MAKING OPENING IN A BEAM AND/OR BEAM SYSTEM

[tcrawford1978]

I am trying to create an opening for a grated exhaust in a roof. I can edit the boundary of the concrete slab above and insert my grating but i cannot see through the concrete beams im using. I am unaware of how to cut a hole in the beams to see through them. It is no longer a part of a beam system as i had to delete beam system, keep the beams in order to adjust the ends of the beams. couldn't get the beam system to snap to anything but center of support wall. My beams are double t beams that are self created in family. How do I make these holes? in family somehow or in project?

[kmarsh]

I would recommend putting the beam system in as a sketch based beam system instead of a one-click beam system if you need the boundaries of the system at a location other than the center of framing. Then you can sketch an opening in the beam system, retain the power of the system and get the outside boundaries at the position you want. (you can also dimension and constrain the sketch lines of the beam system to accurately position them relative to framing elements that support them).
If you want to continue along the lines of what you already have done then you might use the opening by face tool to select the horizontal "face" (center plane) of each beam and create an opening sketch which just removes the portion of the beam you don't want. (see attached image)

[tcrawford1978]

Thank you for the info about the sketch. I do usually use the sketch tool when doing beam systems but didnt think to constrain them in the sketch. thats probably why they keep jumping around on me lol. But this beam cut looks like the family editor correct? If so then this tool wont work for me as i have double t beams and the hole is in different areas on each beam so i cant make them all look the same. Any ideas about that? thanks for the help

[kmarsh]

The opening by face tool is available in the project environment not the family editor. The original intent of the tool was to allow users to create web penetrations in steel members but also has the added use that it can re-shape members in plan/section. So, in the project environment, you can select "structure" tab, then Opening by Face, then two planes will be shown for each beam, a vertical plane and a horiztonal, select the horiztonal and then sketch your "opening" which actually will remove the middle part of the beam in the image i posted.
If i'm still missing the point (which is entirely possible) then an image of what you're trying to achieve would be helpful for me to visualize it.

Thanks,
-Ken

[tcrawford1978]

Yep. Thank you kmarsh i Found it and was able to figure it out. Except for curtain panels. Couldnt do it there lol As I created custom panels. But worked awesome and perfect in the roof structures and regular walls. thank you very much this will save me some heart ache when I cant figure out how to put something in a wall. I'm getting pretty good at creating non-hosted generic families lol