flat nail plates

JohnBoy

Hi,

I'm building a shed at the moment and I'm contemplating framing it in wood as opposed to steel as it would be much cheaper.

I was wondering whats the story with those flat plates with all the mini teeth in them that are used in truss manufacturing.

are these something easy to use? can they be used with a g-clamp and some timbers or steel to spread the load or do they require specialist equipment.

I dont want to make a cut roof as i dont feel confident enough in my skills, whereas to make trusses I could setup a jig on the floor and know they'd all be consistent.

the shed is only 4.5M wide and will be sheeted in box profile.

am I mad?

Mahatma coat

I take it you will be using Pine for the framing.

we call those things gang nails over here, I have made trusses that way meself, I suggest that you set up a jig with a hydraulic bottle jack to press them together.

Fingalian

Nope, a G clamp won't do it as it won't have enough clamping pressure, like Mahtma says you would have to rig up a jig with a jack. I did exactly what you are planning last winter. Built one , offered it up then built a jig on the ground and made 14 more. I used plywood gussets to strengthen all the joints. They worked out good. PM me if you want, I've loads of photos that better explain the process.

JohnBoy

Thats the other approach i was considering alright.

is it much more time consuming though is my fear. would you spend a lot of time cutting all the angled plywood bits.

I have a sliding mitre chop saw but no table saw so it could be a dose doing the ply bits.

any idea how much force would be required, are we talking a hundred or a thousand kilos. i'm nearly certain my dad has a couple of inch long pneumatic cylinder at home which could work out super handy.

hmmm

Fingalian

Well I had six gussets per truss ( I offset the bottom chord to the top chords so no need for gussets there) so that was a total of ninety. As I remember it took me about half a day to make them, using a Skil saw and a chop saw.

I'm sure you could rig up a jig all right using a bottle jack or something along those lines to press home those nail plates but it just worked out easier for me to use the plywood.


I'm pretty sure the force required is the 1000's of lbs range.

JohnBoy

post up some pics of your build fignalian, sounds interesting.

this is where steel gets interesting again.

I could probably build three steel A frames in a bit over half a day and then just throw some purloins over em and i'm ready to sheet in no time.

time versus money, i'm not sure which i have less of these days

Fingalian

ha, I've little of either. Good luck with it anyway.

Mahatma coat

I'm not sure I'd be a fan of the Ply gussets, and I also wouldnt ofset the bottom piece of the truss from the rest of the frame.

is that 140 X 45 or 190 X 45 pine?

Fingalian

Horses for courses, I think they are 170x45.

Mahatma coat

coming back to this cos I had an argument with a certifier today about the spanning capabilities of "150 X 50 F17 R/S HWD" in an S1/S2 timber to span 5.4 M for a tin roof ????????

IMHO I wouldnt go to bat for your trusses

Fingalian

Is that right.