2019 bent plates

[LyleHardin]

Attempting to build some things with Revit 2019 Steel menu. Plates were working great until I tried to put a hole or opening in one. I suspect it's not behaving because instead of making the usual 1/2" plate, I sketched the end view of a 3/8" bent plate and made this plate 5'-8" 'thick'.  See image. Holes and contour cuts will not work in this bent plate. So, how do I put a 4" square hole in my bent plate? The image shows the cover for the hole. I tried 'model in place' and created an extrusion, but I still can't figure out how to get a hole in it. Creating a void did not work unless I'm doing something wrong with the void command in relation to my extruded bent plate.

Any suggestions? How about suggestions for bent plates in general?Put a hole in this bent plate

[sampie · Accepted solution]

Hi @LyleHardin 

I have never done a bent plate in Revit. Usually, do it in Advance Steel. But what if you do the plate in 3 separate parts:

1. Vertical Plate - Normal Method

2. Horizontal Plate - Normal Method

3. Bent Part - Your Method

Not sure if it is the right way to do it but it works. And you can add openings with the Contour Cut Tool. The only problem is the joint lines that are visible.

[LyleHardin]

Thanks! Not sure why I didn't think of that myself. That will work as a workaround. As far as the visible lines go, those can be dealt with in production views by using the line modifying tool.

I'm going to have a look at Advance Steel today and see how that goes. I watched a few videos on it yesterday and it looks like that would be way more efficient than Revit. I'm just trying to do everything in Revit so all the materials and elements can be tagged and quantified in one program. Plus, I just wanted to see if or how difficult building chutes, skirtboards, head chutes, and hoppers would be in Revit. Definitely not as easy as buildings and structures.

[sampie]

Hi @hardin 

You're welcome! Advance Steel is definitely more efficient than Revit when it comes to detailed steel design. I have created a short Screencast showing you how easy it is to do plates in AS. You can also check out my YouTube playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvCBvaBsiYUF5CJN4FBajEe0mI0sNja8Y

[LyleHardin]

Thanks for the screen cast. The more I look at Advance Steel, the more I think this is what we'll use for the more complex things such as chutes and hoppers. I just kind of hate the thought of 'going back' to AutoCAD when we've been touting Revit as the way to go. However, I can picture using Advance Steel to make these complex items, and then bring the 3D models into our Revit structural projects as generic model families. This looks like a decent workflow to me. Getting the best of both worlds.

[sampie]

Hi @LyleHardin 

I agree. Unless Autodesk improves the Steel tools in Revit, that is the best workflow for now.