When none of Advance Steel’s built-in connections match the engineer’s detail, you build the connection by hand: place the clip angles as separate members, position them with Move, the UCS and Mirror, then add bolts and welds. That’s a custom connection, and it’s what we do here.
This is Part 07 of my Advance Steel tutorial series for beginners, on the CTA maintenance platform. This is where the job stops being “standard.” The engineer’s detail calls for L8x6 clip angles with two vertical bolts on one leg and two horizontal bolts on the other. None of the built-in clip angle connections handle that, so we build the clip angles by hand. In this part we place and position them; bolts come in the next part.
Video version:
What does the engineer’s detail call for?
Download the project file free here, unzip it and open it.
How do I place a clip angle by hand?
I’ve already made two levels for the new angles, called Level A and Level B.
- Open Workplanes and set the bottom of the angle to Level A and the top to Level B.
- Go to the Top view, pick the Column tool on the ribbon, and click somewhere empty in the drawing. Stay away from existing members, or Advance Steel may try to connect the new piece to them. We’ll move it into place later.
- In the dialog, choose Angle, then Not Identical, then L8x6x1/2.
- In Positioning, set the insertion point to the corner and rotate the angle into position. Close the dialog.
How do I move and mirror clip angles into place?
- Lock the UCS to the view. If the UCS is new to you, see the UCS in Advance Steel explained.
- Use Move, grab the corner of the angle, and line it up with the horizontal angle. Then move it onto the web of the beam.
- Mirror it and move the copy to line up with the other side of the horizontal angle.
- Select both clip angles and mirror them about the midpoint of the horizontal angle to its other end. That horizontal angle now has its double clip angle connection at both ends.
- Select all four clip angles and mirror them to the other horizontal angle in this assembly.
- Select all eight and copy them to the other assembly.
Check it in 3D. Every clip angle should be in its spot.
When do you need a custom connection?
Use a built-in joint from the Connection Vault whenever one matches the detail. It’s faster and it updates when members change. See clip angle connections in Advance Steel. Build it by hand when the detail has something the joint can’t do, like the mixed bolt layout here, or when an odd member makes the joint fail.
Can I save a custom connection to reuse?
Once you’ve built a connection by hand, you can copy it to other joints with the same geometry. I show how in copy a connection in Advance Steel. Advance Steel also supports custom connections, which turn a hand-built connection into a reusable one.
What to check before bolting
- Every clip angle sits tight against the beam web and the angle it connects.
- The legs point the right way (it’s easy to mirror one the wrong way).
- All eight angles in both assemblies are there. Count them in 3D.
The connection design itself (angle size, bolt count and spacing) comes from the engineer’s detail. Check anything unclear with the engineer.
What’s left is bolting them. That’s next: 08: Adding bolts to the clip angle connection.
The whole mini tutorial series
- 00: Set up the project information
- 01: Create the grid
- 02: Create levels
- 03: Place beams
- 04: Create columns
- 05: Welded connections
- 06: Shorten beams
- 07: Custom clip angle connection
- 08: Adding bolts to the clip angle connection
- 09: Adding T-braces
- 10: Slanted beams
- 11: Clipping the beams
If you’d like to see the hardware and software I use every day, it’s all on my toolbox page.
