While working in Advance Steel, I bet you might want to use an Extend to an Object command several times. You have at least two options to extend objects in Advance Steel. The first option is to use the native Trim/Extend tool and the other is to use Cut at Object as an extend tool. The choice is yours.
The first one I am going to discuss is the native Trim/Extend tool:
Here is the scenario of what we are trying to accomplish: We want to extend Beam A to Beam B:
In order to do this, we will use the tool available right out of the box:
Trim/Extend Tool
This tool works when connecting Beam to Beam or Column to Beam.
To access this tool, you need to open the Advance Steel Tool Palette, which is available in the Home tab:
Home tab > Advance Steel Tool Palette
Then go to Tools > Trim/Extend. If you cannot find this tool in this menu, try to extend the bottom part of the menu; it might be hidden since it is almost at the very bottom of the menu.
When you initiate this tool, you will be asked to make a selection regarding the operation mode:
press ENTER to confirm your selection.
Then you will be asked to select an option on where you want to make the extension. You have a few options; you can connect to: System, Center, Face or Line.
Press ENTER to confirm your selection. When you leave it on System, Advance Steel will make an extension to the System Red Line:
When you choose the Center, your beam will be connected to the center of the other beam. When you choose the Face option, you will be connected to the outside face of the beam:
The last option is to extend the beam to a Line. When you initiate this tool, you will be asked to specify the points of the line; after confirming the line by pressing ENTER, the beam will be extended to this line:
The alternative option for the Extend a beam command that I find even more useful is:
Cut At Object As An Extend A Beam (Or Column) Tool
So here is a scenario for our exercise: We want to extend Column A to Beam B as shown in the picture below:
First, make sure you have the Advance Steel Tool Palette open. It is available in the Home tab:
Home tab > Advance Steel Tool Palette
Once you have the Tool Palette open, go to the Features > Cut at Object
You will be asked to select Section to Cut Against as shown in the picture below. Select Beam B and press ENTER to confirm your selection:
You will be asked to choose a Section to Cut. Select Column A and press ENTER to confirm your selection.
Your column A will be extended to Beam B as expected. The model will look something like this, and the dialog box will open where you can make further modifications to your Cut at Object command:
You can choose among the options to Saw Cut – Flange, Saw Cut – Web, or Miter Cut:
In the Cut section of the dialog box, you can make choices regarding elements like gap and weld:
You can use this tool not only to extend a column to beam but also in a beam-to-beam scenario as shown below:
Conclusion
Advance Steel provides you with many options as far as making member extensions. The use of these tools will depend on the application you might need at the moment. Both tools are very powerful. I especially like the Cut at Object tools since I have the option of specifying a gap right away if I need it.
I am sure you will use both tools a lot!
This concludes the Extend A Beam Tutorial. Good luck using all the methods and tools described above. If you find this article valuable, please subscribe to my blog to be notified whenever I publish a new article.
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