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Version 1.1.6 - 11.26.2015 - Added Fan and Mod Queen common truss types. - Structural outlookers (vert. & horz.) enabled under advanced roof options for Common (Fan & Mod Queen) truss types. Four more common truss types still need to be added: - Double Howe (6/6) - Mod Fan (8/4)...

I've updated the code so that the plugin now allows for user input in order to specify number of trusses and spacing of the trusses. For example 4 trusses @ 24" o/c would give you: The actual truss geometry cannot be altered within SketchUp it is hard coded into the plugin when it is created...

Added SketchUp 3D (.rb) file output for the truss geometry. This file, when copied into the SketchUp plugins folder, will create a menu item within SketchUp allowing for unlimited creation of the given truss geometry within SketchUp. I think this feature will be particularly interesting to...

I haven't posted about the truss designer for a while, apologies for that. Still trying to improve it as time allows. The list of upgrades and improvements was getting rather lengthy so I've started filling up the changlog page: http://design.medeek.com/calculator/changelog.html...

Snow and Wind Load analysis added to the truss calculator as well as the estimated truss weight. See the changelog for details: http://design.medeek.com/calculator/changelog.html

I am currently testing some new features with the Medeek API. One of these is to offer state snow loads in addition to the ASCE 7-10 national values for ground snow loads. The testing API script is located at: https://design.medeek.com/resources/medeekapi_TEST.pl A sample test address is...

Updated the Arizona Ground Snow Loads Map: http://design.medeek.com/resources/snow/arizonagroundsnowloads.html

Shearwall reactions are now complete, assuming of course that only the exterior walls are acting as shear walls. This assumption is pretty useless for building with dimensions exceeding a certain limit since they will probably involve steel moment frames or multiple internal shear walls. I'm...

Interesting to note that for a gable roof only the wind forces on the walls contribute any lateral forces to the roof diaphragm and then to the shear walls for the longitudinal direction (wind parallel to ridge). The breakdown of the forces would then be: Transverse: Longitudinal: One...

I've started recently working on a wind load calculator. Notice the complexity when overhangs are added to the roof. These load diagrams show the Envelope Procedure for a Gable Roof: Load Case A: Load Case B: If torsional load cases are required then another Load Case A and B...

I've recently started doing a lot more residential structural engineering for local clients and the first thing that I realized was that I was lacking a good beam calculator. I do have a number of spreadsheet calculators but I've found them hard to program and once I do have them programmed...

Updates: Version 1.0.5 - 07.26.2014 - Added lumber species selection under advanced options. - Tension perpendicular to grain check added for joint (6) and (7). - Updated AutoCAD drawing generator so that it now draws the metal connector plates at the correct sizes. - Limited heel joint plate...

I should have done this a year ago but better late than never: http://design.medeek.com/calculator/changelog.html The addition of the CSI and JSI limits makes it possible to further customized the engineering of the truss if a more conservative approach is required.

My plan is to expand my original truss calculator so that it can also handle plywood gussets for site built trusses. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/128644708/650483439?token=cb2534a2

The snow load calculator has now been upgraded with a PDF report output, which is really nice for printing out hard copies. http://design.medeek.com/resources/snow/snow_calculator.pl It was a real pain to format this document from HTML to PDF. I will probably do the same PDF report format for...

Vermont Ground Snow Loads Map is now complete: http://design.medeek.com/resources/snow/vermontgroundsnowloads.html This zone map defines ground snow loads by township and city boundaries and is derived from the zone map on page 48 of the 2012 Vermont Fire & Building Safety Code. Vermont...

Michigan Ground Snow Loads map is now up. http://design.medeek.com/resources/snow/michigangroundsnowloads.html This zone map is essentially an approximation of the ASCE snow load map with isolines fitted to county and township boundaries. I'm not entirely satisfied with the appearance of this...

Took a break from coding in all of the plates calculations last night and started working on the wind load cases. In order to do this I had to crack open my brand new copy of the ASCE 7-10. I always knew about the multiple load cases using the ASD method however as I dug deeper and studied a...

26 pages of truss plate calculations for one simple fink truss. It's no wonder we use computers for this sort of thing. Now I just need to take it from this pseudo-code into Perl code with a bit of fancy logic and we've got her licked. :)

Currently working on the plate calculations. Those will be rather lengthy but the upside is the summary is what most people will want or need, however I will show each lateral resistance, tension, shear, net section and moment check for each plated area of each joint. I'm doing one by hand...