Duct spools are collections of specified duct parts or assembly blocks that can be used to create an orthographic drawing and to drive an MTO (material take-off report). The software creates spools, or fabrication assemblies, by breaking an HVAC system into pieces that you specify with duct break points, a new type of control point.
Only parts whose Fabrication Requirement is set to By Fabricator are included in the spool.
If the duct parts are not properly connected, separate spools will be created. The spool hierarchy relationship is created between the spool and the duct parts.
After generating the spools, the software stores them in the model database and displays the spools on the Assembly tab in the Workspace Explorer. Also, the duct or assembly block becomes the parent object of the new spools. This process allows spools to be named according to the duct or assembly block and keeps track of spools that may be out-of-date, based on the modification date of the parent object.
Naming Rules
The software uses a naming rule to give each spool a unique name. The default spool name contains a prefix based on the spool parent and a mark number. The mark number ensures that the spool name is unique and provides a sequencing of spools within a spool parent. You can also modify the naming rules to match your company needs. In addition, you can interactively change the name of a spool by selecting it, displaying the Properties dialog box, and typing a different name.
Where Spools Break
You place control points at connection objects using Insert > Control Point to break spools along the duct run. Be sure to select the Subtype to Duct Break Point. You have the option to break only at control points, break at control points and intrinsic breaks, or to ignore control points.
Spools also break because of non-connected parts and because of parts whose Fabrication Requirement is not By Fabricator.
Changing the Spooling Basis
You can base your spools on duct runs or planning blocks. If you need to change the spooling basis after spooling has begun, for best results, delete any existing spools, change the spooling basis, and then create new spools using the new spooling basis. For ducting, the spooling basis is an option on the dialog box and it is not defined in the catalog.
Specifying Oversized Spools
At creation time, the software checks the size of each spool against the maximum length, height, and width spool dimensions that you specify. These dimensions are changed on the dialog box as they are not in the catalog.
The software marks spools that exceed the maximum size as oversized so that the designer can insert additional breaks as needed. This check helps to ensure the spools that require dipping in a tank for galvanization, descaling and pickling, and so forth fit in the immersion tank. Also, spools can be marked oversized that are too large to fit in fabrication equipment such as bending machines or annealing ovens, or are too large for shipping. You can check for oversized spools in the following ways:
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View the Assembly tab of the Workspace Explorer. The icon for an oversized spool contains a red X,
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Click File > Define Workspace and view the Assembly tab on the Filter Properties dialog box. Again, the icon for an oversized spool contains a red X,
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View the Properties dialog box for the spool. The Spool Oversized Flag property on the Occurrence tab is set to True if the spool is oversized.
Updating Spools
The software uses a detailed change management routine that prevents existing spools from being arbitrarily renumbered. When a duct run, duct system, or block is re-spooled, only the portion of the duct run, duct system, or block that changed is impacted by the changes to its spools. New spools are only created as needed and existing spools do not lose their numbers (even if the result is that the numbers are now out of sequence within the duct run). Existing spools are only deleted as required. This change management ensures that spools are not needlessly modified and that spool sheets are not marked as being out-of-date unless that is absolutely the case.
Change management can be turned on and off using the Delete Existing Spools option on Options Tab (Duct Spool Generation Dialog). The default option is off (False).
Deleting Spools
You can delete spools by selecting them on the Assembly tab of the Workspace Explorer and then clicking Delete 
. The duct parts that were assigned to the deleted spool are reassigned to the deleted
spool assembly's parent object. In addition, the software automatically deletes a
spool when the last part in the spool is deleted. Parts that were assigned to the
deleted spool are automatically reassigned to the deleted spool's parent object in
Workspace Explorer. The software automatically deletes a spool when the last part in the spool is deleted.