Metal Post - help needed to create


Leckie
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Good day Forum!

Does someone in here know how to create symbols/shape?

I had received a block from an instructor mid 2000's of a 10" concrete pile.
The bottom representing a sono tube and footing would stay intact.

When adjusting the height of the object in elevation with the object handle, the height would adjust a 6x6 post.
It was also easy to move around in elevation.

I really appreciated this symbol/shape in my plans.

I am trying to construct a Helical Pile (metal screw post) with the same capabilities.

Unfortunately, when adjusting the height, the bottom (with the screws) squishes and/or distorts.

Any recommendations or help to get this shape Fixed with the possibility to share with others would be greatly appreciated.

The materials are concrete and need to be changed to metal.  The attached Metal bottom and top are from just playing around, but pretty much what I am looking for when combined.

Thank you.

 

Foundation Posts.calibz

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What you need to adjust is the stretch planes in the symbol. Make sure the icon in the top right (see arrow in image below) is turn on so you can see where the stretch planes are being placed.

 

1233226458_StretchPlanes.thumb.png.17b679fe632a3cfa6e6b67c9fadff5f9.png

 

And here's the same screw pile that's in the image.

Screw Pile.calibz

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9 minutes ago, Leckie said:

Good day Forum!

Does someone in here know how to create symbols/shape?

I had received a block from an instructor mid 2000's of a 10" concrete pile.
The bottom representing a sono tube and footing would stay intact.

When adjusting the height of the object in elevation with the object handle, the height would adjust a 6x6 post.
It was also easy to move around in elevation.

I really appreciated this symbol/shape in my plans.

I am trying to construct a Helical Pile (metal screw post) with the same capabilities.

Unfortunately, when adjusting the height, the bottom (with the screws) squishes and/or distorts.

Any recommendations or help to get this shape Fixed with the possibility to share with others would be greatly appreciated.

The materials are concrete and need to be changed to metal.  The attached Metal bottom and top are from just playing around, but pretty much what I am looking for when combined.

Thank you.

 

Foundation Posts.calibz 50.68 kB · 2 downloads

The post itself can be easily modeled using the chief post with footing tool without importing this however if you want to use them lookup Stretch planes in the help file.  Very easy to fix these and save in your user library setup to the size you want and need.

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2 minutes ago, LevisL said:

What you need to adjust is the stretch planes in the symbol. Make sure the icon in the top right (see arrow in image below) is turn on so you can see where the stretch planes are being placed.

 

1233226458_StretchPlanes.thumb.png.17b679fe632a3cfa6e6b67c9fadff5f9.png

 

And here's the same screw pile that's in the image.

Screw Pile.calibz 63.13 kB · 0 downloads

 

 

Look like the OP has X6 , so the posted advice and symbol may not help him.....unless his Sig. needs refreshing ?

 

M.

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18 minutes ago, Leckie said:

Maybe I blocked the image wrong, because I am not seeing the stretch plane box

 

image.thumb.png.90ba5889d82f0e7f84c938539e16c628.png

 

Right click your symbol, then Open Symbol, then go to the Sizing tab

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I am assuming that the Height Z column is where I want to set the perameters.

Do you know what I need to do or input for the bottom 18" to stay solid/unchanged and the top (above 18" to adjust in height?

I put 18" in Item 3 but it is still not working the way I want it to.  I see the square break show up when I enter the amount there.

 

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1 minute ago, Leckie said:

I am assuming that the Height Z column is where I want to set the perameters.

Do you know what I need to do or input for th bottom 18" to stay solid/unchanged and the top (above 18" to adjust in height?

I put 18" in Item 3 but it is still not working the way I want it to

 

 

It's a bit of trial and error to get the stretch planes in the right location. That's why having the preview on helps. It'll show where the plane is as you type it in the dbx. If you want the bottom 18" to stay unchanged, you should simply need to place the stretch plane higher than 18" in the Z column. Try 24".

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4 hours ago, Leckie said:

Definitely took a lot of trial and error, but finally got what I was looking for.

Thank you very much for your input Levis.

 

Good to hear. Just FYI, I had a look at your symbol... you don't need 3 stretch planes in the Z axis for this one. A single stretch plane anywhere between 16 1/2" and 67" would accomplish the same thing. 

 

Multiple stretch planes come in handy where you have more than one part of the symbol that you don't want to distort, or want to stretch on either side of a particular element. For example, let's say you have a set of 4 shelves evenly spaced apart. You could add 3 stretch planes in the Z axis (one stretch plane between each shelf) and the symbol would always keep even shelf spacing, no matter the symbol height. Or for a custom cabinet or piece of furniture with drawers, you could have a stretch plane on either side of the drawer hardware in the X axis, so no matter the width, the hardware looks correct.

 

Once you create a few symbols with stretch planes, you'll get the hang of it!

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7 hours ago, LevisL said:

 

It's a bit of trial and error to get the stretch planes in the right location. That's why having the preview on helps. It'll show where the plane is as you type it in the dbx. If you want the bottom 18" to stay unchanged, you should simply need to place the stretch plane higher than 18" in the Z column. Try 24".


In case you’re unaware, you can actually just select the stretch plane in the preview and relocate it by dragging it.  

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32 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:


In case you’re unaware, you can actually just select the stretch plane in the preview and relocate it by dragging it.  

Well I definitely was unaware of that one! Thanks Michael!

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I tried selecting it from the preview but it wasn't working. But thank you for the heads up, will try on the next one.

The reason why I put the 3 planes was that seemed to be the only way I could keep the bottom part from relocating in elevation. with just the top stretch points the bottom would jump up or down.

I probably still don't understand the technical aspects of how the stretch planes work.  As I mentioned it was a lot of trial and error.

Thank you kindly for your insight to this.  It was my first symbol.

Next one I want to try is a 6x6 on sonotube on bigfoot pad.
 

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Stretch Planes are really pretty simple once you understand their rules.

  • No Stretch Plane -> Symbol stretches and/or shrinks uniformly 
  • One or more Stretch Planes -> Symbol stretches and/or shrinks only at those locations
  • Two Stretch Planes with Between those 2 locations -> Symbol stretches and shrinks only between those
  • One Stretch Plane outside of the Bounding Box -> No change at all, Symbol is a fixed size

You can have Stretch Planes in each direction.

 

BTW, for most post configurations I would use the "Post" or "Post on Footing" tool - at least as a starting point.  I seldom use Symbols for things that Chief can create automatically because those things have more "intelligence" than simple geometry.

 

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16 hours ago, rgardner said:

The post itself can be easily modeled using the chief post with footing tool

 

30 minutes ago, Joe_Carrick said:

BTW, for most post configurations I would use the "Post" or "Post on Footing" tool - at least as a starting point.  I seldom use Symbols for things that Chief can create automatically because those things have more "intelligence" than simple geometry.

Yup you can set a post on top of a 6" sonotube and have a 18" footing at whatever size and depth you want with the simple post on footing tool.

 

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  • 3 months later...

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