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Update to Beams feature
NeilCooke
Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 5,367 
A new version of the Beams feature is available (Official V7). If you have it on your toolbar you will see a blue link icon - right-click to update:
Note: this will only affect new features you create. Any existing features using a previous version of Beams will also show a blue icon. There is NO NEED to update existing features unless the blue icon is annoying you - however one of the profiles was incorrect (as pointed out by a user - thank you):
ANSI Inch HSS Square Tube 2 x 2 x 1/4 was actually ANSI Inch HSS Square Tube 2 x 2 x 1/8, so the 1/4" thick profile is now correct and a new entry for the 1/8" thick profile has been added.
This means that if you have previously used ANSI Inch HSS Square Tube 2 x 2 x 1/4 in old designs, the geometry will update to the new (correct) profile.
You can do 1 of 4 things:
Here is the Document: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/e15c2c668d138f01242d0c80/v/055326ad4b507c49a81b40ae/e/7a7d925dcd7374e1a0b41cea
Remember, you don't need to make a copy of this Document, just add it to your toolbar. To add custom profiles, use the Custom tab in the feature.
Note: this will only affect new features you create. Any existing features using a previous version of Beams will also show a blue icon. There is NO NEED to update existing features unless the blue icon is annoying you - however one of the profiles was incorrect (as pointed out by a user - thank you):
ANSI Inch HSS Square Tube 2 x 2 x 1/4 was actually ANSI Inch HSS Square Tube 2 x 2 x 1/8, so the 1/4" thick profile is now correct and a new entry for the 1/8" thick profile has been added.
This means that if you have previously used ANSI Inch HSS Square Tube 2 x 2 x 1/4 in old designs, the geometry will update to the new (correct) profile.
You can do 1 of 4 things:
- do nothing / don't update and it will remain how it was
- update to the correct profile
- update then edit your beam features to the 1/8" thick profile if that was the one you really wanted
- update and if it all goes wrong, restore to a previous time in history
Here is the Document: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/e15c2c668d138f01242d0c80/v/055326ad4b507c49a81b40ae/e/7a7d925dcd7374e1a0b41cea
Remember, you don't need to make a copy of this Document, just add it to your toolbar. To add custom profiles, use the Custom tab in the feature.
Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEAI
3
Comments
HWM-Water Ltd
Here's what I changed:
- For beams containing arcs, I measure the length of the underlying sketch entity and report that instead, since it should be longer than the trimmed beam.
- For merged beams like tubes, I measure the straight sections using a bounding box and curved sections using the sketch entity - if the loop of edges has lines at the start and end, the reported length is very accurate - if one of the ends is an arc it will be more approximate.
- I also populated the beam description with the same info.
So in this example the lengths are spot on:Any approximation is indicated by * so you should probably manually measure those items to be sure.
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/e15c2c668d138f01242d0c80/v/63de3fd6ac09766dfc16a8a0/e/7167292bf121482e9d73044c