Drawing rebar details

Pants

I'm seeking simple, efficient method of drawing rebar details for concrete projects, but come up empty-handed afte Googling a bit. It need not be photo-realistic, but geometry should be about right (basic diameters of bars & bend-radii). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viDbnN-ssHY shows a method that I'd use, but I think the plugins he relied on are now defunct ("fillet," anyway, seems not to exist).

The follow-me tool would seem an obvious choice, but will it result in a bulky file that's slow to manipulate, once I've got a few hundred rebar shapes placed in my drawing?

Also, how can rebar bend-radii be created easily from square joints, starting from straight line-segments in three planes? (Rebar isn't bent with a sharp 90-degree bend.)

Thanks for suggestions - Dave

pbacot

You want the detail to be 3d (whether ortho projected or not). Or 2d where you can use edges as rebar (however you'll have to make all edges thick--there's no line weight control.

As for the radii the 2d radius tool is good. http://sketchucation.com/plugin/702-2dtoolsAnd you can always draw with arc tool if you know how.
As for for follow me, You can use 4-6 sided "circles" and use minimal segments in your bend radii to keep poly count down.

@unknownuser said:

Also, how can rebar bend-radii be created easily from square joints, starting from straight line-segments in three planes? (Rebar isn't bent with a sharp 90-degree bend.)

I don't understand this question. What object are you starting with before creating the radii?

To change a square joint of edges to bend-radii you use the 2d fillet tool. To bend a tube or some other 3d object you could use Fredoscale radial bending, but you wouldn't first create a square joint.

I would probably approach this with a kit of parts. Make a component 90 deg bend of 3"radius to plug in where I needed it, make components of other bends, standard lengths etc. Then you aren't modeling over and over, you just assemble.

sdmitch

@pants said:

I'm seeking simple, efficient method of drawing rebar details for concrete projects, but come up empty-handed afte Googling a bit. It need not be photo-realistic, but geometry should be about right (basic diameters of bars & bend-radii).

The follow-me tool would seem an obvious choice, but will it result in a bulky file that's slow to manipulate, once I've got a few hundred rebar shapes placed in my drawing?

Thanks for suggestions - Dave

I'm afraid that there is little that can be done to reduce the "bulky" file but maybe this will help with the stirrup creation

#rebar stirrup
mod = Sketchup.active_model
ent = mod.active_entities
sel = mod.selection
prmpts=['            Width;','           Height;','Bend Radius;','   Rebar Size;','            Color;']
optns=[nil,nil,nil,nil,'red|green|blue|yellow|black']
inp=UI.inputbox(prmpts,[6.0,9.0,1.0,0.5,'red'],optns,'Rebar stirrup')
if inp
 wid,hgt,rad,rbd,clr=inp;rbr=rbd/2;edgs=[]
 ang = Math.asin(rbr/wid)
 vec = Geom;;Vector3d.new(Math.cos(ang),Math.sin(ang),0)
 za = Geom;;Vector3d.new(0,0,1);
 org = Geom;;Point3d.new(0,-rbr,0);
 grp = ent.add_group; ent = grp.entities
 p0 = org.offset(za,hgt*0.5)
 p1 = p0.offset(za,hgt*0.5-rad)
 edgs<<ent.add_line(p0,p1)
 p2 = p1.offset(vec,rad)
 edgs<<ent.add_arc(p2,vec,vec*za,rad,180.degrees,90.degrees,6)
 p3 = p2.offset(za,rad); p4 = p3.offset(vec,wid-rad*2)
 edgs<<ent.add_line(p3,p4);p5 = p4.offset(za,-rad)
 edgs<<ent.add_arc(p5,vec,vec*za,rad,0,90.degrees,6)
 p6 = p5.offset(vec,rad);p7 = p6.offset(za,rad*2-hgt)
 edgs<<ent.add_line(p6,p7);vec.x = -vec.x
 p8 = p7.offset(vec,rad)
 edgs<<ent.add_arc(p8,vec,vec*za,rad,270.degrees,180.degrees,6)
 p9 = p8.offset(za,-rad);p10 = p9.offset(vec,wid-rad*2)
 edgs<<ent.add_line(p9,p10);p11 = p10.offset(za,rad)
 edgs<<ent.add_arc(p11,vec,vec*za,rad,0,-90.degrees,6)
 p12 = p11.offset(vec,rad);p13 = p12.offset(za,hgt-rad*2)
 edgs<<ent.add_line(p12,p13);vec.x = -vec.x
 p14 = p13.offset(vec,rad)
 edgs<<ent.add_arc(p14,vec,vec*za,rad,180.degrees,90.degrees,6)
 p15 = p14.offset(za,rad);p16 = p15.offset(vec,wid*0.5-rad)
 edgs<<ent.add_line(p15,p16)
#
 c=ent.add_circle(p0,za,rbr,12)
 f=ent.add_face(c); f.reverse!
 f.material = clr;
 edgs.flatten!;f.followme edgs
end

pbacot

Remarkable you can whip that up sdmitch---and that such a short code makes a nice tool like that.

driven

very cool indeed

a prompt for curve segments could help control file size, i.e 12 == 12 for circle but 3 for arc

to reflect model units [i.e. metric] change this line...

inp=UI.inputbox(prmpts,[6.0.to_l,9.0.to_l,1.0.to_l,0.5.to_l,'red'],optns,'Rebar stirrup')

john

Pants

Just got back here, having assumed that when I post on the forum, I'll receive reply notifications by default...(nope?) Thanks, guys.

Clearly I need to commission sdmitch to come up with a full-service version of that stirrup-bender...or I need to tell my boss that I'll be learning Ruby for a while, and not to bother me with any of his silly moneymaking schemes, while I become Ruby-proficient...

sdmitch, as you probably knew, rebar shapes can be almost anything, so it's probably not possible to standardize the bulk of bread-and-butter shapes that will be needed in any given project. I would indeed do as pbacot was describing, using a 'kit of parts' approach. That said, stirrups are a staple that lend themselves to a data-entry box like you created, as are spirals. Basic rebar mats (just big grids of rebar that typically have a max bar-spacing and a minimum concrete "cover" at edges of the grid) are another - and those would be great to have a script for, since it's tedious to calculate the required spacing to optimize the use of steel based on those two criteria. I don't do this all the time by a long shot, but that's about all the 'standard' items I can think of, that is, those that wouldn't require custom-for-each-design drawing.

pbacot - thanks for pointing out 2D tools (in particular the capability to fillet) - that's what I needed, though the filleting tool would be all I'd use from that plugin for rebar work, since it's almost always lines in 3-space that need to be filleted. Seems an 8-sided circle is plenty fine; I might go with less.

Seems quite surprising to me that there's not a 'stock' filleting tool included with SU - hasn't all other CAD software included this as a standard-issue item for many years?

sdmitch

@pants said:

Clearly I need to commission sdmitch to come up with a full-service version of that stirrup-bender...or I need to tell my boss that I'll be learning Ruby for a while, and not to bother me with any of his silly moneymaking schemes, while I become Ruby-proficient...
Just let me know what you would like to add and/or change regarding input parameters for the stirrup plugin.

@unknownuser said:

sdmitch, as you probably knew, rebar shapes can be almost anything, so it's probably not possible to standardize the bulk of bread-and-butter shapes that will be needed in any given project. I would indeed do as pbacot was describing, using a 'kit of parts' approach. That said, stirrups are a staple that lend themselves to a data-entry box like you created, as are spirals. Basic rebar mats (just big grids of rebar that typically have a max bar-spacing and a minimum concrete "cover" at edges of the grid) are another - and those would be great to have a script for, since it's tedious to calculate the required spacing to optimize the use of steel based on those two criteria. I don't do this all the time by a long shot, but that's about all the 'standard' items I can think of, that is, those that wouldn't require custom-for-each-design drawing.
Of course unique items are best done as needed but anything that is "standard" lends itself to a plugin. So if you can "draw" me a picture of what is to be created, I'm sure we can come up with something.

@unknownuser said:

Seems quite surprising to me that there's not a 'stock' filleting tool included with SU - hasn't all other CAD software included this as a standard-issue item for many years?
I can't seem to find it but I'm sure that I saw someone demonstrating creating fillets using the Arc Tool. Perhaps it was in the Pro version. Anyway you can try my Fillet3d plugin.

driven

sdmitch

Yes, exactly like that.