Bolt through whole of column

[tomKJBPT]

Hey,

I have created a plate at the end of my truss and want a bolt through the plate and through the whole column. And I mean through and through like shown in the picture with the see-through lines(created in photoshop) and in the autocad drawing.

I can not find a way to make it go through and through... I select both the end plate and column, but it automatically chooses the nearest surface that comes next. 

Is there a way to do this? Thanks

[sampie]

Hi @tomKJBPT

I'm not aware of a feature in Revit to accomplish this. I did however try it in Advance Steel and it worked (see image). I then though if I import it back into Revit it would keep the bolt lengths but it didn't 😞

[tomKJBPT]

Hey,

Thanks for trying something else. I haven't been able to find a solution yet too. I will make an inquiry at autodesk to try and include a solution in some update in the future... For now, I'll stick with a 2d detail item.

[mariah.ferranti]

Hi @tomKJBPT,

Thank you for participating in the forums! I don't think I've tried creating a bolt that goes through both sides of a column before, but I'll be happy to help try and get a workflow together to achieve this. 

To better get started, what are you using for a bolt family file? Is this one of the out of the box families, so that I can work with the same one? I'll see what I can find for a workflow with the out of the box families, but knowing which one's your working with should help.

[tomKJBPT]

Hey, thank you for helping out! I am using a standard bolt family that comes with Revit. I'm not in office right now so I can't say with certainty which one. However, I haven't found any bolt family that will do this particular move, so I don;t think it matters. 

My workflow at the moment:

- Select Bolts at Steel tab

- Select the 2 elements I want to connect.(I have tried selecting both elements first, to see if it would make a difference, but no result) 

-  Select face on which to sketch(I have tried all possible faces, but never got the desired result) and sketch a rectangular boundary

- Change both number on sides to 1 to create a single bolt connection

I figure if I could select the 2 faces that would define the start and end point of the connection, it could automatically create the bolt between these 2 faces.

I'll be in office tomorrow to further investigate on this subject.

Thanks

[mariah.ferranti]

Hi @tomKJBPT,

I was able to do some testing, and some digging, and I've found so far the only gap we can bridge is a little under 1/2". Once the parts to connect are further than 1/2" away from each other, the bolts snap to just one piece, like in this Screencast here:  Bolt assembly limitation of 1/2" gap between parts  the parts continue to know each other, when pulled back they connect again, but any distance larger than 1/2" cause the bolt assembly to snap to one side. 

I was able to find a note about this half inch limitation for bolt assemblies here: About Bolt Assemblies, Shear Studs and Holes  where it states:

• There is a 1/2" default distance between the connected pieces, over which the screws do not catch the entire bundle of parts. This distances cannot be changed.

Which looks like exactly what we are running into. I had attempted to connect two plates on opposite sides of the column, but unless I move them close together, the bolt assembly just sticks on one side. 

I'm still digging to see if there is any workflow to do this, but it may be something that needs to be requested through the Revit Ideas forum in order to use a bolt assembly for this.

[tomKJBPT]

Very interesting! I wonder why they have chosen to make it behave in such a way.

I will make an inguiry at the Ideas Forum and hope for the best. 

Thank you very much your effort.

[mihai.sandu · Accepted solution]

Hi Tom,

This is a known limitation in this version of Steel Connections for Revit (2019). In order to model a bolt that goes through both flanges you will need the "Finish Calculation at Gap" option brought into Revit. In this version this option was not added and the bolts are created with the option activated by default (behind the scene). We plan to add this option to the Properties palette of the Bolt in a future version.

Regards,

[tomKJBPT]

Hey Mihai,

Thank you very much for your information. I'm glad the issue is known and will be fixed in a future version.

Kind regards,

Tom