Modeling Gage Sheet or Plate

Tekla Structures utilizes User defined attributes to set imperial gage thicknesses for sheet (plate) objects.

In The Model

Model the Sheet Gage part using a plate profile. You can input decimal inches and it will round it to the nearest ¹/₁₆th of an inch. You can also input the thickness as a ¹/₁₆th increment that is close to the decimal thickness of the Gage material you need. Then set the User-defined attribute Gage Material to be the appropriate gage.

 

In Z Pan (S74) Component

On the Z pan tab the Step profile contains the UDA Gage Material field. Select the appropriate Gage Material for the z pan.
 

Also enter the decimal inch value of the selected Gage Material you are using, as shown above.

 

 

 

This value will be converted to a fraction but will be accurate to the 128^th of an inch and will not round up to a 16^th like other fields.

 

Object Representation

To see which parts in the model are Gage Material, you can use an Object representation attribute. Go to View > Representation > Object Representation. Load the Show_Gage_Material and hit modify to change the display of the model views.
 

In Drawings

When you create drawings, the BOM will automatically show the Gage UDA thickness and not the imperial thickness.

Assembly Drawings

The Assembly Drawing attributes that end with the text "with_BOM" use templates which automatically use the Gage UDA in lieu of the Plate thickness.
 

Multi Drawings

The Multi Drawing attributes, "Multi_Drawings" & "Gather_Sheets" use templates which automatically use the Gage UDA in lieu of the Plate thickness.
 

                                                                           Multi Drawing

Single Part Drawings

The Single Part Drawing attributes have been set up to display the Gage UDA in both the template and part marks. However, the attributes, USPlate & Plate_with_BOM, are the only ones that have a Drawing Classifier associated with them that automatically display the Gage UDA in lieu of the Part mark of plates.
 

                            Single Part Drawing (USPlate)

 

 

 

 

                                      Single Part Drawing with BOM

 

Templates

Here is how you modify the formula in a template to output the Gage UDA in lieu of the Plate thickness. Double click on the Profile value field to open up the Value Field Properties dialog box. Then click the Formula button to open up the Formula Contents dialog box. Find the existing formula:

GetValue("PROFILE")

And replace it with this one:

if GetValue("USERDEFINED.GAGE") == 0 || GetValue("USERDEFINED.GAGE") == "" then GetValue("PROFILE")
else
   GetValue("USERDEFINED.GAGE")+mid(GetValue("PROFILE"),find(GetValue("PROFILE"),"X"))
endif

 

 

Click OK, OK, and then save the template.

Reopen your drawing and you will notice that the Gage UDA is being used in lieu of the Plate thickness.

 

Object Level Settings

Here is how you can create an Object Level Setting to output the Gage UDA in lieu of the Profile in a part mark. A filter named "gage" already exists so you will not need to create a new filter.
 

Using the Gage UDA in an Object Level Setting

Open up the Assembly - Part Mark properties dialog box and change the Element in mark contents to include the Gage UDA. After you are done changing the part mark properties as desired, do a Save.

In this example we are saving it with the name Treads.
 

 

Now click the Edit Settings button after loading the drawing attribute that you want to use these settings in. Click the Add row button and then change the filter value to Sheet_Gage, type to Part Mark, and setting used to Treads.
 

 

When you use/apply these settings, if the drawing contains any of the filter parts then their part marks will change accordingly.

 

 

 

 

Reports

Reports have also been set up to display the Gage UDA. This section shows you the basic modifications that were done to reports so that the Gage UDA is being used in lieu of the Plate thickness. The following example is with a Material List type of report.

Open up the report in the Template Editor. Next double click on the Profile value field to open up the Value Field Properties dialog box. Then click the Formula button to open up the Formula Contents dialog box. Find this formula:
 

GetValue("PROFILE")

And replace it with this one:

if GetValue("USERDEFINED.GAGE") == 0 || GetValue("USERDEFINED.GAGE") == "" then GetValue("PROFILE")
else
   GetValue("USERDEFINED.GAGE")+mid(GetValue("PROFILE"),find(GetValue("PROFILE"),"X"))
endif

 

However, this only changes one of the places where the Gage UDA needs to be added. Next, change the formula in the sum_Profile value field. Select this formula:

GetValue("PROFILE")

And replace it with this:

if GetValue("USERDEFINED.GAGE") == 0 || GetValue("USERDEFINED.GAGE") == "" then
   GetValue("PROFILE")
else
   GetValue("USERDEFINED.GAGE")+mid(GetValue("PROFILE"),find(GetValue("PROFILE"),"X"))
endif

 

 

 

Click OK, OK, and then save the report.

NOTE: In this example, we only needed to change two formulas. Make sure when doing this to your reports that you modify all the relevant fields where the Gage UDA is desired in the output and not the Plate Thickness.

By doing this, the Material_list report outputs the Gage UDA in lieu of the Plate thicknesses which is how the reports work in v14.0 and later.