Material Add Flat Plate Layout ( Modeling )

Tool summary :

  • Adds multi-sided flat plate material to a member. You must select a member to add the plate to.
  • When you add a flat plate layout to a member, the plate becomes a submaterial of that member. As a result, the plate will be shown on its member's detail drawing and will be listed in its member's bill of material. The material will be shown on the detail and in the bill even if you do not shop bolt or shop weld the plate to the member. Also, the material does not have to touch the member to be a part of the member.
  • If you do not want the flat plate layout attached to a member, you should add it as a miscellaneous member or legacy miscellaneous member.
  • This page also discusses how to add a plate layout as a legacy miscellaneous member. Adding a plate layout as a non-legacy miscellaneous member is usually a better choice than adding it as a legacy miscellaneous member and is discussed on a different page .
  • A flat plate layout is flat and therefore should be added in a flat view, not an isometric view. Up to 255 points may be located to define the shape of the plate. Before adding the plate, you may want to add construction lines that intersect at locations where you want to add INCL points to define the plate layout's shape.

Also see :

page 1 | contents | add material | add legacy misc mem | multi-sided flat plate window | top

   Adding a flat plate layout material or legacy miscellaneous member :

Multi-sided flat plate may be laid out in a plan view or an elevation view . These instructions assume that you are using a 3-button mouse.

1 . Multi-sided flat plate work points should be done in a view whose work plane is orthogonal to (at right angles to) the material or legacy miscellaneous member being added. Do one (1) of the following:

To add a multi-sided flat plate TO a member (pre-selection method):

  • Select the one (1) member that you want to add the material to (so that it is displayed in the " Primary selection color ") > press F3 > filter for " Plate / Bar " > double-click " Flat Plate Layout " > continue to step 2.
  • Instead of using F3, you can activate the Add Flat Plate Layout tool by clicking the icon represented at the top of this page or by using a keyboard shortcut or by using the classic menu system or etc.

To add a multi-sided flat plate AS a legacy miscellaneous member: Confirm that the box is checked for User and Site Options > Site > " Show legacy miscellaneous members in member add screen ." Then, in Modeling, press F2 > filter for " Miscellaneous steel " > double-click " Miscellaneous -- Flat Plate Layout" > continue to step 2.

Also see: Plate layout miscellaneous member

2 . The status line prompts, " Add: Material ." Locate - Complete - Return mouse bindings become active. Select the appropriate Locate option, then place work points as described below. The following illustration shows work points for a multi-sided flat plate laid out in a plan view.

2a : Corner rounding options appear on either a window (classic) or on a section of the ribbon's Layout page (lighting). As you left-click ( Locate ) to define points, remember to set corner rounding for the most recently located point before you left-click ( Locate ) to define the next point. Below is an example of a multi-sided flat plate with and without corner rounding.

2b (optional) : If you accidentally left-click ( Locate ) at a point you do not want, hold down Shift and left-click ( Remove ) to remove that point. You can remove as many points as you like, then continue locating points as described in 2a.

2c : Middle-click ( Complete ) with your mouse pointer anywhere in the view. This locates the final point exactly where you placed the starting point.

2d : Define a material reference point . This reference point is used to dimension the material during automatic detailing of members. For a legacy miscellaneous member such as that shown below, the reference point is dimensioned on the member detail only if you locate that reference point somewhere other than a corner of the material.

The reference point in this example is dimensioned on the member detail .

3 . After you have located the material reference point, the Multi-Sided Flat Plate Material window opens.

1a : " Material thickness " and " Steel grade " and " Thickness reference point " and " Surface finish " and " Color " and " Checkered " are filled out with default settings that match the last multi-sided flat plate that you added or edited in your current Modeling session. If you did not previously add or edit such a plate, default settings populate the window. You should change these settings as you see fit, then press the " OK " button.

Tip: The near side of the multi-sided flat plate is the face of the plate you were looking at in the view in which you added the plate (unless you rotated around the Y or Z axes). You can use the " Thickness reference point " option to set whether the thickness of the plate is on the near side, far side or center of the plate.

4 . The Rotate Material window opens, and a preview of the new multi-sided flat plate is shown on screen. Do one (1) of the following:

Alternative 1 : Press " Cancel " to back up to step 2. This stops the multi-sided plate from being added.

Alternative 2 : To accept the material's present rotation, press the " OK " button. Go to step 5 if you are adding a material.

Alternative 3 : Change the material's rotational settings and then press " OK " if you want to rotate the material.

5 : Different end steps are required depending on whether you are adding a material to a member or adding a stand-alone legacy miscellaneous member.

End steps for adding a material TO a member: After rotating the material into place > right-click ( Return ) if done adding material to the member > Change All Options can be applied if the member the material is being added to is batched together with other members with the same mark.

End steps for adding a material AS a legacy miscellaneous member: After rotating the legacy miscellaneous member into place > right-click ( Return ) when you are done.

Tip 1: If you added a legacy miscellaneous member (see step 1), you cannot re-open the Multi-Sided Flat Plate window using Edit Member -- that opens the [Legacy] Miscellaneous Member Edit window. Multi-Sided Flat Plate is a material window, not a member window, and you therefore have to open it by, for example, using Edit One Material , " Edit Other " on the context menu, or by double-clicking the material in the Model Tree .

Tip 2: If you added this material as a submaterial (see step 1), you can, in addition to the edit methods described in tip 1, double-click the material to re-open the Multi-Sided Flat Plate window.

page 1 | contents | add material | add legacy misc mem | multi-sided flat plate window | top