Use a precast beam in a project

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We're going to begin by modeling our precast beams

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to do this. We'll go ahead in the project browser and open up the level two plan

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on the structure ribbon. Let's go ahead and select beam

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and on the context ribbon, we'll click load family to go and load in our precast beam

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in the load family dialog box. Select M 04 underscore 05 underscore precast beam

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and then click open.

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Notice that we're presented with the catalog.

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So here we're going to select PC B hyphen 003

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and hold the control key down and also pick PC B hyphen 008

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and we'll then go ahead and click. OK.

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So the beams are now loaded in

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in the property's pat in a type selector.

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You'll now notice that we have both types loaded.

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Let's make sure that we've selected PC B hyphen 003

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on the options bar,

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we'll change the placement plane from level two to level two precast beam.

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And now we're going to simply add the precast beams by using on grids.

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We can then make a selection of the grids

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and the precast beams are added

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and we'll go ahead and select finish

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to cancel the beam command.

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We'll go ahead and select, modify from the context ribbon.

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Let's now take a look at these beams in the 3D view.

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So we'll go ahead and open up the 3D view

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and we'll now see all of our beams in place.

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However, you will notice that the beams look a little bit unusual.

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The reason being is because they're pre cast members,

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they're trying to join to one another.

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Now, of course, we can go back and edit all of the joints,

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but this would take some time.

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So we're going to make a modification to this family.

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We'll select one of the beams

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and on the context ribbon, let's go ahead and select edit family.

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So our beam now opens up in a family editor

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and we'll begin by opening it up floor plan ref

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level.

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So in the project browser, let's double click on reference level

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and we can see here that the beam was

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initially modeled between these two reference planes here.

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So these reference planes allow cuts back.

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We're going to now change this. We're going to add our own reference planes in

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and then have an instance parameter that's

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gonna control the cutback distance for us.

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So on the create ribbon, let's go ahead and select reference plane

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on the draw panel, we'll select pick lines

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and then in the options bar, I'm going to set an initial offset here of three inches.

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I'll then create an offset here to the right

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hand side

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and another offset here to the left,

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we'll now add some aligned dimensions.

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So on the quick access toolbar, we'll select aligned dimension.

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I'll place a dimension between the new reference planes

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will then cancel the aligned dimension command by selecting modifier.

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I'll hold down my control key and select both of these dimensions.

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And then on the context ribbon, I'll select to create a parameter

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here. I'm going to call this one

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precast

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cutback.

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And I'm going to make this an instance parameter.

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We'll leave all of the defaults and then click. OK.

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I now need to edit my sweep. So I'll select my sweep

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on the context ribbon, I'll select edit sweep

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and again on the context ribbon,

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I'll click sketch path.

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You can now see that our original path

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was sketched between these two reference planes here.

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If I select the path I can then un constrain the two ends of those lines

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and then going to go to the align command,

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pick this reference plane here and then pick the end of the line

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constrain it,

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pick this reference plane here and then the end of the line here.

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And once again constrain,

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I'll then go up to the ribbon here and select finish, edit mode

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and also finish edit mode again to rebuild the full sweep.

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You'll now notice that the sweep is spanning between our two new reference planes.

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Let's now go ahead and save the family.

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So on the quick access toolbar, we'll click save,

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we'll say yes to replace the existing family.

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And now we load into projects and close

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in this information dialogue here. We will overwrite the existing version.

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So we can now see that all of the beams have now sprung back.

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So let's now take a look at one of our instance parameters. If I select this beam here

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and then we go and have a look at the

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dimensions you can see here we have precast cutback.

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So here I'm going to set this to 9.5 inches

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and we can now see that both ends of that beam spring back.

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Now, of course, here I could then select all of the beams

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and then we can go to our precast cut back and we can type in 9.5 inches

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and we can now see all of our beams

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neatly intersect with the center point of our column

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and we have a little bit of clearance there to accommodate tolerances and so on.