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Beam sections
bill_daniels
Member Posts: 278 ✭✭✭
I'm sure this will cover previous ground but I've been struggling to use this for months. I use a LOT of square and rectangular tubing sourced from Totten Tube in my designs so it's important to me. (It would be great if Beams used the Totten Tube on-line catalog for standard sections.)
I looked up the specifications for square and rectangular steel tube. The Steel Tube Institute says: "The corner radius of Hollow Structural Sections (HSS) is not something that can be manipulated to order, and is part of the existing manufacturing paradigm of numerous HSS producers in North America. The typical outside corner radius of North American HSS is 2T, where T is the wall thickness of the as-produced HSS, to the standard ASTM A500-10." ASTM A500-10 merely says that the corner radius can't exceed 3x the wall thickness. I think the Beam Profile Generator should have outside corner radius of 2X for thin wall and 3T for thicker wall sections.
So, armed with this information, I tried to create some HSS tubes using Beam Profile Generator but I couldn't get it to work with a sketched cross section nor with a part face. In frustration, I tried sheet metal. I found if I sketch a 1.5" square then extrude it using .120" as the thickness and a corner radius of .240, I get a perfect 1.5" Sq. x .120 wall section - very easy. (Of course, sheet metal throws a snit because the shape can't be unfolded.) It strikes me that sheet metal could be used as the perfect way to create sections for Beams using the ASTM specs if Beams could import sections created using sheet metal.
I looked up the specifications for square and rectangular steel tube. The Steel Tube Institute says: "The corner radius of Hollow Structural Sections (HSS) is not something that can be manipulated to order, and is part of the existing manufacturing paradigm of numerous HSS producers in North America. The typical outside corner radius of North American HSS is 2T, where T is the wall thickness of the as-produced HSS, to the standard ASTM A500-10." ASTM A500-10 merely says that the corner radius can't exceed 3x the wall thickness. I think the Beam Profile Generator should have outside corner radius of 2X for thin wall and 3T for thicker wall sections.
So, armed with this information, I tried to create some HSS tubes using Beam Profile Generator but I couldn't get it to work with a sketched cross section nor with a part face. In frustration, I tried sheet metal. I found if I sketch a 1.5" square then extrude it using .120" as the thickness and a corner radius of .240, I get a perfect 1.5" Sq. x .120 wall section - very easy. (Of course, sheet metal throws a snit because the shape can't be unfolded.) It strikes me that sheet metal could be used as the perfect way to create sections for Beams using the ASTM specs if Beams could import sections created using sheet metal.
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https://cad.onshape.com/documents/661b4cdeb6c1518cd9c394e3/w/3f38e99b9e74b7d16c7acf14/e/c3b082c6e75c0b2a415341ae
Twitter: @onshapetricks & @babart1977
Did you sketch the rectangle inside, so there was a shaded section in the sketch?
IR for AS/NZS 1100
So, now that I have my profile, how do I use it in Beams?
Take a look at this: https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/6326/creating-beam-profiles/p1
IR for AS/NZS 1100
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/american-wide-flange-steel-beams-d_1319.html