Bracing without gusset plates

In this exercise the following items are handled :

- drawing a bracing aligned to the flanges of a profile

- drawing bolts instead of gusset plates
- creating a simple connection that contains a cut and a bolt pattern, and then reusing that connection

- Open the drawing Bracing without gusset plates.dwg

- Click on the icon Bracing

- Double-click the bracing Angles 1 interrupted

- Make sure that both the top side and bottom side are set to to the axis lines of the base members

- Click on in the Fixing the bracing window

- Select the column on intersection A1

- Select the column on intersection A2

Although Parabuild first asks for the left profile and then the right profile we now do the exact reverse. That is because we now want the bracing to have a different orientation.
We will come back to this a bit later when we copy this bracing.

- Press so that no gusset plate connections are drawn

- Double-click the connection Plate for the connection in the middle of the bracing

- Then press <Enter> to end the command

The bracing is colliding with the tube. To solve this we will move the bracing to the flanges, on the inside of the building.

- At the bottom left of the dialog box of the bracing, click on the button so that the distance 70 becomes adjustable.

- Modify the distance from flange to bracing to 128

128 is the total height of the column minus the flange thickness.

- Modify the size of the angle profile to L45x45x4

- Modify the top offset to 300

- Modify the bottom offset to 20

The angle profiles are too long because Parabuild has drawn it to the axes of the columns.
We will now create a new connection that shortens the angle profile and also bolts it to the flange.
We will assemble this connection ourselves because it doesn't exist in the library.
We will then reuse this connection for all other ends of the angle profiles.

- Click on the icon Add cut to macro

- For the setting Cut perpendicular, choose Completely perpendicular

- Then click on to close the window

- Select the new top / left angle profile

- Select the column on intersection A2

- Click on the icon Macro nazien

- Select the new macro

- Then press <Enter> to confirm the selection

- Modify the Cut offset to 10

The angle profile doesn't collide any more with the rounding of the column. It is however still yellow because it still collides with the other column at the other end.

- Click on the icon Bolts on a plane

- Move the cursor to above the inner flange of the angle profile, and then press the left mouse button to select this plane

- Now press the left mouse button again without moving the cursor, so that the plane behind it is selected

- Then press <Enter> to confirm the selection of the back plane

- Click on to continue with the selection of a second reference

The option without the second reference plane would draw a very long bolt pattern over the entire length of the angle profile.

- Zoom in on the end of the angle profile and press the left mouse button on the end plane. The top plane of the angle profile is selected because it is in front

- Click the left mouse button again without moving the cursor in order to select the end plane

- Then press <Enter> to confirm the selection of the end plane

- Modify the number of bolts to 1

- Modify the diameter of the bolt to 10

- Click on in the middle of the bolt pattern

- Activate the setting Switch bolt startposition in the top left corner

- Then click to close this window

The bolt is now drawn closest to the end plane, which makes more sense.

- Modify the top / left distance to 20

The parameters in this dialog box do not have an exact visual representation of the bolt pattern that is actually drawn. The reason for this is that there is just one dialog box for a command that can draw many varied bolt patterns.

The bolt is now drawn in a grey color, which indicates that it has at least one hole.

- Select the angle profile.

If you look carefully then you can see both a hole and a grip for the hole

- Select the column

There was no hole drawn in the column yet.
The cause of this is that the macro of the bolt does not know of the existence of the column. We can solve this by merging the macro of the cut with the macro of the bolt. We will do this in the next step.

If in another situation it wouldn't be possible to merge 2 macros, then you should use the command Check for new holes.

We will now merge the bolt and the cut into one macro that can be copied using SmartCopy.

- Click on the icon Merge macros

- Select one of the 2 new macros.

- Select the other macro, and then press <Enter> to end the selection

- Click on the icon SmartCopy Settings

- Select the (merged) macro

- Select the column as first base element

- Select the angle profile as second base element

- Click on in the SmartCopy Settings window

We will now copy the new macro to the other 3 sides of the bracing.

- Click on the icon SmartCopy

- Select the (merged) macro

- Then press <Enter> to confirm the selection

- Select the column on intersection A1

- Select the top / right angle profile

- Select the column on intersection A1

- Select the bottom / right angle profile

- Select the column on intersection A2

- Select the bottom / left angle profile

- Then press <Enter> to end the command

- Click on the icon Clash Check

If the Review macro window is not opened then there is no continuous collision check being performed.
Using this command we can check the entire project for collisions.

The bracing does not collide any more thanks to the shortened angle profiles.

We will now copy the finished bracing to the other side.

- Click on the icon SmartCopy

- Select the big macro of the bracing

- Then press <Enter> to confirm the selection

- Select the outer column on intersection C1

- Select the middle column on intersection C2

- Select the outer column on intersection C3

- Select the middle column on intersection C2

- And press <Enter> to end the command

- Click on the icon Clash Check

The bracing on the right side is colliding with the tube.
That is because we've placed it on the outside of the building.
We did correctly rotate the bracing on the left side by selecting the columns in a different order : first the left column and then the right column.