Autodesk Advance Steel: Custom Connections - Tips & Tricks

Introduction hello everyone if you've done any custom connections yourselves by now you've realized that you've had to erase and start over many times undo a very large number of commands to get back to where you want and repeat one many many times to get it right today I'd like to share with you a few tips and tricks that I use use when creating custom connections to cut down on the repetition I'll show a technique to get my view ready how to restart when I need to how to handle a custom connection that doesn't work the way I want it to and once they do work for me how to share them with others and make changes from one project to the next we're going to look at two custom Today's Example connections today the idea is to reduce the repetitive work that's required so that they can be applied more quickly throughout a structure the connection on the left is a total of three connections between a column and a top plate that is supporting two miter beams there's a weld connecting the plate to the column and two bolts connecting the plate to each beam the one on the right is also has a plate on top of a column with a weld and bolts to a main beam plus two clip angles tying to an intersecting beam also each column has a cut applied to it to shorten it and make room for the plate when there are a high number of areas like these you can get get very time consuming to add each item individually even when using the advanced copy tools that are available we'll do a custom connection of each one of these so that we can apply them all in one command wherever they might be Preparation needed let's get into advanced deal the first thing I'll do is set up a group to isolate an area of the model to make it easier for me to see and select objects I'll create the group first and then add elements to it you can also turn off layers and hide objects temporarily if you want once I get the group done here then I will activate it all right next I'll set up the first Connection 1 connection right before I create a custom connection I like to use the undo Mark command in case I need to come back and recreate it now I'm ready to start in the advanced tool pallet custom connections create connection template this one has three beams for the inputs I'll select the column first the left beam and then the right beam next I'll fill in the name and then select the objects to be included make sure you use a regular window left to right when you do this and only select the connection objects and not the beams back in the dialogue fill in the prompts okay we're ready to insert it back to the pallet insert connection template and follow the prompts notice that the plate and bolts are out of position the connection template recorded the origin orientation of the beams so this time the beams are facing a different direction therefore some of the parts are out of place we'll need to go back and recreate the connection I'll use the undo back command to return to the mark then I'll use undo Mark again to get ready for the next try now I'm ready to recreate the only setting that's different this time is the driver situation I'm using the first one because it is a closer match to the beam Arrangement and will be more flexible the prompts can be the same as before we'll insert it again this time everything is where it's supposed to be because I chose the correct driver situation this time we can consider this connection finished and let's go over a few Tips #1-3 tips before starting set up a group to include only what you need for the custom connection and then activate it when other elements are cluttering your view it makes it harder to see and select what you need a group can help you focus on only what matters at the moment now this step isn't required but it might make it easier so it's up to you next tip right before starting a custom connection use the undo command with the mark option if you need to go back and create the same connection again type type undo again with the back option which will return to the mark this allows you to avoid individual undos which will take longer to go back and is a fast way to undo multiple operations at once plus return to a specific point in the drawing a word of caution here if you only use the U command on the keyboard you'll be undoing one at a time time the advanced steel macros add so many additional commands to the history it takes forever to go back for this reason I don't recommend using you to undo the next tip the driver situations you want to choose the closest match to your beam Arrangement if you're not sure sure try the first one first if it doesn't work when you insert it try the second one and then the third sometimes this won't matter but sometimes it does depending on the connection you're trying to create just like the first connection this is when using undo Mark and undo back come in handy so you can return quickly and try again moving on to the next Connection 2 one this one is similar to the first one but has an intersecting beam and clip angles again I'm using undo Mark in case I need to try again this time after the name after I enter the name I'm going to copy it to the clipboard in case I need that later remember to use a regular window to select the connecting objects and insert this one we won't need to redo this one because it inserted correctly on the first try we can consider this one finished now another tip for you when you're Tip #4 entering the name and the prompts think about copying the name even when uh and even the prompts to the clipboard or a text editor before finish in the connection you could find yourself creating the same connection multiple times while you're testing and you don't want to have to keep retyping the same things over and over and Sharing With Your Team over after you've set up some custom connections that could be used on other projects you'll want to make them available to other users I'll show you a way to accomplish this I'm going to select one of each of the custom connections I created in today's model be sure to include all objects involved including the beams next I'll use control shift C to copy with a base point then start a new drawing using the advanced steel template and paste into it with contrl v save the new drawing into a shared folder after that go into management tools default activate the filter and type in custom go into the general branch and there will be a setting for the path to custom connection templates enter the path to the folder that you're going to use the last step here is very important you must click load into load settings into to Advanced before closing defaults and back in the active model click update defaults that will load the changes you just made from the database next time you insert a connection template the shared drawing will be available containing the new connections Tip #5 here's my tip for sharing first you'll want to create a folder to store drawings for all your custom connections put this folder on the network if you can you can have as many drawings as you need after you create a connection just copy and paste it into one one of these drawings in management tools go to defaults use filter and type in custom then go to the general branch and enter the path to your folder when you're finished making changes in defaults make sure you click load settings in advance and back in your active model update defaults and have all your users set this path in their management tools and your connections will be Modifications shared okay so I've created a couple of connections I've got them ready for for sharing now I'll show you a way to make changes to a custom connection and perform an update and I'll give you a hint before I do this I won't be using the update now button that you may have run across uh that's in the connection properties because it simply won't work first I'll add new connections from my custom template drawing next I'll make could change to one of the clip angles but notice that all the properties are grayed out to make a change to a custom connection you must allow object modification first then you can make any changes you need now I'll go back into the joint properties and change the number of bolts next I'll go to the extended modeling Tab and choose transfer properties select the other three connections I'm selecting the entire thing just to make it easier and press enter when I'm done then I'll select part of the connection template where I made the change I'll just select the angle and there's the update that change will get propagated to the other Tip #6 connections here's my tip for making changes first make sure you allow object modification on one of your custom connections then make any changes you need next use the transfer properties command to update the other ones that command is located on the extended modeling tab in the ribbon on the joint utilities panel I use this method because the update now Now button doesn't do anything with the transfer properties command you can insert a custom connection or a shared connection template from one of your drawings and still adapt it to the current project so here are our resources that you can take advantage of for self-help on our YouTube page you'll find the recordings for all our previous webcasts this one will be available shortly plus we have plenty of articles on our blog at hager. comom and even more content on our customer Hub if you'd like more assistance please don't hesitate to contact us for support I hope you find today's information useful thanks for watching