Creating Beam Profiles

douglas_hawkins045

I was able to create and add a new square tube profile.  It did not look right after extruding. The inner and outer profile were not offset properly.  I looked back through the script and the only difference I could see was related to the sequence of the outer and inner loop.  Mine had LALALALA-LALALALA and the example beam table had LALALALA-ALALALAL.  Did I create the features in the wrong order?  How do you control the sequence if it matters?

NeilCooke

@douglas_hawkins045 - if you used the beam profile generator, the character sequence is generated for you. If you are adding your generated profile to an existing set of profiles, this sequence may not be the same and therefore incorrect. The sequence will be the same for every profile size generated from the same sketch, but there is no guarantee that different sketches will yield the same sequence.

douglas_hawkins045

Ok that is what I suspected.  So I wanted to create some 14 gauge profiles for the square tubing and also some smaller sizes for my typical projects.  is there a way to get to the original sketch used to create the other profiles and then edit that one to create the new ones?

NeilCooke

Here is the original source (would have been much easier with configurations!) https://cad.onshape.com/documents/5c4569eab680013076a18190/w/8f3d16b6a6f56f55932b7de2/e/3fc712f058928677d55b903d

MBartlett21

@NeilCooke
Or with Parameter Pattern

MBartlett21

@NeilCooke
Do you also have ISO profiles?

NeilCooke

@mbartlett21 - doesn't look like I have

david_easton

Way beyond me. Tried for hours to get a UB to work, but no joy. No error. No nothing. The beam just would not generate. I tested the profile sketch and it extruded just fine. The beam profile appears "greyed out" in the feature tree.

NeilCooke

@david_easton - if you post a link I can take a look

david_easton

Ok. Ta.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/4a9705b2f1668dc749e41c80/w/42533b194af5e567e3461430/e/9a337db55917e7a2d4f0038f

NeilCooke

Hi @david_easton - first, you are using v1 of the beams feature (which works perfectly well for most people). v2 has more capabilities, like using edges from solids as a path for the beam, so you may want to consider using that. If not, that is fine also. It can be found here:

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/e15c2c668d138f01242d0c80/w/0664d65a957c7bfba7cfbddd/e/bd6831589391741e327fec75

The profiles need 3 levels of depth with the last one's "name" : "size" (the "displayName" can be anything, but the code looks for "size" in the level under "profile", so you must have both). Here is your code modified:

const NZ_Steel = {
        "name" : "profile",
        "displayName" : "Profile",
        "units" : millimeter,
        "entries" : {
                "UB" : {
                        "name" : "size",
                        "displayName" : "Size",
                        "sequence" : "C",
                        "entries" : {
                                "150UB 18" : {
                                        "points" : [0, 0, 678.6568]
                                    }
                            }
                    }
            }
    };

brucebartlett

david_easton said:

Ok. Ta.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/4a9705b2f1668dc749e41c80/w/42533b194af5e567e3461430/e/9a337db55917e7a2d4f0038f

Hi David,

I keep thinking I want to do a set of profiles for Australian steel sections,  the ISO ones, unfortunately don't match our sizes. I think the NZ standards are the same as the Australian, if so, maybe we could collaborate on a common library and get @NeilCooke add it to a future version of the original beam script the same as he did with the ISO ones. 

Here 's what I want to be included.

http://www.steelweb.info/
or basically what these guys sell
http://www.orrconsteel.com.au/products/tube-pipe/structural/square-hollow-section

@mbartlett21 have you seen any Australian steel section done for the beams FS? 

hiralpancholi

@NeilCooke Hi I have created the custom feature for the hollow square profile as per instructions in your video but while creating beams I am not able to use butt joint feature as it works with other profiles.


 

NeilCooke

Hi @Hiral_Pancholi - are you using v2.0 of the Beams feature (link above)? I have seen this before, but I thought it was fixed. The preferred method now is to use the “custom” beam option that will use a sketch instead of the code you generated above. 

Having said that, please share the URL of your document and I will take a look. 

owen_sparks

Hi @NeilCooke, good morning.  Is it too early for "can you just" type comments?

Is there any chance of a V3 that allows you to select a new profile via a sketch as per V2, but then learns / remembers the new profile such that it can be picked from a list as per V1 upon next use of the feature?

Cheers, Owen S.

NeilCooke

@owen_sparks way too early. Not sure that’s possible, but I’ll take a look. 

owen_sparks

  and thank you.

O.S

Cris_Bowers

@NeilCooke Also being able to set a default file location instead of always having to click Custom, then Other Documents, then My Onshape, then the place where I keep all my profiles would be super helpful too. Or am I using it wrong and I could just set it up to look there to begin with?

NeilCooke

@owen_sparks - sorry not possible. The context is imported on the fly so there's no place to store a reference to it.

@Cris_Bowers - I understand it is a pain. I use a label called Profiles to find them (marginally) quicker.

Cris_Bowers

NeilCooke said:

@owen_sparks - sorry not possible. The context is imported on the fly so there's no place to store a reference to it.

@Cris_Bowers - I understand it is a pain. I use a label called Profiles to find them (marginally) quicker.

That's better, saves me 2 clicks at least.

hiralpancholi

@NeilCooke
Hi, Thanks It's working as expected with "custom beam" Option.

andrew_southen

Is it at all possible for someone to give a step by step set of instructions on how to use the beam profile generator? I'm an absolute newbie to Onshape, I've made a profile sketch, and gotten up to the "open the FeatureScript notices panel and Copy & Paste the data into the Beam Profiles tab" but get lost at that point. Not sure what data I should be copying, and where to paste it. I'd like to simply create a few basic Australia/New Zealand standard rectangular hollow section sizes to use in some drawings. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've drawn my sketch on the top face, it extrudes okay, just stuck at how to use it in "Beams"

NeilCooke

@andrew_southen best to avoid the profile generator since we added the custom tab at the top of the dialog. 

brucebartlett

@andrew_southen , try this version. It doesn't have the full list but you can add custom dimension to the profile. Made by @MBartlett21

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/cbcb5406bdf8ec15703a9e9e/w/025f41c07b76ffc79326b010/e/80ef60b33449e47bc3e6a01e

andrew_southen

NeilCooke said:

@andrew_southen best to avoid the profile generator since we added the custom tab at the top of the dialog. 

Thanks man. That did the trick. I did try that last night, but being an absolute beginner it's entirely possible that I did something not quite right with the profile sketch. Tried again this morning, and worked fine

andrew_southen

brucebartlett said:

@andrew_southen , try this version. It doesn't have the full list but you can add custom dimension to the profile. Made by @MBartlett21

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/cbcb5406bdf8ec15703a9e9e/w/025f41c07b76ffc79326b010/e/80ef60b33449e47bc3e6a01e

I'll have a look at that when I get the chance. Many thanks. Good little forum community you've got going here. Very valuable resource. Cheers.

MBartlett21

brucebartlett said:

@andrew_southen , try this version. It doesn't have the full list but you can add custom dimension to the profile. Made by @MBartlett21

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/cbcb5406bdf8ec15703a9e9e/w/025f41c07b76ffc79326b010/e/80ef60b33449e47bc3e6a01e

This version does allow custom profiles as well, but they must be run through its own profile generator, which sets aspects such as origins, profile name, and part number.
It supports weld gaps, manual loop selection and trimming. Tangent loops are merged into a single section.
It also includes a cut list  feature, which creates a list of the created beams with their length that can be exported to CSV (Bent CHS/pipe cut list is not supported)

MBartlett21

The Australian Beams feature is now located at https://cad.onshape.com/documents/cfcc264d41817d876589755c.

christian_petty

This feature is awesome. It would be even better if in the same feature you could specify the profile and angle for individual beams. Currently I cannot take advantage of the automatic joints if the beams needs to be different profiles. Unless I am missing something, I currently need to use a separate feature for the different profile and also offset the sketch to account for the profile thickness.

MBartlett21

@radianrad

If you choose manual selection, you can specify an angle for each loop as such. It is just the profile and offset currently that can't be changed in manual selection.

I am wanting to make a separate 'Joint' feature that lets you select sets of faces and have it join them for you.

Also, finally, the Australian Beams feature (version 3 now) is now located at https://cad.onshape.com/documents/1932527edac323470b3700c5. (The reason for the different documents is that I created a new one for each breaking change. Both breaking changes were to do with profiles).

If you are wanting to update from an old version, you should make a note of the profile(s) you had and then update it to the new document, then finally update it to the latest version in the new document. (afaik apart from the profile, there shouldn't be any breaking changes there).