jorgearaya Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 What is the advantage of trying to design roof trusses in Chief? Typically roof trusses are designed by specific software packages that take into consideration the necessary load values for your area. The webbing chords are designed to resist the loads presented at each individual location Girder trusses to hold long spans Drag loads at certain locations Coordinating with your structural engineer to develop a good system and diaphragm Then that design also serves the manufacturing of such members. Unless you are a registered design professional that can sign responsibility over a truss design, and have the time to do so, and be economically feasible, I would take it on, otherwise I see no reason for production work. I don't know of any manufacturer that would take on any one's truss design and actually build trusses, even if you're an engineer! Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 . A lot of times we actually have to cut them also. When doing remodeling plans we have to show the existing trusses and how they tie into the conventional framing. Do very many of those and have for 40+ years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javatom Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 It is not a great use of time to design trusses and could lead to some issues with a plans examiner. The manufacturer does their own truss designs. If the chief version is different, they could flag that for revision of the drawings. Perry's use of it is the only legitimate use for doing it in chief that I can think of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 It is useful to be able to define the truss envelope for the purposes of illustrating the design and in some situations maybe even to communicate that to the truss manufacturer as @ShaneK has posted about in the past. And what about decorative trusses designed with the truss tool. I think you would want to illustrate that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskan_Son Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Mimicking trusses for as-built situations, communicating ideas with truss manufacturers, drawing important truss details for CDs even when the trusses have been designed by others, inserting truss designs from others for model accuracy/collision detection, drawing decorative trusses, rough iterations for CDs or renderings... PLUS, some of us actually DO have a hand in designing trusses either in whole or in part, and some of us even build trusses onsite from time to time. I don’t think some of yuze guys realize the range of users there are that utilize Chief. It’s not all about permit drawings you know. In some areas there are no permits and everything is designed by one guy—only reason for drawing anything is to communicate with subs, some of us are engineers, and some of us use Chief almost exclusively for realistic renderings where every little detail counts. AND, some of us use the truss tool for things other than trusses. The list could go on. I’m kinda curious what the point of this thread even is though. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 No permits--what's that? never heard of that animal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskan_Son Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 5 minutes ago, DRAWZILLA said: No permits--what's that? never heard of that animal. Its an elusive but spectacularly wonderful creature. Once you have a glimpse you’ll never forget it. It will haunt your dreams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Around here ---no permit means you could lose your license if caught. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJSpud Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 No building permits required in the County I live in. Of course some of the stuff I see built around here is definitely not what you'd see being built in Kalif4nia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorgearaya Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share Posted May 31, 2018 Great comments as usual, I realized after posting the question all of the variables involved in it, however, if you read the post I was specific when I stated that for production work was not the way to go. I completely understand that some jurisdictions don't require the sort of engineering we have to do here in California, but, even so a truss is a truss regardless of where one lives and the UBC, IRC plus other safety regulations will apply when taking on the design of any habitable structure. Mind that I am not referring to what we call here "stick framing" which in a sense is a truss but hand framed (which still requires good designing) Great! It is good to see some of you using the truss tool. The liability is so high that most truss design software is limited to distributors and manufacturers and even if we were to obtain it, no one would dare to fabricate them. BC Framer allows the design of roof systems but, not necessarily trusses. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug_N Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 No permit drawings are part of the design process where you are explaining design features to your client. In the submittal set pf drawings, the trusses are deleted and the truss drawings from the truss manufacturer are included. Getting the designs past the client, now that is indeed an elusive animal that can haunt all designer's dreams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly_K Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 I draw trusses for every project I do for a couple of reasons: It takes 20 to 30 minutes for simple projects, and sometimes a couple of hours for the more complex. I charge for it so it is not wasted effort. My reasoning is even with the simple projects there intricacies that are useful to be conveyed to a truss designer (vaults, cantilever, parallel chord, midspan support, etc.) For complex projects, one discovers weakness in a model pretty quickly when a truss won't form. Moreover, it allows me to determine location of girders, and complexities that need to be flagged and supported or if I need to get an engineer involved. By developing trusses my error rate has gone way down, and I receive a lot of thanks as well as referrals. Finally, because of a lack of apprenticeship, locally we don't have that many skilled carpenters who could hand-stack a roof, so I take the discharge to help them and my customers get a project built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly_K Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 4 hours ago, CJSpud said: No building permits required in the County I live in. Of course some of the stuff I see built around here is definitely not what you'd see being built in Kalif4nia. There are quite a few places here that don't require permits, or if they do there are no inspections - I am looking at you Boise county. About every 10 to 20 years we get a big snow and it clears out the mis-built structures. Guess those customers shouldn't have gone with the cheap bid. Frankly, I have never minded a second pair of eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 14 hours ago, Doug_N said: No permit drawings are part of the design process where you are explaining design features to your client. In the submittal set pf drawings, the trusses are deleted and the truss drawings from the truss manufacturer are included. Getting the designs past the client, now that is indeed an elusive animal that can haunt all designer's dreams. For me if trusses are required I just set up all ceiling and roof framing to 2x4 mostly, I then add a note to the sections that, the trusses are designed by others and will add the new truss plan, by the manufacturer to the plans I draw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug_N Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 Hi Perry, Yeah I get that concept, and it works too for some clients. The ones that I do the full on truss simulation is to show just how hard it is to get into the attic space once the roof is installed. Some of them imagine a place where they can store furniture and lots of memorabilia like in nostalgic movies. When they see the reality, I get to design storage space somewhere else, like in the garage, or in the basement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug_N Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Yup, good point Eric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaneK Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 I design my own trusses with Chief and Truss company software. When we went to all 8 truss manufacturers in MI. only one would even bid project and they washed their hands of the 2 cone roofs. As you can see I did what I wanted on Chief and truss company approved my design and they were built. Of course I communicated directly with truss engineer on this project and the software is for trusses ONLY. No 1 single program can do it all and Mi-Tek is a great tool to have. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaneK Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Another project and truss company built exactly what I want. Truss manufacturers can pad the cost of a truss package and if not monitored they do as they please for profit. Nothing wrong with that on someone else's project. I personally set them too, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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