Solutions to Anchor Plan problems

Issue 1: Base plates are not visible on anchor plans

Default settings hide all secondary parts, including base plates, and only display the holes so the spread of the anchor rods can be dimensioned. Because of your drawing standards, however, it may be required to show the plates on the plan.

The way they are hidden is through the use of an Object Level Setting.

In the below image Object Level Settings are defined under the Edit Settings button (1). The settings are defined as rows of settings, beginning first with a drawing filter (2). This filter has been defined but NOT applied to the overall drawing – it is simply saved and available. In this case, the filter is built to find secondary parts, like base plates.

The next two columns (3) are to choose which drawing property is going to be modified (in this case, Part) and which saved settings are going to be used. In the example below, there are defined settings called Hidden which basically give objects a blank linetype. Just like the filter, these settings were defined and saved but not applied to the entire sheet.



The simplest thing to do would be to simply remove the Object Level Setting or disable it, however this may have some undesired results. For example, if there were other parts down at the base plate, such as gusset plates for bracing, they would show up as well.

What we can do instead is modify the filter so that it will not apply to base plates.  First we need to find something unique about these plates.



Default component settings for this plate have given it a Part Prefix of BP, so we will build our filter to exclude items with this prefix. If you use a different numbering system, then you may need to filter by something different, like changing the Name or Class to be unique for base plates.

Click on the Filter button in the drawing properties, and then select the one called Secondary_Parts.



We can see that it is finding all parts that are not the primary part of an assembly.

Click Add row on the left, and then create the rule to exclude the Part Prefix (or your property of choice). Use Save as to save it with a unique name.



Click Cancel or the red X at the upper right to exit the Filter settings without applying anything.

Next go to the Edit Settings button on the drawing properties dialog box.

Change the filter being used to the one we just defined, and click Modify.



Base Plates should become visible, while all other secondary parts stay hidden.

Issue #2: Two columns sharing one base plate

In the above image, the assembly has 2 columns that share the same base plate. Because of the setting that hides secondary parts, the second column will not be visible on the anchor plan if it is shop-attached to the base plate.



Similar to the resolution to Issue #1, the Object Level Setting can be modified to show secondary column parts.

In the drawing properties, click on the Filter button. Load the setting for Secondary_Parts.

Click Add row and modify the new row as shown below. Use Save as to save this setting with a new name.



Click Cancel or the red X at the upper right to exit the Filter settings without applying anything.

Next click on the Edit settings button on the drawing properties dialog box, and change the filter to the new one that was just defined. Click Modify.



The secondary part column should become visible.

Issue #3: Columns without a shop-attached base plate

When there is a situation like above, where two columns share a single base plate but one of them is Field-welded in place, getting it to show up can be difficult. Also, if there is a column that is not sharing a base plate, but still loose, it will not get a view at all.
When the anchor plan drawing is created, it may look like below.



These two situations need to be handled in different ways.

(1) When the column will be part of a view that is automatically created by Tekla’s anchor bolt plan settings, a filter called ABP_addl_parts must be modified. This filter will allow desired parts to be filtered in to these blow-up views.

Double-click in the drawing background, and click on the Filter button.

Load the filter called ABP_addl_parts. Note that it contains a setting for leveling plates. Click on the Add row button and modify it as shown below. Make sure that at the end of the first row the Or option is selected.



Save this filter with the same name.

Image You can change the name of the filter if you wish, but then the advanced option XS_ANCHOR_BOLT_PLAN_ADDITIONAL_PARTS_FILTER must be modified to use the new name.

Unfortunately this filter only works during drawing creation, so the anchor plan must be recreated to see the effects of the change.



(2) When the column is not sharing an existing view, the only option is to manually add a new one.

Click the Create Detail View button, or go to View > Create Drawing View > Detail View.

Click on the center of the hidden column that did not get a blow-up view automatically created, and create a view.



Edit the view  to the scale and settings you desire, or if applying to an anchor plan that a has automatically create views, double-click on one to get it’s properties, and modify your newly created view to match.



Next, delete the detail circle that was created, and use the Align vertically and Align horizontally commands from the right-click menu when selecting your view.



This command works by selecting a point on the highlighted view, then select a point to align with in a different view.




This method should only be used if there are just a few columns that need it, if the majority of the job has columns like this, then a different drawing setting should be used – AnchorPlan_Manually