Chapter 9

A spool or isometric spool drawing:

An assembly of pipe and fittings
The last in a series of drawings made of pipe & fittings before physical
assembly (welding, threadingetc) begins
Contains a bill of materials required to assemble the spool.
simple drawing

Spools are often done by the contractor, in cases where your company
does construction for outside companies, this means YOU will be doing
the spools for assembly on-site or in a shop and then transported to the
plant location.

There are two basic methods used to illustrate pipe spools:

Double line
Single line

Easiest to interpret because they

closely resemble the actual appearance
of the pipe
Basically double line piping drawings
Notice the orthographic layout at right
used for double line spools

Notice the use of centerlines and

hidden lines

 Require some visualization skills

Centerline becomes the pipe & is

drawn as a thick line
Centerline extensions are shown at
elbows & flanges

Elbow using
radius

Elbows can be shown as either

radius (upper drawing) or square (see
lower right). This will be dependent on
company standards.
As in Double Line, use only number
of views needed to fully describe the
assembly.

Squared elbow

 There is a third type of spool drawings that some companies use:

Pipe is drawn single line

Fittings are shown double line

There are a couple of ways to dimension

spools and no matter which method is used,
its ALWAYS important to know the exact
lengths of pipe and the locations of any
branches on that pipe
THESE ARE CRITICAL!
Guidelines for Dimensioning Spools:

Provide overall lengths of the spool

Dimension to each branch fitting in
the spool
Dimension each straight run of pipe
Two or more fittings that are welded
or joined are termed fitting-to-fitting
(FTF) and their overall length should
be dimensioned if no straight length of
pipe is involved

The shortest dimensions should be

placed closest to the pipe and overall
dimensions should be farthest from
the pipe

In this class, we will use isometric spools for detailing

pipe and fittings.

Used by many companies to illustrate the entire spool in a single

isometric view.
Easier for pipefitters and welders to understand than orthographic
drawings or the flat spools.

Represents clearer picture of the actual assembly of pipe and fittings

Isometric Drawing is not drawn to scale
Fully dimensioned and contains complete bill of materials
Some companies use a specialized software to create isometric spools
and require only data entry. This software can generate a notated isometric
drawing, a bill of materials and a travelers list.
FYI: Travelers list: history of each weld and who made it.

 Type of three-dimensional drawing

Developed using the three primary
dimensions of an object: height,
width and depth
Combines the three dimensions
into a single view to provide a
pictorial representation
Must be drawn on axes that
measure 30 from the horizontal
plane

Notice how ALL views of the pipe are used in determining the
isometric drawing.

 Its the primary source for material

take-off
It provides a detailed description of
the pipes routing and configuration,
from beginning to endThis is done by
using the drawing symbols, callouts,
coordinates & elevations provided on
the piping arrangement drawing
Most companies prefer to draw
piping isometrics with the north arrow
pointing up and to the right. NEVER
show the north arrow pointing down!

Plan View

Isometric View

Length dimensions and informational notes

or callouts are used on isometrics to define
the pipes exact routing through the facility.
The placement of dimensions on the
drawing establishes precise lengths
between fitting, valves, equipment
connectionsetc.
Information such as coordinates,
elevations, nozzle projection, pipe size and
pound ratings are used to calculate lengths
of a run of pipe.
Dimensions are placed on isometrics that
indicate center-to-center, center-to-face
and face-to-face measurements

Dimensions cant provide all the information required to describe a

piping isometric. Any information thats pertinent to a piece of pipe
MUST BE conveyed on the isometric.
Notes and callouts are used to add significant information:
Notes:
Denote pipe size and pound rating of fittings, flanges and valves
Specify insulation type and thickness, locations for pipe guides,
anchors or supports
Also used to specify information on offset angles
Callouts:
stipulate instrumentation locations
stipulate size
stipulate specification breaks
stipulate fabrication details

At times the amount or size of the pipe that will be shown on a spool is
dependent on how big a piece of pipe the contractor can move such
as, is it going to be moved to the site via a train boxcar or is it going in
the back of a truck?
If you know the size of the truck or railcar, you can calculate the spool
size from the isometric drawing

Things to keep in mind when drawing spools:

Valves are often not shown in spool
drawings check your company
standards in this class you will
include valves in spool drawings.
Spools end at a flange or field weld

If a straight run of pipe in an

orthographic spool drawing doesnt
show in your principal view, show it in a
partial orthographic viewand always
project this view 90 from the main one

Show NORTH on a spool drawing

unless otherwise specified by your
company

When making an isometric spool,

choose the view that shows the least
number of line crossings

Draw an orthographic spool with a

single view that shows all straight
lengths of pipe and all fittings

1. Spools are often drawn not-to-scale

2. All straight lengths of pipe are shown in proportion to one another

3. Some companies prefer NOT using scale on spools and rely totally on
written dimensions (that means those written dimensions need to be correct
& accurate!), other companies want spools drawn at a certain scale

4. Whether NO SCALE or TO SCALE, the written dimensions are the MOST

important part of the spool and they MUST be accurate.

In instances where installation is not on-site, spools MUST be tagged.

This means that each individual spool piece is given an identification number
or MARK.
The marking or tagging method is determined by the company standards.
Typically this mark or tag is the pipe specification (like A15) plus a number
or letter to identify the spool.
The marks or tag numbers usually show up first on the isometric drawing.

 B.O.M.
Material list of the spool drawing
Contains vital statistics of all components needed to construct the
spool

On some CAD systems, all of the pipe and fittings are automatically
tabulated as you draw and the BOM is generated by the computer without
you having to do any of the calculations.

 serve to identify a piece of

pipe or a fitting on the spool
drawing and associate it to a
description in the B.O.M.
Item number is found
inside a circle on the drawing
with a leader line pointing to
the part

The same number appears

in the bill of materials that
also contains a detailed
description of the part
Item numbers should be aligned when possible to create use a guideline
when possible to locate all the item symbols on

Information grouping: an ordered arrangement or aligning of any type of

text or symbols on a drawing

Main thing to remember when making ANY

drawing is that it has to be interpreted by other
people.
In the case of spools, a pipefitter will be following your
graphic and written instructions to build the pipe
assembly.
The assembly of pipe and fittings will be easier IF
your graphic and written instructions are easy to read
and convenient to find on the drawing.

technical description of the pipe or fitting containing any codes,

ratings and specifications required for the accurate identification
of the component
information in a material description may be used by pipefitters,
purchasing agents and cost estimators
Common method is to show pipe (lowest schedule number and
smallest diameter first), then common fitting, followed by flanges
and finally, odd fittings
Make sure the information in the bill of materials is
completefollow the guidelines set forth by your company

 Spool drawings are some of the least complex in process pipe drafting
Spool drawings can be the MOST important as far as accurate
interpretation is concerned.

Never measure spool drawings as they are seldom drawn to scale

ALWAYS read the dimensions shown on spool drawingssome spools
arent always drawn proportionally so may be deceptive in their
representationREAD the DIMENSIONS, dont rely on just the drawing!
ALWAYS check the squaring-in lines and planes for correct
interpretation of the direction of odd-angle bends.

Read ad check the items in the bill of materials especially quantities

and material descriptions
Check the pipe dimensions on the drawing with corresponding pipe
lengths in the bill of materials

Thanks for viewing this Tutorial.

Any questions, comments or complaints can be registered at the next

class meeting, via email or drop by my office.

Email: rstrube@mail.accd.edu

Parisher, Roy A. & Robert A. Rhea. 2002. Pipe Drafting and Design. 2nd
Ed. Gulf Professional Publishing_Butterworth-Heinermann.

Shumaker, Terence M. 2004. Process Pipe Drafting. The GoodheartWillcox Company, Inc. Tinley Park, Illinois.