Anchor Rod Tools

1. Purpose and description

This tool allows a user to select a group of base plate details (system or custom
components) and automatically generate blown up sections and details on a general
arrangement drawing based on the connection codes defined on the general tab of
component dialog boxes in the model.

2. System requirements
.NET Framework version: 4.0
Environments: Any
Languages: English (Can be translated except Report strings English only)

3. Installation
To install the application:
1. Run the appropriate 32bit (x86) or 64bit (x64) AnchorRodTools.msi installation
from the Extensions Download page on the Tekla Structures extranet.
2. Have Tekla Structures closed during installation.
3. Reopen Tekla Structures once installation is complete and you will see a new
toolbar appear at the upper left hand corner of the screen.

Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation August 2011

4. Usage
To use the application:
1. You will need to make sure you have properly applied the correct component
codes to all of the base plate details whether they are custom or system
components. The Anchor Rod Tools application will create an elevation and plan
view detail for each connection code it finds in the group of components you
select in the model.

2. Create your Anchor Rod plans by turning on the Connection Mark and including
the Connection Code of your base plate details. Your Anchor Rod Plan may look
like something similar to below.
3. Once all of the base plate detail components have been set in the model, select
the base plate components in the model that you want details created from. The
reason selected components is used vs. reading from the entire model is in case
you want to control creating Anchor Bolt plans by phase or sequence at a time on
a project.
4. Start the AnchorRodTools from the Tools>Macros dialog box or the icon on the
newly created toolbar.

Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation August 2011

 5. Fill in the appropriate settings in the dialog box, then press the Create Drawing
button. (Make sure you dont have any drawings currently open)
6. After the button has been pressed a message will appear at the lower left hand
corner of Tekla Structures saying Creating Anchor Rod Sections and Details.
This may take a while on large models with many connections added, so please
be patient and wait for the Drawing Creation Complete message. WARNING: If
you try to open the drawing before seeing the Drawing Creation Complete
message it will create an error in the application and corrupt your drawing. You
will need to restart Tekla Structures.
7. A report will be displayed showing which connection codes were added to which
drawing.

8. The tool will automatically place as many sections and details it can on the sheet
it creates. If there are more details than can fit on a sheet, then a new drawing is
created, and those details are added to the next sheet. The tool works best with

Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation August 2011

 the saved View properties being set with a scale of around 12.0. (1=1-0) but will
work with other scales near this range.
9. The section and detail labels will include the Connection Code set on the
components in the model along with the prefix Plan and Elevation label specified
in the dialog box.

Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation August 2011

 10. The dimension properties and tags can be modified by the user and specified in
the dialog box. In order for the dimensions in the elevation view to appear it is
also important to specify the Part Name of the Anchor Rods and Grout that will
appear in the view. These names tell the tool which parts to automatically
dimension correctly.

11. Revisions can be handled in two ways. If you have simply added a couple of new
Base Plate Details and connection codes and you want to manually add those
details to an existing sheet, select those components in the model, then select an
existing drawing in the drawing list to add those details to. Press the Add to
Drawing button, and the selected drawing will be opened, then you will be
prompted to pick a location in the drawing to place the sections and details. This
is a manual process, and means you have to carefully select which details to add
to the drawings, but this may be needed in some cases.
12. The second way to handle a revision is a bit more automated. There are many
changes in the model that can cause the sections and details sheets to become
out of date. Some examples are columns moving in the model, connection codes
and base plates changing on existing columns, base plates being deleted and all

Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation August 2011

 instances of a connection code being removed from the project, and new
connection details being created with new codes. This is a lot for the user to
manage and track individually. So once you have completed revising an area of
your project, and you have updated your Anchor Bolt Plan, you can select all of
the base plate components in the model, then select all of the previously existing
Anchor Bolt Sections and Details sheets in the Drawing List that were previously
created. Press the Update Drawings button, and the tool will scan through the
selected components and all of the views on the selected drawings and look for
potential connection code changes, components that are no longer in views,
views that need to be deleted, and new codes that need to be added to some
additional drawings. Any new codes found will be added to a brand new sheet, so
be sure to set the start number of the next available drawing in the dialog box to
take the next sheet.

Drawing List

13. An update report will be generated in the model folder. Any new updates will be
appended to the end of the file, so a full history of updates can be tracked.

Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation August 2011

Original View

Revisions

5. Limitations and Important Notes

1. You as the detailer are responsible for managing the component codes defined
and created in the model. It is possible to give to different base plate details in
the model even created by different component numbers the same connection
code, and the AnchorRodTools will not know the difference. This system allows
the most freedom to combine your sections and details as desired but also
means more care is required into manually managing the assigned connection
codes. Template editor reports can be used to help find duplicate codes with
different values or even using different component numbers/names.
2. The quantities calculated and displayed in parenthesis in the plan views are
purely based on the total found from the selected components. They are not

Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation August 2011

 based on the Model Total! This is very important to understand especially when
generating the views by the Add To Drawing or Update Drawings method.
Using template editor reports that report the total quantity of components with any
particular code is suggested to back check the quantities shown on the Anchor
Rod Sections and Details sheets.
3. Be sure to cross check the results between your sections and details sheets with
your Anchor Bolt Plan to make sure everything matches correctly.
4. The tool will not manage or update any views created by the user. The tool
automatically applies user defined attributes to the plan and elevation views it
creates in order to manage updates. Also do not use the right click, move to
another drawing functionality on any of the views created by the tool. If you do,
the user defined attributes on those views will be lost, and those views will no
longer be able to be managed or updated by the tool.
5. If you save settings with a standard name, those save settings will always be
loaded as the default whenever the tool is launched.
6. Object level settings and filters stored in drawing and view properties are not
used in the drawings and views created by the Anchor Rod Tools. There is a
limitation currently in the Drawing API that causes this. The user can manually
select views and load object level settings for the part marks and presentation
after the views have been created.
7. The Code Prefix and the Connection Code MUST match. The default instal will
use the US Imperial Localization setting TYPE which corresponds with the
Localized settings for the Base Plate Components.

Copyright 2011 Tekla Corporation August 2011