"Rack" Shape in "Equipment Racks" Stencil - D-Tools Forum

avzone · 07-24-2007, 02:17 AM

Attention Adam, Rick, and anyone else with ShapeSheet skills.

This should be fun. OK, how do I start? Not really sure this is the most appropriate place to post this, but here goes...
I'd like to suggest an improvement of the Rack shape in the Equipment Racks stencil. Unless I am on crack, the rack spacing has been "off" slightly from day one. The connection point spacing appears to begin at the bottom of the shape with a connection point every 1.75" until you get to the top of the rack. The problem is the last connection point at the top of the rack leaves a rack space that is less than 1.75". Anyone else noticed this?

Now, let's look at the ShapeSheet of the Rack shape. I'm using a 19 space rack, so the formula my rack uses for connection points is IF(User.NumCPs>=19,Connections.Y18+User.CP_Spacing ,User.CPHomeY) located in the Connections.Y19 cell. Breaking down the Precedents reveals the following:
Connections.Y18 = 31.5
User.CP_Spacing = 1.75
User.NumCPs = 20
User.CPHomeY = 0.0000 in

See anything wrong with these values? I do. The value shown for the first connection point is 0. The first connection point should begin at the first available rack space at the top of the rack (36.05" in my case) less the Top Plate (0" in my case). So let's do some formula tracing, shall we?

The formula for User.CPHomeY is as follows: Height*0+User.H_Grating

And the values of the Precedents are:
Height = 36.0500 in
User.H_Grating = 0.0000 in (height of my top plate)

Well, the Height value is correct, but why is it being multiplied by zero and then added to the value of User.H_Grating aka Prop.TopHeight or "Top Piece Height?" Well, it shouldn't. Here's what I thought it should be:

Height-User.H_Grating

Well, it seems that I am wrong since it didn't work. I'm sure I'll have to open the group, but until I figure it out I suggest the Rack shape be updated to act properly.

07-24-2007, 05:35 AM

Originally Posted by avzone

The connection point spacing appears to begin at the bottom of the shape with a connection point every 1.75" until you get to the top of the rack. The problem is the last connection point at the top of the rack leaves a rack space that is less than 1.75". Anyone else noticed this?

I did notice this on the two racks I laid out this week.. I thought I was wrong, I even when out to the actual rack and measured! Ok.. I didn't take it that far, but I did notice the small space at the top was not a full rack space.

**Kevin Mikelonis** · 07-24-2007, 05:49 AM

Originally Posted by avzone

Attention Adam, Rick, and anyone else with ShapeSheet skills.

Unless I am on crack, the rack spacing has been "off" slightly from day one. :

Graham, you are not on crack, although crack will help you let this stuff go.

but it is important because many a rack can be wrongly (word - sp?) engineered due to the fact that the DT 'Generic Equipment Rack' shape has been wrong.

Seems like the overall height dim gets you the overall height and then the shape throws in the top and bottom panel and you lose two spaces or so on every rack.

Nice catch - you know Reed got his job by hanging out here too much, you lookin' for work? :-]

Head Tool · 07-24-2007, 07:00 PM

There is some pretty complex math on the Rack shape in the Equipment Rack stencil. This math is compounded by the new adjustable top and bottom pieces.

Most 19" racks are the same except for the height, width and top and bottom plates. If you know the number of rack spaces you could automatically draw draw 99% of the 19" racks out there.

This rack shape was my first attempt to automate this process because I did not want to try and draw every freaking combination of racks in the world. In SI6 when we expand the database to track different kinds of information we will include top, bottom and number of units as part of the data structure. At this point you have to manually enter them in the Visio UI.

So after looking at this shape it looks like I f'ed up on the connection point formulas. They should start at the top of the bottom plate but they start at the bottom of the rack.

I will see if I can fix and get back to you.

Adam

avzone · 07-25-2007, 02:31 AM

Originally Posted by Head Tool

There is some pretty complex math on the Rack shape in the Equipment Rack stencil. This math is compounded by the new adjustable top and bottom pieces.

Most 19" racks are the same except for the height, width and top and bottom plates. If you know the number of rack spaces you could automatically draw draw 99% of the 19" racks out there.

This rack shape was my first attempt to automate this process because I did not want to try and draw every freaking combination of racks in the world. In SI6 when we expand the database to track different kinds of information we will include top, bottom and number of units as part of the data structure. At this point you have to manually enter them in the Visio UI.

So after looking at this shape it looks like I f'ed up on the connection point formulas. They should start at the top of the bottom plate but they start at the bottom of the rack.

I will see if I can fix and get back to you.

Adam

Thanks for checking into this Adam. Can you start the connection points at the bottom of the top plate going down instead? This would help resolve the issue of ending up with a partial rack space being at the top. Instead it would be at the bottom, which would be preferred. I like puzzles like this, so I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

Thanks again.

avzone · 07-25-2007, 02:35 AM

Originally Posted by Kevin Mikelonis

Graham, you are not on crack, although crack will help you let this stuff go.

Yep, but after 3 years of letting it go, I'm dumb enough to think I've learned enough to take a whack at coming up with a solution. This is the sort of thing I have fun solving late at night before hitting the hay. I enjoy a good brain teaser. It keeps the brain healthy.

Head Tool · 07-30-2007, 10:27 PM

Ok, I think I fixed the rack shape. Actually, I should credit Chris Roth who did the actual fixing. I just tested the enclosed shape and it seems to work as expected now. Check out the enclosed pic, that is the lower part of a MAP AXS rack. Notice where the connection points on the bottom start? Just make sure to add the correct top and bottom plate dims.

The attached zip file has the new stencil. Let me know if it does not work as expected.

Adam

Visio Guy · 08-06-2007, 01:56 PM

Thanks for the cred, Adam. Let me know if there's anything wrong with the updated rack!

08-06-2007, 03:05 PM

the zip file is corrupt, can you try again?

newman

Reed Phillips · 08-06-2007, 04:21 PM

It loaded fine for me using Firefox.