What’s New & Improved in the Powerpack for Advance Steel 2020 Cold Rolled Update?

For the 2020 release of the Graitec PowerPack for Advance Steel (PP4AS), Graitec have continued with their further development and enhancement of the ‘Purlin’ and ‘Non-Continuous Purlin’ connections.

The joint has been updated to accommodate several variable parameters request from our user base, along with this we have populated the joint with Connection data for several of the leading UK suppliers of Cold rolled, those being Thomas Panels, Steadmans & Steel Sections Ltd. From our previous PP4AS releases these suppliers ranges have been added to the data propagation side of the PP4AS for adding in the Section profile ranges and ancillary fittings, this was combined within the Core Advance Steel profile system and Standard Autodesk Advance Steel joints.

However, the standard joints, did not quite meet the requirements from the UK Market, so Graitec have created these additional connections to provide some of these options required for the UK market and with these suppliers taking the opportunity to add their data into these additional tools for our growing user base.

One of those key features was to allow the Stays at a haunch location to go down into that segment of the Rafter, along with many other small adjustments to the dialog and options.

What might seem small improvement, but with large possibilities, is that now, a purlin cleat can be applied to a non-standard minimum edge distance from the column or rafter.

Why is this important? Well sometimes the user is constrained to use a sheeting/roofing line that means the remaining Gap distance will fall outside the minimum, and possible increase to maintain the purlin position. So, with this change the Graitec Purlin joint is now more flexible, and it will also warn you of this non-standard arrangement via the command line dialog of AutoCAD.

Where to find these connections in the PowerPack for Advance Steel

For the 2020 release, there is a change in where our connections are now found, Graitec have now created a Connections vault for all their additional connection tools available for the 2020 release, this now fails into line with how typically Standard Advance Steel uses their palette technology to provide their tools for joint creation and other core elements of advance steel, making it easier for users to navigate the GUI of the overall Advance steel platform.

New Ribbon Panel for Cold Rolled Suppliers

To help Users identified and find leading suppliers like Thomas panels, Steel Sections and Steadmans, that have taken the view to invest in the value of the Powerpack to deliver their product range to User base of Advance Steel, there is now a New Ribbon panel dedicated to ‘Cold Rolled’, this panel has a buttons to allow users to quickly access the Suppliers that have their product section profiles within the Powerpack.

So, watch out over the coming months for further updates on how to use and apply these tools to your advance steel projects. Stay tuned to our blog and news feeds.

Structure Designer within the Graitec Powerpack 2020

The structure designer has been in the powerpack for a while now, this tool allows the user to quickly generate various overall building frame types, from portal span, curved roof and multilevel configurations.

For the 2020 release combined with cold rolled updates, the following suppliers are now present within the interface, Thomas panels, Steadmans, Steel sections.

This means users will be able to configure their standard building types with these suppliers now, store them via the library feature, so quite quickly a series of default structures can be created for future reuse and reference.

Example below is for Thomas panels, but Steadmans and steel sections are now possible.

Supplier Updates 2020

Some supplier updates are included in the 2020 version:

Bill of Materials Editor – Thomas Panel Template

For 2020, there is a new template in the BOM Editor, under a designated BOM folder for Thomas panels, to create materials lists.

Available in Bom palette by the normal method of checking the selection box in BOM Editor and then reopening the palette.

Custom Connection Templates – Cold Rolled Suppliers

Thomas panels, we had reported some differences in the radial slot wide, bolt lengths, these are corrected for the 2020 release.

To get a more in-depth overview into the Cold Rolled Updates, just watch the video below.