Paul_Eyestone Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 where do I find steel I beams in the program? I have searched, and can't find them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskan_Son Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 If you draw a Floor Ceiling Beam, a Roof Beam, a Post, a General Framing Member, or just about any other Framing Object for that matter, they all have the Option on the General Panel to by drawn as a "Steel-I" Type. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 I have a macro that loads all the standard sizes of WF Beam Properties into a Global Hash. I use it for structural sizing but it would be really nice if it could be used to draw the cross section shape or better yet actually create the 3D shape to use in the model. Real World modeling of the specified size Beam would be cool I would gladly share that macro with CA if they want to use it to model steel beams on the fly. I haven't created a macro for any other shapes such as I-Beams, Channels, Angles, Square Tubes or Pipes. But those wouldn't be too difficult. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 On 12/15/2020 at 7:23 PM, Joe_Carrick said: I would gladly share that macro with CA if they want to use it to model steel beams on the fly. Expand That would be great Joe since not every Wide Flange steel beam has 1/4" flanges and webs. LOL Proper section views are really important on engineered drawings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 FWIW, I have similar macros for Lumber, Glulams and TJI's but instead of creating Hashes they just create Global Arrays. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 On 12/15/2020 at 7:30 PM, Chopsaw said: since not every Wide Flange steel beam has 1/4" flanges and webs. LOL Expand Correct - but I haven't included the web thickness. Actual values for Name, Height, Width, Area, Flange Thickness, Weight, Sv, Iv, Sh and Ih are all included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 On 12/15/2020 at 7:39 PM, Joe_Carrick said: Correct - but I haven't included the web thickness. Expand Is that something that you might be able to include ? Chief may take the offer more seriously then for profile generation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 On 12/15/2020 at 8:02 PM, Chopsaw said: Is that something that you might be able to include ? Chief may take the offer more seriously then for profile generation. Expand Yes, it's just a matter of reading the AISC manual data to add the Web Thickness to my data. Actually I could come pretty close (within a couple of 1/1000ths of an inch) just by using the Cross Section Areas to calculate the Web Thicknesses. My macro does have the Cross Section Area and the calculation would be extremely close. It would be a very easy addition to make in the macro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey_martin Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 https://www.chiefarchitect.com/3d-library/index.php?r=site/detail/789 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Joey, Those are very rough approximations and are not really usable to show reality in a 3D model. There are 20 different 12" Wide Flange Beams, ranging from (11.91" tall x 3.97" wide) to (13.41" tall x 12.4" wide). The Flanges range from 0.2" thick to 0.79" thick. The Webs also vary greatly, even more than the flanges. In addition, WF Beams vary in height from 4.16" to 27.8" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey_martin Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 On 12/15/2020 at 9:11 PM, Joe_Carrick said: Those are very rough approximations and are not really usable to show reality in a 3D model. Expand Agreed. I was heading over there to look for updated catalogs and thought of this post. I use the dropdown menu when a beam is needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Even that isn't much use You can't specify the flange or web thicknesses. In addition, Chief calls them I-Beams which in reality are very seldom used in buildings. The WF or W is almost always the type of beam used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 On 12/15/2020 at 8:02 PM, Chopsaw said: Is that something that you might be able to include ? Chief may take the offer more seriously then for profile generation. Expand I've modified my macro to include web thicknesses. It's notable that for heavier WF Beams the web thickness increases even more than the flange thickness. For CA's information, the label of a WF Beam is in the following format: W 12x45 nominal 12" tall x 45 lbs per ft. This beam is actually 12.06" tall x 8.045" wide. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdyck Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 It's also fairly quick and simple to take a CAD section of an actual steel beam, make it into a solid, convert to a symbol and add it to a framing schedule, or any other type of schedule. Every time you do this, make a copy, say 8' long, and add it to your library for future use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 On 12/15/2020 at 10:04 PM, Joe_Carrick said: I've modified my macro to include web thicknesses. It's notable that for heavier WF Beams the web thickness increases even more than the flange thickness. For CA's information, the label of a WF Beam is in the following format: W 12x45 nominal 12" tall x 45 lbs per ft. This beam is actually 12.06" tall x 8.045" wide. Expand Awesome. Thanks Joe. Have you contacted Chief directly or put something into Suggestions ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACADuser Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 Just for reference. https://www.cad-steel.com/steel-sections/w-shapes-american-wide-flange-beams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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