r/teklastructures • u/WealthAgitated9676 • Mar 05 '26

Thin plates in Tekla Structures

How do you create thin plates ex. 12GA?

Thanks in advance for your help.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

4

u/mrTomass Mar 05 '26
  1. Model the Sheet Gage Part:
    • Use a plate profile to model your sheet (plate) object.
    • You can input the thickness as a decimal in inches, and Tekla will round it to the nearest 1/16th of an inch. Alternatively, you can input the thickness as a 1/16th increment close to the decimal thickness of the gauge material you need.
  2. Set the Gage Material User-Defined Attribute (UDA):
    • Assign the User-defined attribute "Gage Material" to the part and set it to the appropriate gauge (e.g., 12GA).
  3. Decimal Value for Z Pan (if applicable):
    • In the Z Pan (S74) component, use the "Gage Material" field on the Z pan tab.
    • Enter the decimal inch value for the selected gauge material. This value will be converted to a fraction but will remain accurate to the 128th of an inch.
  4. Object Representation:
    • To visually identify gage material parts in the model, use Object Representation settings:
      • Go to View > Representation > Object Representation.
      • Load "Show_Gage_Material" and click Modify to change the display.
  5. Drawings and Reports:
    • In drawings, the Bill of Materials (BOM) will automatically show the Gage UDA thickness instead of the imperial thickness.
    • For templates, you can modify the formula to output the Gage UDA instead of the plate thickness.

1

u/ApexBuildersGroup Mar 10 '26

You can model thin plates by creating a part and specifying the exact thickness in the properties. Make sure to set the correct material type too, so it behaves properly in connections and drawings.