Structural Member tool - Hit and Miss

[PeterYip]

Recently having to drawing a lot of structural steel frames for a project I am working on, I found that the Structure Member Tool very hit and miss at most of the times. 

 

The main trouble I am having is whenever I need to adjust the level of the beams, the column will shorten for some reason and then I will need to go back and manually set the start and end level again, and other times the level of the column will read some bizarre levels, ie, it will change from start: 0 - end: 15000 to start:-7500 - end: 7500.

 

Secondly the way it will try to mitre / join beams or columns seems to have a mind of its own. and it gets worst when you try to drawing a cranked beam.

 

There seems to be no tool to extend, trim beams either

 

In the end, I end up doing most of it in extrusion instead. Just wondering am I missing the tricks here ?? I have used many BIM software in the past, none as frustrating....

Many thanks

Edited March 19, 2020 by PeterYip

[Guest Wes Gardner]

@PeterYip

Yes, that tool needs some love.  An alternative is to use the Wide Flange tool in the "Detailing" toolset.  There won't be any automation as far as joining but there also won't be any frustration as far as joining.

 

Wes

 

 

[PeterYip]

@Wes Gardner Thanks, thats what I have been doing after I got frustrated ....