Breaking up cad boxes

[KingsOwn]

I just accidentally broke a cross cad box into polyline & cad lines by hitting a set of key strokes that I can't repeat as I don't know what they were.

Does anyone know what the key strokes are to do this?

Would be handy when putting a detail break line through a cad box.

[Chopsaw]

Would that be a chief cross cad box or one you built yourself ?  I was not aware you could break a chief cross box.

 

If you broke a cad block with a hot key combination it would be something that you set up so just a matter of looking in your hotkey listing to see what it there, I think.

[KingsOwn]

Hi Chopsaw,

 

I also didn't think you could break up a cross cad box, but I fumbled on the key board and then when I selected the cad box it had become cad lines.  Perhaps I inadvertently created a cad detail, but I didn't find a new cad detail.  I might be dreaming.

I often draw up a 2d detail using cross cad boxes at the stage where I'm working out how something is going to be built.  Then when I want to cut down the detail to fit on the layout, typically this happens with a window head detail and I don't need to show the whole lintel, just the flashing detail above the window facing.  I then draw over the cad box with a rectangular polyline and cad lines so that I can draw a break line over that and cut it (having deleted the cad box).  It would be quicker if the cad box could just be broken up into its lines.

The pdf shows what I mean.

Typical window detail.pdf

[Alaskan_Son]

I suggest you use a different approach altogether.  It’s easy to do that type of thing by just masking the unwanted portion rather than deleting it.  Just use a filled Polyline (background color fill and using the Invisible line style).  

[Chopsaw]

Ok I get it now.  I would go with Michaels method or keep a generic cad block of a cad box in your library and assign it to a tool bar so you can access it with one click and resize then explode....   Oops you can't do that so you would need an entire library of properly sized cad blocks for every type of material you use.   Maybe just keep doing it the way you are or use Michaels method. 

 

Still fairly confident you can't explode a chief cross box so you must have hit the cad detail from view at some point or manually drawn the cross box from the beginning.  But if you manage to do it again let us know.

[KingsOwn]

Hey - thanks guys!

I was just a little hopeful. Thanks for your ideas Michael.

I'll let you know if it happens again

[glennw]

Quote

Still fairly confident you can't explode a chief cross box so you must have hit the cad detail from view at some point or manually drawn the cross box from the beginning.  But if you manage to do it again let us know.

 

It is possible to break up a Cross Box to just cad lines or you can convert it to a range of other objects along the way.

To break it into lines:

Select the Cross Box.

Convert To Polyline from the Edit toolbar.

Select Polyline Solid. OK.

Convert to Plain Polyline.

Disconnect Selected Edge from the edit toolbar.

You will lose the cross along the way though, so maybe not worth the exercise.

 

 

[KingsOwn]

Hi Glen

I think that only works in 3d or cross section view?

I'm thinking about drawing 2d details.

It seems that nothing quick is available so I'll keep doing what I normally do.

Thanks all.