Fixtures

#Standard fixtures

Goal: know which fixtures are supplied and what they bring.

The Fixtures page lists all blocks from folders named Apparate. The standard fixtures are supplied – in the groups valves, bathtubs, bidets, floor drains, showers, laundry, kitchen, urinals, lavatories, water heaters and toilets. Each one has:

• a solid in 3D and a floor plan in 2D – so it appears in both modes,
• the water connectors (cold water, hot water; more where needed) and a drain at the right position and elevation,
• its insertion point at the wall, in the middle, on the floor,
• default values for the property fields and the dimensions (width, depth, height).

Some have two connector sets – see Connector set. Only standard fixtures accept the drainage routing and the systems of fixture connectors; a custom fixture keeps its connectors exactly as they are defined in the block.

#Inserting a fixture against a wall

Goal: place a fixture parallel to the wall with its back against the wall.

1. Choose the fixture and Insert ….
2. Press W and click two points along the wall – so that the room lies to the left of the direction. The fixture turns parallel to the wall, its front faces the room.
3. Click the insertion point (middle of the back) onto the wall.
4. In a corner: with the Space take the corner "left back (wall)" or "right back (wall)" as the base point and click the corner of the room – with A also at a distance.

D types the angle, M mirrors a corner model to the other side.

#Detecting fixtures in the plan and inserting them

Goal: find all toilets, lavatories, showers … in an architect's floor plan and place the standard fixtures right there.

1. Fixtures page › Detect fixtures in the plan and insert … (or gear menu › Detect fixtures in the architect's plan and insert …).
2. Select the area of the floor plan and press Enter – or just Enter for the whole plan. A selection made beforehand applies. Objects inside blocks, xrefs and IFC elements are read too.
3. LuaCAD detects the fixtures (blocks with a matching name or exploded lines with a matching shape) and states the number of locations in the command line. Their numbers appear in the plan: green = will be inserted, gray = not.
4. In the dialog box Insert fixtures automatically (on the right of the window so the plan stays visible) check each row: check box = insert, the type (standard fixture) can be changed or set to "– do not insert –", Show jumps to the location. All / None set or clear all check boxes.
5. A fixture is missing: Click an example.
6. Insert n fixtures (or Enter) places the standard fixtures – with the back centered against the wall, the front into the room. Esc or Cancel inserts nothing.

What applies from the palette: the 2D | 3D switch, the "connectors only" check box, the elevation (absolute or from level; with "free" 0), the drainage routing and the connector set remembered per fixture. In a corner LuaCAD chooses the wall so that the connectors go to the wall with the pipes. All fixtures of one run are one undo step.

Options

• A ⚠ in front of a row means: the direction was not recognized from a wall or corner. The fixture is inserted anyway but may be turned the wrong way – look at it with "Show" and check it after inserting.
• What you change in the list (another type, "do not insert") LuaCAD remembers for the next plan – per block name or per shape.
• If the plan is drawn in other units than your preset, the fixtures go in the units of the plan so that they lie on it; the command line says so.

#A fixture is missing: click an example

Goal: catch up on a fixture type that was not detected, with an example.

1. In the dialog box under A fixture is missing? choose the type (toilet, lavatory, shower, bathtub, sink, urinal, bidet, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, service sink, floor drain).
2. Click an example … – the dialog box closes. Click a line of such a fixture in the plan. Esc = back to the list.
3. If the line lies in a block of fixture size, LuaCAD remembers its name: from now on all blocks of this name are this type. Otherwise LuaCAD searches all identical shapes and remembers the shape.
4. The list comes back, the new locations are checked; the command line states their number.

"There is nothing I can read there" means: there is no line, arc or polyline at that point. "I find no shape for this example": the lines do not form a closed shape – click another piece of the fixture.

#Drainage routing

Goal: decide whether the drain of the next standard fixtures goes into the in-wall carrier or horizontally below the ceiling or into the floor.

1. Choose a fixture (switch on 3D). Drainage routing appears below the selected block.
2. Choose:
   • by fixture type (default) – toilet, lavatory, urinal, bidet into the in-wall carrier; everything on the floor (bathtub, shower, appliances, sink) below ceiling / in the floor,
   • In-wall carrier – for all following standard fixtures,
   • Below ceiling / in the floor – for all following standard fixtures.
3. Insert – the drain of every following standard fixture has this routing.

The choice stays remembered and also applies to detecting fixtures in the plan. For a custom fixture it is gray: its connectors apply as they are defined in the block. In 2D it is not used. Switch a placed fixture in the Properties palette (on the drain).

#Systems of fixture connectors

Goal: decide which Piping 3D system the water, heating and gas connectors of the standard fixtures get – and with it their color.

1. Gear menu › Systems of fixture connectors ….
2. Choose the system per role. The first entry (automatic: …) names what applies without a fixed choice: the default system of the role (cold water = reduced-pressure domestic cold water, domestic hot water, recirculation, heating supply, heating return, natural gas), otherwise the system with a matching code or description.
3. The color field on the right shows the color the connector gets.
4. OK – the command line says how many roles have a fixed assignment.

It applies to standard fixtures inserted or detected in the plan from now on, and to pipe connectors without a fixture. Placed fixtures keep their system (change: Piping 3D › Change properties); custom blocks keep their connectors. The systems themselves are maintained in the system definitions of Piping 3D. Every setting: Systems of fixture connectors.

#Mirrored fixtures

Goal: place a fixture mirror-inverted without cold and hot water ending up the wrong way round.

1. At the cursor press M – or mirror a placed fixture with MIRROR of GstarCAD.
2. Shape and drain are mirrored; cold and hot water swap places so that cold water stays right, hot water left (seen from the front).
3. The command line says so for the first mirrored fixture or after MIRROR ("n fixture(s) mirrored – cold water stays on the right …").

With a connector set LuaCAD applies the same rule to the positions of the chosen set. In 2D the marks swap the same way.

#Changing the connector set

Goal: use the other connector set on a placed fixture – for example the shower valve on the side wall instead of the back wall.

1. Select the fixture (or several), right-click › LuaCAD › Change connector set – or start the command without a selection and click the fixture.
2. The command line asks "Choose connector set (A – …, B – …)". Click or type the set; Enter takes the next set.
3. The connectors move to the positions of the new set, connected pipes follow. The command line says "n fixture(s) changed to "…" – connected pipes follow."

Or choose another set in the Properties palette › LuaCAD › Connector set. If a connector disappears at which a pipe ends, LuaCAD asks: Reconnect to … (the pipe end moves along to the new connector) or Leave pipe open (the pipe stays where it is, its end is free afterwards); Cancel leaves the fixture as it is.

#Connecting pipes

Goal: draw pipes from a fixture – in Piping 3D, Piping 2D or Drainage 3D.

• Piping 3D: start a run at a water connector of the fixture – it takes over system and nominal size. The button "Fixtures from the block library …" (Risers/connectors page) opens the Block Library directly on the Fixtures page in 3D.
• Piping 2D: connect to the colored marks of a 2D fixture; Piping 2D opens the Block Library in 2D.
• Drainage 3D: the drain is a drainage connector with template and routing; the plumbing line starts there.
• Convert 2D to 3D: "Convert to 3D" in Piping 3D turns a 2D fixture into the same fixture in 3D – its block DWG must be found on this computer, otherwise it stays 2D and the command line says so.

See Piping 3D › Fixtures from the block library and Drainage 3D › Fixtures from the Block Library.