A Little Plate Talk

The typical US truss connector plate is made from Grade 40 structural steel that has been coated with zinc. “High strength” plates are made from Grade 60 steel. In the US, the coating of “typical” plates is called G60, meaning that for every square foot of metal surface, the zinc coating weighs at least .60 ounces. How thick of that coating? Between five and six ten thousandths of an inch.

Is there any 20g plate that weighs exactly a pound? Both the 20g 6x14 and 7x12 are close. A pound of plates (20g) is 87 square inches.

G90 plates

In Canada, where thicker zinc coats are the norm, the “standard” coating is G90.  G90 plates cost a little more than “standard” G60 plates in the US.

G185 plates

These plates are sometimes specified in corrosive environments and when specially treated lumber is used. These plates are available in a limited number of sizes, and are about twice the cost of G60 plates.

Stainless steel plates

These plates are also specified for some corrosive environments, come in a very limited number of sizes, and cost 8-10 times more than G60 plates.

Bevel Plates

Bevel plates are available in a small number of sizes and are ideal for certain top chord bearing floor truss situations.

T-plates

The T-plate is simply a T shaped plate that is to be used to increase the top chord bearing reaction limit on certain 4x2 top chord bearing joint configurations (without a block).

Hinge and Half-Hinge plates

Hinge plate are used for manufactured housing trusses and to eliminate the need for a separate “cap truss.” The “half hinge” is used at the peak of hinged trusses to connect the two chords coming together.

Sharing Files With Customers

Over the past several years email has replaced paper mail and telephone calls as the primary method for communicating with customers. Email is fast and easy to use, but there are many drawbacks. The larger your organization, the more likely it is that your company has a serious problem with the time it takes to read and respond to emails. Many of your customers have the same problems.

An article in the August 2012 Macworld magazine by Joel Mathis suggests we Stop Using Email for Everything, and talks about some alternatives.

Let’s look at one area where email is not the best tool. Many companies associated with construction business want to exchange large files and have a place to share files with their customers. One software that I’ve been looking at seems to “have it all.”

ShareFile by Citrix really seems well thought out and easy for “mere mortals” to configure and use. Pricing begins at $30 per month, and each pricing level includes a 30-day free trial. I signed up to try out the most basic level, and found that it was not only easy to use, but I was happily surprised with the level of personal attention I got from the representative assigned to my account. My account rep went so far as to look up my company, download the logo, and customize my “site” with it – all without my having to ask.

The ShareFile website has “what you can do” videos customized to many industries – including construction. I strong suggest you check this video out when you have 7 minutes… it provides a good overview of the product as it might apply to a component manufacturer - or one of your customers.

Let’s say you want to set up a “space” for each of your customers you regularly do business with. In that space, you want to see individual folders for each project you are working on, and in those projects, all the files for that project. You want the customer to be able to download files, upload files, and you want to be notified anytime they do either. You want to be able to see all of your customers’ “spaces,” but you want them to only be able to see theirs. All of this is possible with ShareFile.

You want to be able to limit the number of times a file can be download? Set an “expiration date” after which a file can no longer be downloaded? That’s there too. All in all, it seems to be a very impressive and easy-to-use collection of tools for managing the files we share with our customers.

Piece Labels

The argument for printing and placing labels on cut pieces is simple, “The time saved not having to figure out where the piece goes offsets of the cost to print and apply the labels.” Piece labels are most often used by truss fabricators that look for every possible way to eliminate delays in truss production.

Because the labels need to be in the same order as the pieces coming off of the saw, piece labels are created by first running the saw work through a batch cutting program. The program orders the pieces and then creates a “label file” with the piece sequence and the other information needed to create the label (the truss and piece ID, the geometry of the piece, the geometry of the truss and possibly more information.)

The label file is then loaded into a piece labeling printing program that uses the information to print a customized label for each piece. Unlike truss labels, the piece labels only need to be “tough enough” to make it from the saw to the table. Some fabricators like to have a label on each piece, other prefer “one label for every 10 pieces,” and still others believe that “one label for each unique piece” is sufficient.

If you have a lineal saw, this doesn’t work as smoothly. Since pieces are re-ordered by the lineal saw software, the best you can do is print the labels and ask the lineal saw catcher to match the label to the correct piece as it is cut.

If you decide on printing both truss and piece labels, should you plan on using the same printer for both? Although that seems like a logical approach, it may be better to have two printers. Almost certainly the truss labels will need to be more robust (and expensive) than the pieces labels, and dedicating a printer to a single kind of label means there is no need to switch “back and forth” between label types.

Although printing the labels right at the saw seems logical, many prefer to keep the label printers in the office and pre-print them as needed. Office-based printers do not need to withstand the harsher environment of the plant. Once source for labels is 

Labeling Solutions

Above are two examples of piece labels. In the first example we see graphical images of both the piece and the truss. Although it may be hard to see in this example, the piece is “highlighted” in the truss, so as to make clear exactly where this piece goes. This plant also identifies how many unique pieces are in the batch.

In the second example, the plant prints one label for each piece ID – whether it is one piece or one hundred. In this example we also see the sawyer’s name displayed – perhaps helping reinforce the feeling of accountability.