Steel Detailing | Precast Detailing | Estimation

Author: admin

  • Converting Engineering Components to Detailing Components

    What do we want to do?

    1. We have received a Tekla model from someone.
    2. The model we have received was built using an Engineering Modelling license.
    3. We have a full detailing license.
    4. There are components in this model, but we can’t number them because they were produced using an engineering license. If you want to number them, well they ought to have been created with a detailing license. So what do we do now?
    5. The only way to number these components is to first convert these components to a “detailing component”. The detailing component is a “type” of component.
    6. The problem is that there is no method exposed by the Tekla “Open” API which allows us to programmatically call this functionality. Also to make things more confusing: the nomenclature used in the user interface is different to the nomenclature used by the creators of the Open API.
    7. So what then is the solution?

    The Solution

    Here is a video explaining both the problem and demonstrating a solution:

     

    And here is the code which actually does the work:

     

    I hope you learned something!

  • How to avoid trouble in building and construction projects (Part II)

    (a) Watch out for situations where people start building from unapproved drawings. You don’t want to get involved in such projects.

    Friends, we’ve been in the game for almost a decade. We know the ropes when it comes to building and construction projects. Builders put pressure on fabricators to meet deadlines. Fabricators put pressure on the guys doing the shop drawings. And the guys doing the drawings are forced to come up with solutions……..but there’s a problem. The vast majority of the information required to make good and accurate shop drawings are missing. It’s just not there. You can ask for RFI answers but sometimes they’re just not forthcoming from the builders or the engineers or the architects. So what do you do?

    The client is demanding drawings.

    “Send me the unapproved drawings,” he says.

    When people say things like that: watch out! If the project goes well, then they take all the profits. But if it goes wrong, then you not only do not receive your fees, but you are forced to also wear the fabricator’s loss. It’s a lose-lose situation for you and a win-win situation for the fabricator.

    So you’ve got to make a decision: (I) either hold back the release of drawings till you have better information clarity, or (II) you release it making it explicitly clear that any risk is taken up by the fabricator if they build on drawings that weren’t issued for construction. Because at the end of the day, you don’t want to be carrying the can for someone else’s cock up.

    Ignore this advice at your peril.

    (b) Watch out for clients who offer to pay in cash

    In this day and age, especially with the sums involved, you gotta be extremely weary of clients who offer to pay in cash.

    Why would someone do that? Isn’t it much easier to make a bank transfer? Yes, but the reason why people deal in cash is probably to avoid paying tax, or even worse, it’s because the money is black. You don’t want to be involved in any activity like that. So the next time someone offers to pay you $15k in cash, thank him/her for the offer and politely tell him that such an arrangement will not do.

    If they insist on awarding you the work then quote a high price – really high. Change the economics of the situation such that it’s just easier to do everything legitimately.  And if a cash paying client insists on coming on board – without a good reason why they want to pay in cash – especially without bargaining – then you really have to really watch out: they probably have no intention of paying; so ask them to pay up front.

    As a general rule, you don’t want to get involved with clients who offer large sums of cash. I can’t think of a good reason for somebody walking around with $15 k in their pockets.

    (c) Quote High

    As a general rule, quote high. If the quality of your work is good then you’ll stay in business.

    We use genuine licenses. And they cost a fortune. So our rates reflect the need to recoup the license cost. But inevitably, someone will want us to lower our quote to the level of operators who don’t have licenses.

    We can’t compete with them. We can’t match their quotes. And we don’t even bother trying. As a general rule, these clients bargain for super low rates, and then find every excuse not to pay. Think about it: is it worthy putting your house on the line to pay for licenses and to then work for someone who doesn’t pay – or pays “if and when he gets paid”?

    No friends, charge high, and deliver good quality work. If your work is good, trust me, you’ll have more work then you can handle. When you’re in that situation, pick and choose the projects that will bolster your reputation, that will book your fast profits, and that will be of enormous benefit to your existing clients – and let other operators fall into projects which are poorly funded, planned and managed.

  • Designing Bent Members

    Designing Bent Members

    Consider the below member: notice how it has two bends in it.

    BendingMachine

    When designing such a member the detailer needs to be aware of how these members are made.

    Check out this video for a beautiful explanation:

    That is just how handrails are produced. The steel members are bent around a radius set on a machine. If the design is too complex, then detailers need to be aware that fabricators may resort to welding two pieces of metal together to make it work.

  • How to add markup to Tekla BIMSight Model

    Key Points (BimSight is now dead)

    1. Select Plane
    2. Add Markup
    3. Add Note
    4. Make the note Public

  • Block Definitions and Block References Explained

    What is a block? What is a block reference? And what is the difference?

    Let’s use an analogy to help illustrate the concept.

    *Birth certificates are like your block table record, photocopies of your certificate are like block references.**

    (A) Block Definitions

    Imagine you have a really important document like your GREEN card/birth certificate etc. you have to keep this document locked away in your solicitor’s office. This green card is exactly like a block table record. You only have one of this document. But let’s just say you want to have many copies of your green card.

    (B) Block References

    Are you going to recreate a green card (and have many originals) so you can give one to the IRS, another to the department of immigration, another to the department of homeland security etc etc? No! Of course not: you are not going to recreate it; you are simply going to make photocopies of it. It makes sense because photocopies are cheap and easy and don’t cost (much) memory.
    The photocopies of your green card are like block references. you can have many photocopies of your green card, and you can paste them anywhere you want: on the street, in your home etc. you can even delete them. you can delete or destroy all of them, but you will still have your original green card located safely somewhere in your house, or your lawyers office (i.e. the block table record). If you destroy the original green card then guess what – you will no longer be able to make copies of it (i.e. you won’t be able to make any block references if you don’t have a block table record which it points to.)

    Summary:

    So you have the original birth certificate (block definition), and you’ve made a photo copy of your birth certificate (block reference).

    Where is it all located?

    The block definition is located in a place called the “block table”. Just because it is in the block table, doesn’t mean it will appear in your drawing. If you want to put it in your drawing then you need to create a block reference (which points to the block definition) and then you need to put the *block reference* into your drawing.

    How to add lines etc to your drawing – what is the model space?

    Imagine you are drawing on a piece of paper. if you want to have a line drawn on that paper, you have to add that line to the “model space”. The paper space is basically like some special 3d-glasses you wear to view all your drawings. Think of it like a camera lens, allowing you to see the same thing in many different shades/perspectives/views.

    Geometry can be added to a block definition

    Think of the block definition as a basket – it’s a basket you can add many things to. You can add, for example, lines, circles, text, all sorts of shapes into this basket. And when you are ready to draw, you can place photocopies of what’s in the basket, all over your drawing, perfectly replicating it.

    Getting more technical

    The “model space” is itself a block table record. And so is the paper space. When you want to add something to a drawing you will have to create a block reference and “append it” to either the model space or a paper space (or other layouts – but let’s not get into that).

  • Tekla–AutoCAD: Interoperability Tool

    Tekla – AutoCAD Interoperability Tool

    Tekla licenses are pricey. About $30k + maintenance per license. That’s expensive. And if you had 10 licenses, or perhaps even 50 licenses, what if I told you that you needed: 30-50% less licenses than you currently hold? That’s a huge cost saving. If you only need 5 licenses, then you’ve saved $150k instantly, plus maintenance. You can now do that.

    AutoCAD licenses are significantly cheaper than Tekla.

    But if only the work you did in AutoCAD could be transferred into Tekla? That would save you some licenses.

    That’s just what I’ve done here in my latest project. You can check it out here:

    Tekla – Autocad Interop. from Tek1 on Vimeo.

    Thanks for visiting this page.

  • Converting Engineering Components to Detailing Components (Tekla API)

    Has anyone every given you a  model created form an engineering license and asked you to produce shop drawings from it? Well that’s incredibly difficult to make possibly. Because you can’t easily number parts.

    So I created a macro which makes life much easier (and faster) too.

    Here is a demo of how it works:

    Tekla Macro – How to Convert Engineering Components To Detailing Components from Tek1 on Vimeo.

    I will post the code in another post.

     

  • Tekla Open API Resources

    1. The Open API Reference.

    This was produced by Trimble and is the go-to place for information about classes and methods etc. There are some code examples also given. You can download it all from here. There are some basic code examples in there which is well worth investigating.

    2. Trimble Open API Examples:

    Extremely valuable. Thank you Trimble! If you want to see older examples, you’ll have to revert to another branch in the tree.

    3. Tekla ExtraNet

    A fairly good resource, but the problem is that in order to have access there, you need to pay maintenance. Not everyone wants to do that. Plus the forum is extremely restrictive in terms of what you can and can’t post.

    4. Tek1 Blog on the API.

    There is a wealth of Tekla Open API articles and resources on this site: you can read them here. It will be growing and growing with increasingly sophisticated plug-ins and I’ll be providing the code for you in the above pages.

    5. Teklanology Blog:

    You can checkout a blog from my estimable colleague.

    And you can learn much from there. Mr Dale doesn’t post everyday, but when he does, it’s good. Here is his GitHub page as well.

    6. Software Solutions – Tekla Blog:

    This provides you with some handy code examples.

    7. Tekla Application Library

    I love to pay out Trimble for their API but I must give them credit where due – here is an application library they created. But unfortunately, the documentation is lacking. I’m convinced that if you know how to use it, it will save you time.

    8. Tekla & AutoCAD Blog

    Check it out here!

    In my opinion it is a very nice blog – but I am partial to it, I confess. Learn some powerful techniques to manipulate the API, even though certain objects/methods are not exposed – there are ways around it! If you have any more suggestions, please feel free to post them here. And I will share it to the world. [Disclosure warning: this is my personal blog 😉 ]

    9. Cad Support Blog

    Looks like quite a nice blog with a few code samples to aid in your learning.

    10. RazorCX

    These guys are good. You can learn something from them. They’ve sprung up overnight and are stealing my thunder + positing videos and code too. I better up my game!

    11. Chris Keyack Playlist

    Keyack, my estimable Tekla Open API colleague has spent time working inside Tekla itself – so I’m sure you can find many nuggets of wisdom there.

  • How to run AutoCAD Commands and Macros Without a Dialog Box (AutoCAD tips)

    Have you wondered how you can run AutoCAD Commands without a dialog box. It is simple – add a “-” in front of the the command name

    For example if you type in “layer” as a command into your Autocad command line your layer dialog box opens up. But if you type in “-layer” there will be no dialog box.

    This is useful if you are trying to create your own AutoCAD macro. Just in case you cannot find the manage button (in older versions of AutoCAD) try switching to another work space. You should then find it. Here is the video from CADD Microsystems showing you how to create AutoCAD macros: