here is some code I did in beforeLoad that works and set values for user only:
function beforeLoadEvent(type, form, request) {
if (type == 'copy') {
var itemCount = nlapiGetLineItemCount('item');
for (var i = 1; i <= itemCount; i++) {
nlapiSelectLineItem('item', i);
nlapiSetCurrentLineItemValue('item', 'custcol_my_field', '');
nlapiCommitLineItem('item');
}
}
}