Q: How can I frame an opening for a set of pipes passing through a wall and make individual openings for each one in the sheathing layer?
A: While there are other workflows, the one I’ll describe below seems to be the simplest with the least steps and configurations. The following steps will lead to this end result for your pipes:
1. You have to create Opening configurations for your pipes (ducts, etc.), which will insert simple round openings for your pipes (you can use one configuration for all sizes) but will join those openings into a rectangular framed opening, in case the pipes are close to one another
(second screenshot):
2. At this point, use Wall+M to frame the rectangular opening around the group of pipes.
3. Select the opening and use the Join/Unjoin Openings command from the Cut Opening menu and you will get your round openings for sheathing production:
If you follow the above workflow, you’ll end up with a framed, joined opening and unjoined round openings on the wall. Those round openings, however, would go through the whole wall, but you can use Exclude parts in Wall link menu, to exclude part for the Frame Layer so it won’t be visible when Show Parts is applied for the view.
I hope this workflow is useful for you!
If you’re not a current user of Wall+M (our framing add-on for metal walls) or our Cut Opening tool, we invite you to try them out! Take a free trial by downloading our TOOLS4BIM Dock below.
