Creating Custom Stud Profiles

In the default profile catalog, there are several stud profiles under the ‘Others’ section of the profile tree.

 

There are times, however, when a size may be required that does not exist in the catalog. This guide will show how we can copy and modify one of the existing profiles to make a new size.

These profiles are made up of multiple cross sections – the diameter of the shaft of the stud, and the diameter of the head head of the stud – that are then defined to start/stop at different points along the stud length.

Create cross section

The first thing that needs to be done is creating the different cross sections for our new stud size. When creating cross sections it helps to first lay out in a model the desired shape(s) using construction lines and/or circles. For our example, using construction circles will work.


 
To make a 1-1/2”Ø stud, create two circles, one that is 1-1/2” in diameter, and one for the head (usually double the shaft diameter).
Next we create the desired shape using a polygon. The default studs are actually 12 pointed polygons, but we will show how to modify the points to use chamfers instead for the new stud.

Go to Modeling > Profiles > Define Cross Section Using Polygon.

Starting at the top of the circle, click 4 points around the 4 quadrants, and then close the polygon by picking on the original point.


 
When finished, click the middle mouse point. Tekla will prompt in the bottom left to ‘Pick center point’ – this will be the point that the profile will be located around. For the stud profile, pick the center of the circle – if this were a wide flange shape, for example, the top center of flange would be the point to pick.

Tekla will then prompt to give this cross section a name.

 

Click OK, and then OK again when prompted to save the changes to the model folder.

Repeat this for the cross section for the head of the stud, calling it stud1_1/2head.

Image When creating a profile that has different cross sections, the same number of points must be used in each section – Tekla uses these points to transfer from one shape to another.

Add chamfers to cross section

Next we must modify the cross section to have radius chamfers. Go to Modeling > Profiles > Edit Polygon Cross Section.

Scroll down and find the new cross sections that were added.

Select one, and notice on the right side the different points clicked are defined, showing coordinate locations and chamfer types. With point number 1 selected, change the chamfer type to the U option, and click Update.



Repeat this for chamfer number 3. It is not necessary to change all 4, just opposing points.

Next, repeat the previous steps for the second cross section for the stud. Finally click OK, and OK again to save changes to the model folder.

Copy existing profile

Next go to the profile catalog by clicking Modeling > Profiles > Profile Catalog. Find the stud section and select one, then right-click > Copy Profile.



Rename the profile up in the upper left and type Enter.



The variable profile is defined by the relative location of each cross section used – for example, if we look at the Cross section options in the lower left, we can see that the first cross section (Number 1) starts at 0, or the start of the profile.

There are 4 cross section locations defined for a stud – the beginning, the end of the shaft, the beginning of the head and the end of the head.

          
          
   

   

Notice that the relative location is different for each, to show how far along the overall length the cross section should change.  Also notice that as each number is selected, the profile subtype changes – the 1 and 2 should be the cross section of the shaft, 3 and 4 should be the cross section of the head. For the new profile, change 1 and 2 to use the stud1_1/2 subtype, and 3 and 4 to use the stud1_1/2head subtype. After each change, click Update in the lower right.



Finally, click OK to exit the Profile Catalog, and OK again to save changes to the model folder. The new profile is now available to use in the model.