When I taught a class called “Advanced Features of MiTek Software,” one of the modules reviewed all the things you can do with plating. I found then and still find today that customers don’t always realize how much control they have. What we’ll cover here will be some basics – we won’t attempt to do training and we won’t attempt to get into the nitty-gritty engineering stuff either. I want to cover the basics of “what’s out there” so you get a sense of some of the things you can do.
Multiple Plate Inventories
Most plants use a single inventory that includes all the plates are usually stocked. But you don’t have to limit yourself – you can be more creative than that. There is a “All Available MiTek Plates” inventory that ships with the software. That comes in handy if you have a particularly difficult plating situation and just want to see if ‘any plate known to man’ will work. You can, if you wish, create a separate inventory for roof trusses and floor trusses. This is especially easy to do as the program allows a place for a separate inventory for roof trusses and floor trusses – most plants simply plug the same one in for both. You can actually set up any special inventory you want, and then apply it on a job by job or a truss by truss basis.
Temporarily Out of Stock
When you run out of a plate, you can simply uncheck it in the master plate list (which shows all plates in all inventories.) This takes it temporarily out of consideration from any inventory that the plate is part of. When you get your next shipment, simply “recheck” the plate to reinstate it.
Controlling Minimum Plate Sizes
When the MiTek program begins to analyze for plating, it identifies each joint by the combination of members coming into is. Knowing the joint type (visible in Plate Editor) allows you to modify the minimum, plate sizes to your own standards. For example, a peak plate for a Fink truss with 2x4 chords is a C-C-W-W and minimum sizes can be set for different span ranges. Different plate minimums are also associated with different chord sizes. Setting plate minimum sizes to what your shop actually uses is beneficial both in correctly costing the truss and in making sure that the sealed drawing matches the built truss – which can help a lot if the building inspector is taking a close look at things.
Controlling the Plate Orientation
Ever see a plate rotated a certain way and wonder - “Why?” Each joint type has a ranked list of “acceptable” orientations. The program tries the smallest plate in the first orientation, and if that fails it tries each of the other orientations in order. If they all fail, the next plate size is tried and this continues until the joint plates. By changing the order of the ‘preferred’ orientations, you can almost always have the program orient the plates they way you want without having to resort to Plate Editor.
Centering of Plates
Several settings work in concert to make plate fall in the “center” of the joint. This is done because it is considered more likely that a production worker will place a centered plate correctly than an “non-centered plate.” But is this still the right way to go when the production worker has the benefit of lasers to help him place the plate correctly? Reduce the “Sq. in. saved before using non-centered plates” in Plate Options to reduce the upsizing of plates done to locate them at the center of the joint.
Last Resort Options
If you have one of those trusses that is just hard to get to plate, remember this trio of Plate Options may at least help you get to the next step: “Plate even if overstressed” allows the plating routine to go forward, even if the truss fails. “Allow overlapping plates” will at least see if the program can find a solution – even if the plates are overlapping. “Allow perimeter violations” allows you to see how close you are to getting a plate to work without plating outside of the perimeter of the truss. With each of these situations, good judgment and close consultation with your ‘review and seal’ engineer is essential.