The current Routing: Piping and Tubing course focuses primarily on buttweld fittings which are gender neutral. In my designs, I primarily use parts which are male and female, including socketweld pipe fittings, NPT pipe fittings, and compression rigid tubing fittings. Each of these have circumstances where a female port of a component does not get pipe, but rather a male fitting inserted, usually with pipe/tube then extruded from the second fitting. These are specific examples of components (available in varied sizes, materials and/or pressure ratings):

Socketweld reducer inserts (MxF)

NPT reducer bushings (MxF)

NPT male bulkheads or couplings (MxM)

Socketweld, NPT, or compression street elbows  (MxF)

Compression tube insert adapters (MxVariable)

Although it is not clear from either coursework or tutorials, I have learned how to define and use these fittings by asking my VAR for help. It is a little counter-intuitive. This is a summary of how it works:

* Define the male end CPoint by pipe/tube type, size, and Specification.

* Insert the MxF fitting into route a short distance from the female component, with male end oriented towards the female component.

* Use Remove Pipe command between the two fittings, which places the two CPoints on top of each other.

The result of this action, upon exiting route and rebuild, is that the male face is placed properly at the seat of the female component.

Therefore, I suggest either some course examples of using socketweld/NPT fittings, or at very least add a Tip to page 73 where the Remove Pipe command is introduced which suggests that the Remove Pipe command is also useful in defining male inserts into female component ports. This would help others in my situation.

A cumbersome alternative is to define such uses as a Routing Assembly, which either needs generated and defined at each unique use, or with an incredibly complicated amount of potential subconfigurations. For example, I could use a 2" Threaded Tee with various counts of reducers in various available sizes, such as a 2"x1/2" threaded reducer in each through port, and a 2" x 3/4" threaded reducer in the branch port which allows the required internal clearance to insert a liquid level switch into a vented standpipe assembly. That would be acceptable as a single-configured Routing Assembly, but each connection size could also vary in the practical range of anything from 1/4" to 1-1/2". Overall, having each reducer fully defined as a Routing Component and inserted with Remove Pipe command is currently a simpler application solution.