Tekla Import

I hope you are having a great day. I'm Duane Bates, the pre-installation and training department manager at Peddinghaus. Today, I will be describing the Tekla import process in Raptor.

To begin, you must have Tekla open on the computer you are using. Tekla must have been opened before Raptor. You don't need to have the Tekla model open before you open Raptor, but you must have Tekla open first. Once Tekla and Raptor are both open, and you have the model open, you can begin the import process. As you can see I have Tekla and the model opened. I also have Raptor open. There are three ways to get to the Tekla import window in Raptor. You can choose the Tekla import icon on the tool bar. You can also go to file > import > import from Tekla. Lastly, you can use the Control + I keystroke combination. Once you have the Tekla import window open start selecting the settings you want to use.

On the import settings tab, we have shapes. You can choose which shapes you want to import. You can select an entire model in Tekla and then limit which types of shapes are imported by using these check boxes. Next, choose whether to import copes, scribes or not. We can force the longest angle leg to be the web. If you are importing on legged angles choose to have them all come in with the longest leg being the web surface. In the scribes section, the first choice is import welded connections. This tells Raptor to do outlined scribes to all pieces welded to the member you imported. Check scribe connection name if you want to add the name of the pieces that are welded to the member. Connection bolts selection will give you scribe lines for lines and bolt holes in the attaching pieces. Secondary plate bolt lines will scribe secondary plate bolt lines on edges of plates. If you want to import the field welds of the parts check this box. Scribe unsupported shape types allows you to import scribes of shapes that are not supported by Raptor, such as pipes or circular hallow sections.

Maximum number of bolt lines. Once you have selected connection bolts, this will limit the number of bolt lines that are scribed per attaching piece. For instance, if a piece had holes in it this would limit it to just two bolt lines. The connection letter size defines the size of the scribe connection name. If this is checked, it is controlling what size those connection letters will be. Maximum connection distance. In Tekla any two objects can be welded together. Raptor will only include scribes for pieces that are within the specified distance from the surface of the member you are importing. This value must be greater than 0. Scribe two faces for angled connections adds an additional scribe for defining the angle of a non-perpendicular plate. 

The error box will show you any errors Raptor encounters during the import process. By selecting the error and clicking the select parts button, it will locate the part in the Tekla model. Progress report. As the import process is taking place, you will see status messages for the process in this box. The go button starts the import process. Do not do this until all settings have been properly set. Once it's selected it will also become a cancel button. 

Next, go to the DSTV import tab. By setting these options you can force Tekla to create DSTV files for the same files you are importing from Tekla. The NC files settings in Raptor need to match the NC file settings in Tekla. 

On the advanced tab, the first thing we have is maximum angle of secondary face. This refers back to the scribe two faces for angled connections. When a face of the attaching piece is greater than 75 degrees, it will not be scribed. Connection bolt crosses. If you want your bolt lines to have a cross line on them check this box. Bolt line length. For your bolt lines you can define the length of those lines right here. Typically, it will be a dimension + 100% of the material thickness. I doesn't matter what the thickness of the plate is being attached, the bolt line will always stick out from the edges of the plate. That way it can be seen when the plate is in place.

Tertiary part scribe is the part that is attached to a piece that is being attached to the member. Raptor can also scribe those part lines. We can control the length of those lines, just like we did the bolt line length. If you have studs on the member decide here how to handle them. You can either do nothing with them, create holes or popmarks. The base weld scribe position allows Raptor to describe the piece mark of the base plate on columns. If you want you can give it a delta dimension. This is a set dimension from the end of the member. You can also give it a percentage of the overall length from the start or base of the column. By checking column referencing, Raptor will reference the columns for you.

On the weld tab, you can decide to scribe the weld information. This weld information is coming from the Tekla model. The information in the model must be properly detailed. Each weld has to be detailed correctly, or the information imported will be wrong. You can control what information comes in and how it is listed.

Return to the import settings tab. Go to Tekla. In the Tekla model select the parts we want to import. I am going to select these items here. Return to the Tekla import window. Hit go.

Close the window. The parts are imported successfully. 

For any other service related questions please contact Peddinghaus support at 1-815-937-3800 and press 2 for technical assistance. Visit our website at www.peddinghaus.com for more how-to videos and additional machine information.