do not
contain 42 degree elbows MEP will give you the option to instead insert a generic elbow instead.
From a personal learning view, always having the compass constantly enabled helps the beginner to develop a
better understanding of where MEP is drawing the information from. A solid understanding of the functions of MEP will
be required to perform the higher tasks in MEP, like producing parametric parts or developing template files and
template projects.
Acquiring a substantial knowledge base as soon as possible improves your ability to perform more technically
advanced tasks but also helps out in the day to day tasks of tweaking MEP to suite specific design requirements and
assists in basic trouble shooting.

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 AutoCAD MEP 2010 - All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

When you select D.I. Mechanical

Joint for your Routing Preference
Specify a Slope

The slope of the

pipe is maintained
while the correct
MJ fitting is
inserted into the
layout.

Maintaining a specified slope

holds true even when your
layout requires you to insert
Wyes and Tees, to keep the
layout fully connected.

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 AutoCAD MEP 2010 - All About the Basics Piping and Plumbing

MEP 2010 and Civil 3d 2010 are Talking to Each Other

Steps in Linking AutoCAD MEP 2010
with Civil 3d 2010
Step 1

Open up a new drawing in Civil 3d 2010…

-Save the drawing file as Civil 1.dwg
-Close the drawing file
Step 2

Open the Civil 1.dwg file that you just made…

however this time…
open the drawing file up with MEP 2010.
• Once opened
o Go to the display manager
Now if they could only agree o Configurations
on the units… o Standard
o Plan Display Representation Control

Tab

Step 3

The Objects that you want to be

displayed follow the below
Guidelines for the Display
Representations.
o 1 Line - Is NOT Selected
 2 Line – Is Selected
 Plan – Is Selected

Now you can X-Ref in MEP

Objects and they will appear as
they do when you view them
using MEP.

Why does this work? And what exactly did I just do?

MEP 2010 has specific Display Representation Controls to customize objects

per each Display Configuration.

Civil 3d 2010 does not have customized Display Configurations… however…

it does recognize the Display Configuration - Standard

When you open up a Civil 3d 2010 drawing file with MEP 2010 you are able to see and customize the
Display Configuration – “Standard”. But… the only way you can see and customize this Display
Configuration- “Standard” that Civil 3d 2010 recognizes is with MEP 2010
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