Steel Detailing | Precast Detailing | Estimation

Author: admin

  • Tek1 Courses – AS 1657 & AS 1428 (Australian Standards)

    Experts in AS in Stairs/Handrails/Ladders

    We’ve done a lot of work on Australian Standards – both public and private access. We specialise in Steel Detailing – and have a special focus on stairs and ladders. Since we deal extensively in this area, we require all our staff to be thoroughly versed in the Standards. Consequently, we have developed testing frameworks to ensure that all staff are well trained and accountable.

    Our Testing Infrastructure Now Freely Released to the General Public

    We are now releasing our testing framework to the public at no charge. These tests should help you learn and reinforce your knowledge of Australian Standards – namely, AS 1657 and AS 1428.

    We hope and trust you will find it of immense benefit.

    Keep people safe – design and build according to the safety standards prescribed by law.

    Where are the courses?

    https://training.tek1.com.au

    1. Follow the link:
    2. Click on the relevant course
    3. It is best to create your own account – I know it’s a pain but it’s the best way. If you really don’t want to you can log in with a common account available to the public, but there are serious limitations with that approach – this is because everyone will be using this account and you’ll be picking up where someone else has left off – a half finished test for example. If you want to do the latter, here are the credentials – but I strongly urge you to create your own account: 
      • username: student (only small letter allowed)
      • password: password (must have atleast 1 special character)
      • Must confirm your account from your email once created
    4. Enjoy the course!

  • Pick First Selection in the Model (Tekla Open API)

    The AutoCAD .net/ObjectARX APIs have a handy feature all the pick first selection. This means that prior to running a command, the user is able to select some objects in the model. The command is then able to use these objects. The question is, how to obtain a selection of objects using the Tekla API – prior to running your plug-in?

    It’s really simple (if you already know how):

    And that’s all it is! Hope this helps.

  • How to Set Up a Tekla API Project (Tekla API Application)

    Work faster with the Tekla API

    The object of a Tekla Application is to ensure that things go smoothly on the construction site. You can see the organised chaos that is here. Avoid the real chaos. Plan ahead. 

    For the newbie this post shows how to set up a Tekla Project.

    Let us assume that you are creating a WPF desktop Application. You could also just as easily create a console application – I often do this if I simply want a quick and dirty way to test code.

    1. Go to Visual Studio.
    2. Create a new WPF project.

    Follow this gif:

    Setting up a Tekla Project
    How to Set up a Tekla WPF Application
    1. Next you need to add references to Tekla DLLs. They are contained at this location on my PC. C:\Program Files\Tekla Structures\19.1\nt\bin\plugins\ .They may be in a different version on yours. You can also download these dlls using Nuget in your Visual Studio.
    2. If you are using 19.1i version – then you can download Trimble’s nuget package named thus: 2019.1.50434

    Follow this Gif:

    Adding Tekla References

    Shows how to add references to a Tekla API WPF Project.

    1. The fourth and final step is to add directives and to then get coding.

    Some common directives and aliases that I use:

    I hope this post helps you!

  • Showing an Assembly in the Model via a Tekla Drawing (Part II) Tekla Open API + Code snippets

    We are revisiting a post I made earlier.

    Here’s the problem. You are viewing a Tekla drawing. But you have no idea what you are looking at, or where it is. This macro will take you to that very assembly in the model. It’s actually quite handy. And here is the previous post where I made allusion to the facility (you’ll find a video demonstrating its use):

    http://www.tek1.com.au/tekla-plug-in-2-viewing-an-assembly-in-the-model-from-an-assembly-drawing/

    This post marks the release of the code which does the job! Enjoy!

  • AutoCAD-Tekla Interoperability (AutoCAD .net)

    Tekla – AutoCAD Interoperability Tool

    Tekla licenses are pricey. About $30k + maintenance per license. What if I told you that you needed 30-50% less licenses than you currently hold. That’s a huge cost saving, isn’t it?

    If you only need 5 licenses (as opposed to 10), then you’ve saved $150k instantly, plus maintenance.

    AutoCAD licenses are significantly cheaper.

    But if only the work you did in AutoCAD could be transferred into Tekla? That would save you some licenses. That’s just what I’ve done here in my latest project. Now a significant portion of any modelling job can be done in AutoCAD and simply imported into Tekla.

    You can check it out here:

    Tekla – Autocad Interop. from Tek1 on Vimeo.

    Human Resources Problem

    Interoperability will also help improve the quality of your work: it’s tough finding people who are highly skilled in Tekla. What if I told you that you could use an AutoCAD draftsperson instead of someone well versed in Tekla, to do the same job? Now you have a potentially infinite pool of candidates to draw from.

    Tools

    Click here to download

    Interested In more?

    I’d love to be able to help. Just call or email us.

    How to Download Tekla Catalogues (or Catalogs):

    You need to download the catalogue because the interop DLL connects to the catalog. Without it, we cannot verify that your profiles actually exist in Tekla.

    Here is the cataloge download link: 

    https://github.com/benkoshy/Acad-Tekla-Interop

    Trouble Shooting

    • Ensure you are using the “Steel Detailing” license.
    • Ensure you have AutoCAD 2023, or 2024. Do not use 2025 because this tends not to connect with Tekla.

  • AS 1428 – Section 11 – Nosing and Tread Requirements for Stair Construction (Public Access)

    We continue to release our in-house precis on Stair way construction. Reading the standards is terribly tedious so we have developed a way to easily cross check the requirements and to make sure that stairs are built according to standards.

    Unfortunately it’s too common for us to see designers produce drawings which simply do not comply to the required standards. So it is of the utmost importance that fabricators are able to: (i) know and understand the standards and to independently verify that their drawings do comply. Only a fool would 100% trust in an architect to draw to standards – we’ve seen it way too often. You, the fabricator have to check everything yourself. Here are some of the in-house memos that we use to ensure that our stairs always comply:

    We wish to share it with the world – and we hope it helps you immensely:

    TEK1 AS 1428 11.1 Standards for Stairs

    I hope you find it of benefit and great use.

  • Maximum Frame sizes (Steel Detailing Tips)

    Maximum Galvanizing size generally available in Australia

    • 1400 WIDE X3100 DEEP X 12000 LENGTH

    Maximum width for road transport (laid flat on bed is 2500m)

    Please check out both the documents below.

    http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/di/2006-120/20060623-28031/pdf/2006-120.pdf

    https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Vehicle-standards-and-modifications/Loads-and-towing/Projecting-loads.aspx

  • In Process vs Out of Process

    There seems to be a lot of confusion with folks about the difference between using the AutoCAD .net API vs the COM Interop API. They both hope to do the same things, but via different ways. Given a choice, I’d always recommend using the .net API because it is much more powerful.

    In process – .net API

    This means that the user has to first open AutoCAD. i.e. double click on the AutoCAD icon and start up AutoCAD. once AutoCAD is open and a drawing is opened, then the user has to type in a command: “NETLOAD” and has to select the a file – the result of all your programming/coding efforts. once that file is selected the user then has to run the command “AddLine”. the command will run as you have coded it. in order to do it this way you will need the .AutoCAD net API

    Out of Process – COM InterOp

    In this case, you don’t necessarily have to manually open AutoCAD up. you create your own program, and you open it (much like you would open MS word etc) and your “AddLine” command would run without you, as a user, manually opening AutoCAD and netloading etc.. if you’re going down this path you need to use the COM interop API.

    Using Both

    If you really want to use the .net API, but did not want to manually netload, then you can use a combination of both of the above:

    From the documentation:

    If you need to create a stand-alone application to drive AutoCAD, it is best to create an application that uses the CreateObject and GetObject methods to create a new instance of an AutoCAD application or return one of the instances that is currently running. Once a reference to an AcadApplication is returned, you can then load your in-process .NET application into AutoCAD by using the SendCommand method that is a member of the ActiveDocumentproperty of the AcadApplication.

    As an alternative to executing your .NET application in-process, could use COM interop for your application.

    Hope this clear things up for you.

  • How to insert Reference Models into Tekla

    Wouldn’t it be handy if we could pro grammatically insert reference models into Tekla? Well you can now do so quite easily. And if you want to see a video demonstration, here it is:

    Here is the code which does the hard work. (You will of course add the appropriate references and directives):