Add Safety Tabs ( Modeling )

Tool summary :

  • Select a beam to add safety cable tabs to a wide flange , pipe (HSS round) or tube (HSS rectangular) column. The tabs are positioned with respect to the beam.
  • The safety tabs shop weld to the column that the beam frames to. The settings that control the tabs are a " Component " of the left end or the right end of the beam. Those settings can also be accessed by opening the Safety Tabs window (shown below).
On the Beam Edit window, the name of the leaves for the safety tab " Component " will be contained in the [ Safety Tabs ] section. You can edit the tabs using the settings under that leaf, or you can double-click a safety tab or one of its welds to open up this window (shown at left). To open this window when you double-click, the " Selection filter " must be set to ' Default ' or ' All ' or ' Custom Components ''.

The first time a new Safety Tabs component is added in a new Modeling session, this window is populated with default settings per choices made in Home > Project Settings > Job > Component Plugin Defaults > " Column Safety Tabs ."

  • You can click the Add Safety Tabs icon instead of doing steps 2 and 3 of the procedure that follows. The icon can be found in the command group ' Model--Component ' for Toolbar Configuration (classic) or Ribbon Editor (lightning).
  • Preselection method for adding: 1 ) In Modeling , select a beam that frames to a wide flange, HSS round or HSS rectangular column. 2 ) Invoke Add Component . 3 ) On the custom component selection list, choose " Safety Tabs ." 4 ) The Safety Tabs window opens. Specify the end (' Left ' or ' Right ') that the beam frames to the column you want to add the safety cable tabs to. Also specify a " Floor thickness " above the beam along with the distance above the floor that the tabs are to be placed. Press " OK " to close the window. 5 ) If User and Site Options > Modeling > " Automatically process after modeling operation " is set to ' Process and create solids ', the tabs will be generated immediately. If not, the tabs will be generated on the column the next time the beam undergoes Process and Create Solids .
  • If you use in-tool selection -- that is, select the beam after selecting " Safety Tabs " as the custom component you want to add -- only beams will be selectable. It is your responsibility to ensure that the beam frames to the column that you want.
  • See, on this help page, to add, edit or delete the custom component .

    VIDEO The Safety Tabs and Safety Tabs - Column custom components are compared. (Recorded in SDS2 Detailing , v2015.)

Also see :

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   To edit or delete a Safety Tabs custom component :

  • To edit a Safety Tabs component, you can double-click one of the tabs (to open the Safety Tabs window), or you can open its Beam Edit window and make your desired changes in the [ Safety Tabs ] section. The safety tabs will be regenerated in the model at the time the edit is complete if an appropriate choice is made to User and Site Options > Modeling > " Automatically process after modeling operation '. The Component Selection Tool can also be used to edit (and find) custom components. Note that the " Selection filter " must be set to ' Default ' or ' All ' or ' Custom Components '' in order for you to use the double-click method of editing.
  • To select a Safety Tabs custom component:
Selecting one tab that is part of a Safety Tabs custom component selects all of that component's tabs when the " Selection filter " set to ' Default ' or ' All ' or ' Custom Components '',
  • To delete a Safety Tabs custom component: 1 ) Select the component. 2 ) Press the Delete key (or choose Edit > Delete ). 3 ) Process and Create Solids .
  • Another way to delete a Safety Tabs custom component: 1 ) On the component's Beam Edit window's navigation tree (left panel), select " Safety Tabs ." 2 ) Right-click and choose " Delete " on the menu. The [ Safety Tabs ] section disappears. 3 ) Press the beam window's " OK " button to make the deletion of the component permanent.
  • In the Model Tree , the Safety Tabs custom component is listed as Safety Tabs when " View By " is set to ' Member piecemark ' or ' Member number '. The component is listed under its beam, after that beam's connection components ( Left End and Right End ), and before that beam's submaterials, welds and bolts. The plate materials and welds that the safety tabs are made of are also be listed in the Model Tree , but under the column, not under the beam.
  • An alternative to this custom component is the Safety Tabs - Column custom component, which lets you place safety tabs on a column by designating a distance from the bottom of that column. The Safety Tabs - Column custom component is a custom component of the column.

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   Safety Tabs custom component settings :

  Graphical ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Graphical : or .

  • A Safety Tabs component is automatically set to " Graphical " whenever you make graphical changes to any of its materials or welds. For example, when you Edit Material or perform a cut operation on an Safety Tabs material. Click here for more information.
  • Instead of allowing the component to be made " Graphical ," you may wish to Explode Component .

    Locate -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Add safety cable tabs: or .

Safety cable tabs on an HSS rectangular column . In this example, the beam that the safety cable tabs were added to is the beam to the right of the column. The user who added the component specified the " Member end " to be ' Left ' since the column is at the left of the beam.

If this box is checked ( ), safety cable tabs will be added to each of the " Column face(s) " that you select. Their placement will be governed by the " Floor thickness " and " Distance from floor to 1st safety cable tab " and the " Center to center distance between safety cable tabs ."

If the box is not checked ( ), safety cable tabs will not be added.

Add lifeline tab: or .

If this box is checked ( ), a lifeline tab will be added to each of the " Column face(s) " that you select. Their placement will be governed by the " Floor thickness " and the " Distance from floor to lifeline tab "

If the box is not checked ( ), lifeline tabs will not be added.

Member end: Left or Right .

' Left End ' results in the safety tabs being generated on the column that is framed to by the left end of the beam. On the Beam Edit window, the component's settings will appear as left-end settings in a section that is named [ Safety Tabs ].

' Right End ' results in the safety tabs being generated on the column that is framed to by the right end of the beam. On the Beam Edit window, the component's settings will appear as right-end settings in a section that is named [ Safety Tabs ].

Column face(s): Face A and/or Face B and/or Face C and/or Face D . You must select at least one face to get tabs.

face A  face C

' Face B ' is web near side of the column.

' Face A ' is the left flange when you are looking at face B.

' Face C ' is the right flange when you are looking at face B.

' Face D ' is web far side of the column, the face opposite to face B.

Position: Flg/Web and/or OS Flg Face+ and/or OSFlgFace- and/or ISFlgFace+ and/or ISFlgFace- .. This applies when you are adding tabs to a wide flange column. The "OS" face is the outside face of the flange. The "IS" face is the inside face of the flange.

Horizontal offset for Face A/C:

Horizontal offset for Face B/D:

Floor thickness: The distance (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ) from the top of the beam to the surface of the floor. The " Distance from floor to 1st safety cable tab " and " Distance from floor to lifeline tab " are measured from the floor surface. In the example below, this distance is ft .

Distance from floor to 1st safety cable tab: The distance (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ) from the surface of the floor to the center of the 1st (lowest) safety cable tab. In the example below, this distance is f1 . A safety cable tab is centered at half its " Plate length ."

Center to center distance between safety cable tabs: The distance (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ) from the center of the 1st (lowest) safety cable tab to the center of the next safety cable tab. In the example below, this distance is cc . A safety cable tab is centered at half its " Plate length ."

Distance from floor to lifeline tab: The distance (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ) from the floor to the center of the lifeline tab. In the example below, this distance is lh . A lifeline tab is centered at half its " Plate length ."


  Tab Options ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Material grade: A36 or A572 or etc. This is the grade of steel for the tabs. This is also the " Steel grade " of the rectangular plate material that each tab is made of.

Setup: If the grade of steel you want is not shown on the list box ( ), you can use Home > Project Settings > Job > Plate Grades to add it to the list.

Material color: A predefined color or a custom color . This is the approximate color of the safety tabs when the column they are submaterials of is displayed in one of the three solid forms . This is also the " Color " of the rectangular plate material that a safety tab is made of.

The predefined colors are set up on the Predefined Colors window. The color swatch next to the list box ( ) displays the color that is selected.

Select ' Custom Color ' (last choice on the list) to launch your operating system's color picker and define any color you like.


  Tab Dimensions ------------------------------------------------------------------

Plate thickness: The thickness of each of the tabs (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ). This is also The " Material thickness " of the rectangular plate material that each tab is made of.

Plate length: The length of each of the tabs (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ). This is also the " Order length " of the rectangular plate material that each tab is made of.

Note: The vertical center of a tab is at half of its " Plate length ." The " Distance from floor to 1st safety cable tab " and " Distance from floor to lifeline tab " and " Center to center distance between safety cable tabs " are each measured to the vertical center of a tab.

Plate width: The width of each of the tabs (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ). This is also the " Material width " of the rectangular plate material that each tab is made of.

Plate gage: The distance (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ) from the face of the column to the center of the hole in the tab. Changing the " Gage " moves the hole closer to or further away from the column face.

Note: The " Plate gage " affects the horizontal alignment of the hole -- not its vertical alignment. The hole is vertically aligned at the half-length of the tab.

Hole diameter: The diameter of the hole in each tab (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ).


    Weld Information ----------------------------------------------------------------

Add weld: Yes or No .

' Yes '
' No '

' Yes ' instructs Safety Tabs to shop weld the tabs to the column.

' No ' instructs Safety Tabs to not add welds.

Weld type: Fillet . This sets the " Weld type " on the Weld Edit window in Modeling as well as the " Weld type " for the weld symbol on the column detail.

symbol name   weld used for...
 fillet General welding of material.

Weld size: A distance (in the primary dimension " Units " or other units ) that indicates depth of preparation, size or strength of the weld. This sets the " Weld size " on the Weld Edit window in Modeling as well as the " Weld size " for the weld symbol on the column detail.

Tail text: blank or a string of characters . This sets the " Supplementary tail text " on the Weld Edit window in Modeling as well as the " Supplementary tail text " for the weld symbol on the column detail.

In this example of a weld symbol, the character string TYP is the tail text.

If this field is left ' blank ', a tail is not drawn on the weld symbol.

If a ' string of characters ' is entered, a tail with that character string as the tail text is drawn on the weld symbol.

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