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Lost a whole Saturday redoing a steel stair detail because I drew it at 1/8" instead of 1/4"
Three weeks ago I was wrapping up a set for a small warehouse in Tulsa and the steel stair connection looked fine on my screen at 1/8" = 1'-0". The fabricator called me that Monday and said the bolt spacing wouldn't clear the stringer, and sure enough when I blew it up to 1/4" the edges were overlapping by about 3/16". I spent that whole Saturday redrawing the detail and reissuing the sheet, all because I trusted the zoom button instead of my scale. Now I keep a printed 1/4" template taped to my monitor for anything with bolts in it. What scale do you all default to for connection details, and has anyone found a faster way to catch clashes before the fabricator does?
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miaprice7d ago
How big is the stair stringer and what size bolts are you using? That 3/16" overlap makes sense at 1/8" because a line weight on screen hides what a real edge would show. For steel connections with bolts I never go below 1/2" = 1'-0" for the detail view itself, and I keep the plan at 1/4" so the two sheets line up when I check them side by side. The printed template on your monitor is a solid habit, and I would add one more: draw the bolt holes at their true size and let them clip if they want to. The clash shows up right there on screen instead of in a phone call. I still catch stuff the fabricator finds first, but true size holes have saved me more than once.
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