Forums >> Revit Structure >> Technical Support >> Top of Steel Level for rotated beams

Daveybdab

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Joined: Fri, Apr 30, 2010
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Hi there. I have various beams in my model. I have added spot elevations to show the Top of Steel levels for them on plan. This works well for standard I beams, but am having problems getting it to call up the correct level for rotated steel members - eg rotated angles. I have attached a sketch showing what I mean. I believe that I need to amend something in the family of the relevant beam to tell Revt where I expect the spot elevation to be taken from but I don;t know how to do this.....

Any suggestions?

David

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teafoe5

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So when you are putting the spot elevations in it is attaching itself to the side of the beam?

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Daveybdab

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Joined: Fri, Apr 30, 2010
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Hi. Sorry my pdf sketch was rotated when scanned. Basically I believe that when revit adds a level to a steel it is not actually calling out the level of the top of the steel, rather the level at a point on the steel (the point being defined in the family). I want it to display the actual level of the highest bit of the steel member.

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teafoe5

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A spot elevation will only give you the elevation of the steel where you place it and I don't believe there is a way to change it.  If you are doing a section why not just use a level to call out T/STEEL H.P. or something along those lines?  I attached a quick PDF of what I mean.

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Daveybdab

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We had thought about calling out levels on the sections, but wanted all the levels on the plans really as this will make the contractors life easier. I suppose I could duplicate the family and modify it, I am sure it is possible - or write in level in text and remember to change manually if the model changes!...........

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teafoe5

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"but wanted all the levels on the plans really"  I'm not following what you mean?

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gregroberson

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I think the the TOS will be evaluated where the "symbolic line" is if you use the Beam Annotation tool.  I had problems using spot elevations . . . swithing view display options and they used to disappear in coarse view. .  You can adjust this to be top, bot, ot center.  Similarly, I think you can adjust the lateral location from side1, side2 or center.  You would have to be careful how you rotate your member though.  Additionally, You may need to adjust the 'x' and 'y' values for unsymmetric shapes.

Greg

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mpyul

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Have (Had!) same problem.

In plan view, when you annote steel beams and want to show the relative elevations of the start/end in relation to the given level of the plan, you need to be careful of certain setups:

Under your beam properties:

• do not use the "z Offset Value" to lower or to raise a steel beam.  It's fast to do so but there are problems with this approach and those issues appear only when you need to attach bracings or if you need to rotate the beam.
• Use instead "Start Level Offset" and "End Level Offset".  Longer to do but safer.

Under Beam Annotations:

• The spot elevation tag must be set to "Current Level" (Relabtive Base) and to "Actual (Selected) Elevation" (Display Elevation)

Now, why these setups?

• Vertical bracing will not anchor itself properly to your beam (to its center of gravity) in an elevation view if you use "z Offset value"
• If you need to rotate a beam (property "Cross-Section Rotation") whose dimensions are note 'square'  and put it 'on flat' for example, your top of beam will not be where you expect it to be.  Expecially annoying and disturbing with steel angles beacuse their center of gravity is in an odd position. And the information given by the elevaton tag may well be erroneous.

I am stopping here as I do not want to write a novel.  Hope this helps and points you in the right direction.

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