Panel layout
The panel layout process
To generate panel layout, follow the process as listed below:
- Complete schematic drawings.
- Create a new page and set scale and measurement units.
- Place base plates, cable ducts and rails on the new page.
- Click on menu Generate Layout and use the Generate Layout window to assign components.
- Click the Generate or Generate All button to generate layout.
- Use guides to place and align layout shapes.
Preparing a page for panel layout
Pages on a new Capital Electra X drawing template are set at 1:1 scale and measurement units set at inches. These page settings are optimized for schematic drawings. To prepare a page for panel layout drawings:
- Click on the + icon on the pages menu.
- Click on the File menu and then on Page Setup. Or click on the page setup icon, on the bottom left of your editor.
- Click on the Scale input and enter a source unit. Then click on the -Scale target input_ and enter a target unit (Recommended: 1:5 for smaller panels and 1:10 for bigger panels).
- On the Measurement units drop down, select millimeters.
Inserting plates, cable ducts and rails
One of the first thing to do during panel layout drawings is to insert a plate (base plate or front plate).
To insert a plate, select the Layout stencil and drag the plate symbol to your drawing.
All Plate symbols have automatic dimensions that you can show or hide by right clicking on the plate.
Users can also set units for plates, cable ducts and rails to be displayed on a drawing by right clicking on these symbols.
Dimension shapes
To measure length and diameters, Capital Electra X provides dimensioning shapes on the Layout stencil to be dragged and dropped on drawings. All of them automatically display the dimension when their handles are dragged.
Right click on the dimension shapes for more options.
Generating panel layout
To generate panel layout:
- Click menu Generate Layout.
- Select the panel where the components within it for layout generation.
- Ensure that all references are matched correctly with components.
- Click the Generate All button on the Generate Layout window.
- Place and arrange generated components on your panel layout drawings.
Hover over the preview of the layout and click Select to select another layout or View to view the layout graphics.
When the Generate All button is pressed, Capital Electra X will automatically synchronize your panel layout to your schematics.
For example, you may have added or deleted some symbols on your schematics, and Generate Layout will insert or delete components accordingly.
If you have changed the references of your schematics, Generate Layout will also automatically reflect this change.
See also
Layout consistency checks
To check if there's components without layout or leftover layouts in the drawing:
- Click on Tools | Layout consistency checks
A list of components without layout will be shown in the layout consistency checks dialog.
Click on the reference on the list to navigate you to the respective symbol on the drawing.
Click on the Refresh button to update the list.
Click on the Filter by dropdown and select Leftover layouts to show the list of leftover layouts.
Using guides to place layout shapes
To create a guide:
- Drag on the ruler and drop a guide in any position.
Once a guide is created, drag layout symbol to guides for attachment (shape handles will turn red). When guides are moved, all symbols that are attached to guides will automatically move and follow guides.
Placing shapes on a guide:
- Drag shapes onto the guide (center of shape will turn red to indicate latching on guide).
Using Automatic Placement on Rails
Layout symbols can be automatically placed and arranged on rails if Automatically Place Layout Symbols on Rails is enabled in File | Preferences | Capital Electra Options.
To automatically arrange layout symbols on rails, simply drag and drop a layout symbol onto a rail:
- Layout symbols must be touching rails in order to be automatically placed and arranged.
- Multiple layout symbols can be dropped, but only one symbol needs to be touching rails for all symbols to be automatically placed and arranged on rails.
- Symbols can be dropped between previously placed symbols, but still be touching rails, in order to be automatically arranged.
- When the rail is fully occupied, layout symbols to the right is booted out from the rail to make room for newly dropped symbols.
- Layout symbols can be dragged from rails, and symbols that is still on rails will be automatically rearranged.
- When rails are dragged to new positions, all layout symbols on rails will be automatically moved and repositioned on rails.
Disabling Automatic Placement
By default, all layout symbols are enabled for automatic placement on rails, but can be disabled individually or globally. To disable automatic placement on rails globally, see Automatically Place Layout Symbols on Rails. To disable a layout symbol from automatic placement individually, simply right click on any layout symbol and select Disable automatic placement. Once it is disabled, this individual layout symbol will not be automatically placed. This is useful for certain layout symbols like base plate, or relays that is placed on relay base.
Using snap point to adjust the position of layout symbols on rails
Layout symbols are always snapped to the rail based on the center, but with snap point, users can configure the snap point where it is snapped on to the rail.
To configure the snap point on layout symbols:
- Select the snap point on the layout symbol and drag to move it.
Using 3D layout shapes
To use the Layout 3D shapes, click on the Stencil menu, and open the stencil Layout3D.
Making your own layout shapes
To make your own layout shape:
- Draw lines, arcs, graphics, or drag and drop a CAD drawing or an image of the layout shape into Capital Electra X.
- Group all shapes and select them.
- Click on menu Create Layout Symbol.
- Type in a name for the layout symbol.
- Click OK.
An icon will be generated automatically when the layout symbol is added to a stencil. Right click on the layout symbol in the stencil and select Edit Icon to modify layout symbol icon.
Mounting Hole
The mounting hole can be found under the Layout section in the stencil bar. It is available in units such as centimeters(cm), millimeters(mm), inch(in) and pixels(px).
Users can print layout with the dimensions of mounting holes.
