Point of Origin for Decking ?


Chopsaw
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Does anyone know how the point of origin is controlled for Deck room planking ?  It appears to have something to do with the front left corner but really ?  My deck is not square.  There must be a setting that I am missing somewhere.  This usually is not so critical but this time it is.  I don't want a 3/4" piece on a 1 1/2" overhang Chief.

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3 minutes ago, glennw said:

I believe the set out point for planking is the bottom left corner of the deck.

 

Yes that seems to be the situation Glenn and the Framing reference marker seems to have no effect.

 

Unfortunately I have plenty of critical deck space beyond my front ( bottom ) left corner.

 

It sure would be good to be able to choose when you are in a critical situation.  There always seems to be a point when the auto tools break down and one has to choose if they want to start all over and do a cad layout.  Bummer.....

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19 minutes ago, justmejerry said:

minor workaround...we cant have it all automatic how we want it.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Jerry but it is not such a minor workaround this time.  I had it all laid out with a material pattern and adjusted the origin until I found out that material patterns only have an accuracy of 1/16" and tech suggested that I frame it with a deck which was more accurate so I did that only to find out that the origin could not be adjusted.  Yes it could be done with manual framing and decking but then you completely loose all the benefits of the automatic rebuild.  That is a lot of boards to tweak on a 2600 sq ft platform and a lot of angles that are not 90

 

Fairly simple programming tweak for Chief to make it happen and you might be surprised how much you use it on a big detailed project.

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Chopsaw,

I have been playing a bit more and to say the decking set out is from the bottom left, is not correct.

 

I think that the deck planking is set out from the corner where you start drawing the deck.

Chief remembers that first corner - this is confirmed by displaying the wall id's for the walls that form the deck.

I have confirmed this setout on simply shaped decks.

I would love to have a play with the one you are working on - something a bit more complicated.

Any chance you can copy and paste the deck into a new plan and then post it here and let us know the critical set out points, etc.

 

This may shed some further light on what you are trying to achieve.

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On 3/9/2018 at 8:23 AM, Chopsaw said:

Does anyone know how the point of origin is controlled for Deck room planking ?  It appears to have something to do with the front left corner but really ?  My deck is not square.  There must be a setting that I am missing somewhere.  This usually is not so critical but this time it is.  I don't want a 3/4" piece on a 1 1/2" overhang Chief.

 

I'm not 100% sure what exactly you need to do, but if you're trying to eliminate a narrow rip deck board at the end of the deck, try altering the spacing between deck boards, "Plank Gap Width" in the deck room spec DBX, Deck tab.

 

If you want to move the rip to be against the house wall, try changing the "Plank Direction" 180°. I tested this and it worked to reverse the plank order, but one time when I tried it I had to change it from 0° to 180° then back to 0°

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11 hours ago, Chrisb222 said:

I'm not 100% sure what exactly you need to do, but if you're trying to eliminate a narrow rip deck board at the end of the deck, try altering the spacing between deck boards, "Plank Gap Width" in the deck room spec DBX, Deck tab.

 

This is what I am trying to help the carpenter avoid having to do.  And on this particular job is not an option unfortunately.

 

12 hours ago, Chrisb222 said:

If you want to move the rip to be against the house wall, try changing the "Plank Direction" 180°. I tested this and it worked to reverse the plank order, but one time when I tried it I had to change it from 0° to 180° then back to 0°

 

In combination with what Glenn suggested by re numbering my walls by drawing over top of them, then changing the plank direction and changing it back again it seems to be working.  Just a little tricky with such a large project and 19 deck walls, actually a lot like trying to resequence automatic truss labels.  The pull your hair out kind of fun. :wacko:

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1 hour ago, Chopsaw said:

This is what I am trying to help the carpenter avoid having to do.

 

FWIW, I personally handle those things one of 2 ways myself (and I’m talking about onsite, not in Chief)...

 

1.  I adjust layout to avoid the rips. Sometimes even the tiniest adjustment is all it takes.

2.  Even easier...I rip the last piece down and router (and possibly stain) the inside edge so it blends right in.  If the rip is looking to be too small I’ll get the next largest width of material and rip that down instead.  If It seems like that might be too big, both of the last pieces can even be ripped down to split the difference and

make it much less noticeable.  Ripping the last piece down out of wider stock is almost a necessity when installing diagonal decking.  That last little triangle piece just always ends up too small it seems.  

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23 hours ago, glennw said:

I think that the deck planking is set out from the corner where you start drawing the deck.

Chief remembers that first corner - this is confirmed by displaying the wall id's for the walls that form the deck.

 

Hmmmm well that is plain dumb ...no other word for it ...only a computer programmer would lay his decking out from the House Wall :) ....ok to be fair I have seen a couple of Home Owners do it too....

 

So I guess we have to draw the Outer Edge of the Deck ( or where you want the layout to start) 1st then draw the walls back to the house ? .....   I have never worried too much about it in Chief as I know how it will be done Onsite , but I can see how on a Large job it could give the Contractor a Head Start especially if a Custom layout.

 

M.

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Thanks Kelly,  I was just thinking the same thing as drawing the walls in order does seem to have  and effect on planking point of origin when the planking is running horizontally or at 0° but all sense of control seems to be lost when it comes to a deck with the planking running vertically or at 90° and regardless of what I do it seems to always orient from the left side which is not working for the current build.  Possibly if one could adjust the angle like the horizontal planking with alternate inputs of 0° and 180° however there seems be be no way to flip the vertical planking that is at 90° with an input of -90° or 270°.

 

If anyone has any ideas on this if I am missing something they would be much appreciated.

 

 

Please add your +1 or comments for Chief here : 

 

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Chopsaw,

 

I think I have this setout thing figured.

Do you want to set out the deck planking for 90deg planks like this?

With the ripped board adjacent to the house wall as opposed to the outside of the deck?

I have to go out now, but I might try and do a video when I get back - or I might try to skype you later.

Just don't tell me that you want a gap at the house wall - although, with a bit more work, it may be possible.

New Image_58.jpg

Of course, it will probably always be easier to just edit a few things in a section view.

5aa5f5c2e3167_NewImage_60.thumb.jpg.53c6df730b80a0e6d6db6b57558e1a2e.jpg

 

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