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Shorten or lengthen parts

Tekla Structures
2022
Tekla Structures

Shorten or lengthen parts

You can use the shortening functionality in the model to make the part longer or shorter in the drawing than in the model. You can shorten and lengthen parts also in drawing views.

Lengthening can be useful for adding length to concrete precast parts in the cast condition while the model stays in the erected state. The most common use for this is to account for pre-stressing elastic shortening, where the part actually shrinks a fraction of an inch after casting and after the strands are cut.

Shorten a part in the model

You can shorten parts in the model. When you do that the true length of the part is decreased in the drawing.

  1. Double-click a part to open the part properties in the property pane.
  2. Go to the Deforming tab.
  3. In the Shortening box, define the degree of shortening.
  4. Click Modify.

When drawings are created, Tekla Structures decreases the true length of the part by the value defined in the Shortening box. Shortening is applied linearly along the length in drawings.

Tip:

To show the dimensions of the shortened part correctly in the drawings, set Undeformed to Yes on the Attributes tab in the View creation panel in drawing properties. For more information about undeformed parts in drawings, see Undeform deformed parts in drawings.

Lengthen a part in the model

You can lengthen parts in the model. When you do this, the true length of the part is increased in the drawing.

To have a concrete part lengthened in cast unit drawings, you must enter a negative value for shortening in part properties.

  1. Double-click a part to open the part properties in the property pane.
  2. Go to the Deforming section.
  3. In the Shortening box, enter a negative value.

    For example, -20 would result in a part that is cast 20 units longer in the drawing than the part in the model.

  4. Click Modify.

Shorten parts in drawing views

If parts are large and do not include any important details, you can shorten them in drawing views by cutting them.

Parts are only cut in empty areas. If there is something important, for example, a stiffener in the part, the part is not cut in that area, because that area is not considered empty.

You can also shorten parts view by view, see Shorten parts view by view.

  1. On the Drawings & reports tab, click Drawing properties and select the drawing type.
  2. Load drawing properties that are as close to the ones you need as possible.
  3. Click View creation in the options tree on the left, select the view and the properties that you want to change, and click View properties.
  4. Go to the Attributes 2 tab.
  5. In Cut parts, select one of the following:

    • Yes to cut in both X and Y direction.

    • Only in x direction

    • Only in y direction

  6. In Minimum cut part length and Space between cut parts, select how to cut the middle regions of the parts in drawing views.

    The Minimum cut part length defines how long the part must at least be to get shortened. The length of the part must be at least twice the entered value.

    The Space between cut parts defines the distance between cut parts on paper. For example, try 3.0 mm.

  7. Set Cut skew parts to Yes to also cut skew parts in views.
  8. To save the changes, click Save.
  9. Click Close.
  10. Click Save to save the drawing properties, then click OK and create the drawing.

Related advanced options

Examples

Below is an example of a part before and after cutting. Note that the width is the same in the non-cut and cut part. Minimum cut part length is 1' 4" and cut length is 3/8".

The following example describes the meaning of Minimum cut part length, Space between cut parts, and an area that is not considered to be empty in the part, and therefore the part is not cut. Minimum cut part length is set to 650, which means that the part is shortened in the view at 650.

  1. Space between cut parts is set to 1. This means the distance between cut parts on paper (not in model).
  2. There is not enough empty area between the stiffeners, and that is why the part is not shortened at Minimum cut part length.

Below is an example of using the advanced options XS_DRAW_VERTICAL_VIEW_SHORTENING_SYMBOLS_TO_PARTS and XS_SHORTENING_SYMBOL_WITH_ZIGZAG.

Lengthen shortened parts in drawing views

You can stretch shortened drawing views to fill up empty areas of the drawing .

After Tekla Structures has scaled drawing views and selected the drawing size, it may stretch shortened views to fill up empty areas of the drawing.

  1. On the Drawings & reports tab, click Drawing properties and select the drawing type.
  2. Load drawing properties that are as close to the ones you need as possible.
  3. Click Layout and go to the Other tab.
  4. Set Expand shortened parts to fit to Yes.
  5. To save the changes, click Save.
  6. Click OK and create the drawing.
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