If you are using AutoCAD PLANT 3D, it’s skillful to keep this trigonometric fact in mind: the sine of 30° is equal to 1/2. This principle simplifies the process of routing conduit offsets and can be applied to any piping route.

ELECTROWorx repurposes AutoCAD PLANT 3D for electrical design, utilizing its conduit design specifications to model routes above ground, below ground, indoors, outdoors, and across various electrical area classifications.

The specifications and catalogs for rigid metallic conduit (RMC) include provisions for routing “bent-to-fit” runs, which users will find invaluable when creating offsets.

This article explores the trigonometry behind these applications, provides real-world use cases, and concludes with a demonstration video.

Using Trig in AutoCAD PLANT 3D is easy and fun!

Lesson 1:

Trigonometry is the branch of mathematics concerned with specific functions of angles and their application to calculations.

There are six functions of an angle commonly used in trigonometry. Their names and abbreviations are sine (sin), cosine (cos), tangent (tan), cotangent (cot), secant (sec), and cosecant (csc)…blah blah, blah.

This lesson is on right triangles where the Opposite Side length is equal to the Hypotenuse length multiplied by the Sine of 30°

It’s like being back in grade school.

Wrong. We are in the real world and will focus on this Sine formula for routing conduit or pipe.

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Lesson 2:

The sine of 30° is equal to 1/2.

This real-world math is easy and is very practical when routing bent conduit where the objective is to control offset around, above or below something.

Routing at 30 degrees to achieve an offset allow you to enter distances that are exactly 2 times desired offset values.

That is something to get your head around!

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Lesson 3:

AutoCAD PLANT 3D has settings that control the polar snaps when routing pipe, or conduit.
Setting this to 30° increments lays the foundation for using Sine Trigonometry particularly around 30-degree angles.

The rest is left up to users to route knowing that distances entered while routing at 30° can result in offsets equal to exactly half of that.

In this example, a conduit run is offset 4 inches by setting the route direction at 30 degrees from vertical and entering a length of 8 inches from the bend start point.

Watch the SPOT training video to see all these steps.

• Set the RMC7 specification. Rigid Metallic Conduit w/ Type 7 conduit bodies.
• Insert an FD Device Box.
• Set the Pipe Bend Toggle ON.
• Select the ‘BENT TO FIT’ conduit option
• Set the AutoCAD PLANT 3D Compass settings to 30°
• Route continuously, entering your Trig variables to achieve desired offsets.

Video