I’m going to be building some large exposed trusses on a custom home that the company I’m working for is building.The roof pitch is a 6&12.The components though are very large ,11and 1/2 by 15 roughsawn doug fir.And the components will be attached with knife plates.The rafters will be aprox. 18 ft in length.My biggest concern is getting good clean joints in material that is going to be difficult to deal with.My original idea was to snap everything out on the floor,then construct 2 as perfact as possible patterns out of 1/2″ plywood and then find a way to elevate the work pieces high enough to comfortably work on them and keep movement of them to a minimum.Is there a better way to do this?
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Replies
Three things.
First - could you use a smaller font? The one you picked is awfully big.
Second - I'd keep the jig on the floor. If it's up in the air you risk having things move around on you. On the floor you can anchor stuff securely.
Third - If these are structural trusses, have the design and connections reviewed by an engineer.
The follies which a man regrets the most in his life are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity. [Helen Rowland]
The last set of these that I did were fabricated out of rough sawn 6 x 12's. The truss engineer sent us a pattern with the bolted connections detailed and we snapped the pattern on the cement floor and shot down borders out of 2 x 4's to make a jig of sorts. 4x4 blocks were used to raise it all off the floor and then the pieces were fitted tightly together and bolted. We used a crane to put them in place. I wouldn't want to do it again any time soon.
Why don't you assemble all your trusses right on your pattern and set them with a crane?
why not just have them made by the factory, not that much money
The best employee you can have but you wouldn't want him as a neighbor " He the shifty type"
Because my impression that these were more like a timberframe truss, that being the members are 6"x12". I don't know if truss companies work in that scale, if they did it would a special order I would think.
This thread reminded me of something I saw here at BT or on TV.
A truss maker wanted to cut a decorative tail on a beam (12"x12"x20'). He put his band saw on wheels and moved it around the end of the beam. I thought it was quite clever.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv