Draw electrical key/legend


ethanjsmith82
 Share

Go to solution Solved by katalyst777,

Recommended Posts

I am using HD to do my electrical permit drawings.  I've got everything finished but need to add in a key/legend to show the authorities what each symbol means.  I've managed to get all the symbols lined up, then created a mutlitple-line text field with the corresponding text and lined it all up so it makes sense.

 

It shows up just fine but I was only able to do it within the floorplan/walls.  As soon as I select everything and try to drag it outside the walls, into the top corner of the page (where a key/legend would normally be), it starts re-arranging things.  Worse, most of the symbols don't seem to move past the most exterior wall plane.  Kind of hard to explain.

 

What's the best way to go about achieving a key/legend?  I can take a screenshot of the key/legend as it is laid out correctly in plan view, but I couldn't find a way to paste/insert an image into plan view.  The only related option just inserts a symbol into plan view and I guess inserts the actual image data into 3d view?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Were I you, I would create a new plan, name it "Electrical Legend" and then place invisible walls in two or more vertical rows and then place electrical objects on the invisible walls with text to the right of each symbol, defining what the symbol represents. Then send that plan view to layout, scaled to fit. Save that plan for future use in other plans. That is how I made my first electric legend back in 1995 and it still works.

 

DJP

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a 2D CAD "Electric and Audio Legend" that ships with Chief Premier. I do not see why you could not import that into Pro and use it. The only problem I have with it is that it is too extensive (That means that I often have to edit the symbols and text to fit my particular plan). For rather simple plans, I recommend the approach I used when I started using walls and symbols (some electrical symbols will not allow being inserted into anything but a wall, visible or invisible).

Also attached is the 2D CAD legend I spoke of.

Download the compressed archive to your hard drive, decompress the zip file and then import the .dfx file and add to your library if you like.

 

DJP

electric legend.zip

  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Were I you, I would create a new plan, name it "Electrical Legend" and then place invisible walls in two or more vertical rows and then place electrical objects on the invisible walls with text to the right of each symbol, defining what the symbol represents. Then send that plan view to layout, scaled to fit. Save that plan for future use in other plans. That is how I made my first electric legend back in 1995 and it still works.

 

DJP

AGREE & glad to see others doing same

but as a tangent to all this, may I ask HOW TO

create or at least modify an electrical symbol?

MOST NEEDED ARE

1. Cat5/TV --> Cat6e/TV desired

2. The pendant light symbols need at least a "P" included in these

 

Must I upgrade to a higher level than version X5 to do this ... if possible to do?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This legend thing is a 2d excercise isn't it?......pull it together using simple cad line and circle drawings and text as needed. That's what I do. No big deal.....can be done in 30 mins...and then even less 2nd time round. HDPro is focused on better things I have discovered. Thanks for the discussion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share