Pipes in 3 dimensions

[Gerardf]

OK. Background: We live on 10 acres in a rural location. This location has extreme summer fire risk. We have a 76kL pump to reticulate fire-fighting water and I have to rebuild it using SW to recreate some 2" pipe fittings.

I made a sketch using '3D Sketch' which works OK....mostly. Because of the high water volume flow (I have only done rough calcs using Bernoulli eq'ns) I need to sweep the angles and avoid any sharp right angle turns to minimise head loss.

So, I construct a line on the X axis so many units in length, then a 45deg branch on the Z axis and, at the same time, rotate that same Z axis line through to 45 degrees on the Y axis. SW can't seem to do it. If I set the Y axis line to 45, the Z axis changes to 90 (with respect to X). I have a work around doing it one angle on one axis at a time but I'd be surprised if SW can't do both angle changes in one iteration.

Any thoughts welcome.

Gerard

[Arthur NY]

Can you possibly post a screenshot?

[zxys001]

so, are you trying to decide on how many sprinklers you'll need?

[gupta9665]

Press tab while you are in 3d sketch and that will change the direction of the sketch. And then you should be able to sketch in Y direction.

[Gerardf]

Thanks all. Great!

Arthur: Umm...I went back to basics and wiped what I had to restart. But I'll have another go at it tomorrow.

zxys001: The water output goes to existing pipestands which comprise 11 sprinklers to dump water on the house's roof. I calculate about 1 litre per second per sprinkler. Again, that's using Bernoulli theory and not accounting for pipe losses (significant).

gupta9665: Fantastic. I'll give it a try.

[Glenn Schroeder]

I don't know if this will apply for your situation, but when I need a 3d sketch I often create a solid first, with the edges where I want the 3d sketch, then use Convert Entities on it for the sketch. That's often much easier than trying to control a 3d sketch without anything to reference, and you can edit the solid to push changes down to the 3d sketch.

You can delete or hide the body after creating the sketch.

[DanPihlaja]

Maybe this will help you?

https://r1132100503382-eu1-3dswym.3dexp ... Md9hLJYZ6A

It is a discussion I had way back when the old forum was a thing.

[Frederick_Law]

Start with 2D sketches.
Use all 2D sketches if possible.
Add 3D line for quick finish.

Most 3D sketch can be done in a few 2D sketches.
2D sketches are more stable.

[Uncle_Hairball]

I don't know if this will apply for your situation, but when I need a 3d sketch I often create a solid first, with the edges where I want the 3d sketch, then use Convert Entities on it for the sketch. That's often much easier than trying to control a 3d sketch without anything to reference, and you can edit the solid to push changes down to the 3d sketch.

You can delete or hide the body after creating the sketch.

That's a great idea, Glenn. Many thanks!