Working on a big set of plans for a warehouse in Boise, I tried drafting the steel beams two different ways.

First I drew them all as single lines, then I switched to using the structural column tool in AutoCAD. The column tool was way better because it automatically tagged the member sizes and cut lists for me. It saved maybe 15 hours of work over the whole project. Has anyone found a better method for structural steel detailing?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesley1391mo ago

Honestly, the part about saving 15 hours is wild. Tbh my drafting skills are stuck in the dark ages, I'd probably spend those 15 hours just trying to figure out which layer I drew something on. My version of a structural column tool is drawing a rectangle and labeling it "big metal thing" in the notes.

kim_nelson1mo ago

Hah, right? @wesley139, I feel that in my soul. My old boss used to send back drawings where the notes just said "fix the stuff" and I'd have to hunt through twenty messy layers to find the one line he meant. Is your "big metal thing" at least on its own layer, or is it just floating in the abyss with all the electrical lines?

angela_flores1d ago

Wait, you mean there's a tool that actually does the tagging for you? I've been out here manually typing "W10x22" into every beam like a caveman chiseling stone tablets.