Rack Tool

Applies To:

PRO

XLT

Related Settings:

None

Rack Tool

Menu: Tools>Equipment>Rack

Default keyboard shortcut: None

Function:

Create basic individual rack layouts using the Rack Tool. Defines locations and dimensions and places a rack in the drawing at the selected basepoint. There are two modes of operation. Both modes will place a WireCAD Location Grid of your dimensioning in the drawing space at the basepoint of your choice.

Dumb Rack

Referred to as a Dumb Rack because it has no link to the databases. Dumb Rack will draw a Location Grid of the defined height and slot count as well as place a raw entities in the shape of a rack around the Location Grid.

Auto-Populate

Auto-Populate places a Location Grid of the defined height and slot count and then polls the Project Systems database for any SysName located at that location. It then gets the Front Panel Block Reference for that device and places in the grid.

Add Rack Layout Control Descriptions

Item	Description
Rack Units textbox	Sets the height in Rack Units of the Location Grid.
Slot Count textbox	Sets the number of slots that the grid will display or contain. This is usually set for the maximum number of slots in any device located in the Location Grid. For example, assume you have a DA tray that can hold 11 cards in the same location with a tray that holds two cards. You would set the slot count for the location to be 11. The cards that slot into the the lower slot count frames would simply be moved to the the corresponding slot say 1 and 5
Location combo	Type the location directly or pull from those listed in the Project Systems database.
Auto-Populate / Dumb Rack	See explanation above.
Rack Properties	Sets the properties of the Dumb Rack

<OK>	Build the rack. You will be prompted for the location in the drawing space. Bear in mind that the location basepoint is the lower left corner of the grid.

HOW TO: Manually Create Rack Layouts

Assumes that you have some sort of Front Panel External Blocks in the Equipment Library

Stop! before you attempt this, make sure that all devices have Front Panel External Blocks in the Equipment Library.

1. Create a New Drawing for the Rack Layout.	For more information about creating New Drawings see here.
2. Start the command by clicking Tools>Racks>Rack.
3. Select or type the Location for which to place a Location Grid.
4. Set the Rack Units and Slot Count	A standard Rack Unit is 1.75 Inches. The slot width is determined by the Rack Panel Width/Slot Count.
5. Select the Dumb Rack option.	This will draw a rack around the Location Grid.
6. Change any of the default Rack Properties.
7. Click <OK> WireCAD will then create a location grid and draw the Dumb Rack around it.
8. Open the Equipment Library by clicking Tools>Equipment>Equipment Library.
9. Select the piece of equipment to place in the rack layout.
10. Select the Mechanical View	Note: If the BlockRef field is empty, no block will be displayed
11. Click <Add This Item to Drawing>
12. When prompted to assign as SysName, click <No>. If prompted to redefine this block click <No>.
13. Locate the equipment in the Location Grid.	It is usually a good idea to turn on End Point snap and Node snap when working in the WireCAD Location Grids.
14. Double-click the equipment to assign a SysName.	Note that we have picked up the location from the grid and prepopulated the fields.
15. Click <OK> to finish the assignment.