Grating and Checkered Plate

[dcubbedge]

OK, this has been bugging me for years.

Checkered plate is NOT Grating, and therefore should not have a 'span' indicator on the 2D details.

Checkered plate often gets bent in a press brake, so allow us to do this! 

At the moment I have to model checkered plates that are bent as folded plates, and sometimes this creates issues with left/right pieces and piece marks, which forces me to use checkered plate 'grating', which I can't bend. Catch 22!

Fix this please, along with many of my other suggestions!

[dcubbedge]

Here's another reason to get checkered plates out of the grating area. That stupid 'span' indicator, which checkered plate does not need ever, just caused me to lose 1 hour of productivity because it was skewed just slightly, giving me plate dimensions that were off by fractions, thus 2 piece marks instead of one, etc.   

How much do I have to pay the developers to actually fix this program?

[johnC5ARB]

This issue has also been a big problem for me. It amazes me that Advance Steel cannot handle floor plate. I use it in about half of my projects. It definitely should not be classed as Grating. Floor plate is commonly folded for use as stair treads, so these have to be modelled from plate. If you model all the floor plate as plate the numbering doesn't recognise opposite hand items as being different. What a mess!!

As well as the above mentioned issues, another problem is that you cannot create DXF files of grating items for profile cutting. I have had to create the floor plate again in another .dwg file as plate items just so I could provide DXF files to my client. This is a very time consuming process that should not be required.

[dcubbedge]

And there's another real good reason to fix this issue, if anyone is reading this. Stair treads made from checkered plate.  Thanks johnC5ARB.

[Shawton2000]

Checker plate should be in a category of its own, at the moment I model it in using plate so I can fold it and I make its material come out as checker plate for on the BOM list, but I have to take precautions so that the workshop doesn’t just use plate.

[maebingerEX3UQ]

I totaly agree. You can't equate chequer plates with gratings and yes, they do get bent sometimes. So Advance Steel should make that possible. The way it is currently designed in Advance Steel is just wrong and has nothing to do with reality.

[dcubbedge]

The sad thing is since Advance Steel has been put into 'hibernation' mode, nobody at Autodesk is reading any of these ideas. At least in my opinion.

I've taken the 'mantra' that I need to use what AS gives me, not try to make it do what I want from my 30 years detailing experience doing things the old 2D way....

[Drawtech]

I have always used plate or folded plate (never grating) and just create a new material called "Durbar" or "Checker" etc

To get over the handing issue with numbering etc, just add a punch mark to the top face of the plate.

...you don't have to label or dimension it (or even show it) in the details.

It's not perfect, but it works fine and gets the job done.

...and since there will probably not be any further development, hopefully this is useful to some of you. 😀

Cheers,

Dave

[dcubbedge]

Very good idea, and one that I might've come up with myself in time.... I say that because it's like many other fixes and work-arounds that are needed to make AS a success.

Thanks.