Connectors Walk-Through

Connectors Walk-through

Summary: Connect wood members to other wood members, concrete/masonry walls, steel beams and wood nailers using Simpson Strong-Tie hangers.

• Technical Information
• Getting Started
• Additional Connectors Features

Technical Information

You can find more technical information about the Connectors plugin here.

Getting Started

The Connectors module uses Simpson Strong-Tie’s latest connector capacity information from their "Wood Construction Connectors” catalog (2019-2020).

To use Connectors, open any wood beam module and:

1. Click on the connector icon at the left or right side of the beam.

2. Click the Add Left Connector or Add Right Connector button.

3. Enter in the information for the supporting member.  (If this support is linked to another member, the linked member’s information will auto-populate, but you can also choose to enter custom information.)

4. Enter the connector type, fasteners, skew, slope, and top flange information.

5. Click the Calculate button at the bottom.

6. The results page will show all the available connectors that meet the entered criteria and beam loads.  Pick one primary connector and up to 4 alternate connectors.

7. Click Save & Exit to save your results and close the connectors window.  Or you can click Back to go to the first screen to alter the information there.  And you can also click Save & Continue to save the information for this member and go on to the first screen again to enter information for another member, to cycle through connector designs faster, without having to open each member separately.  

Additional Connectors Features

The Connector icon on the beam diagram will turn green when a connector has been selected and is passing for the given loads.

The Connector icon will turn red if the loads change such that the primary connector is no longer adequate.

Connectors Adequacy Cards will show at the bottom of the page, listing the adequacy of the primary and alternate connectors. The primary connector is shown at the top, and determines the pass/fail percentage shown, and alternate connectors are listed below, with their respective adequacy percentages.

If primary connectors are no longer passing, the adequacy card will show red, with the failing adequacy percentage.  If alternate connectors are no longer passing, they are removed from the adequacy cards completely.

If loads are changed on a linked member above that result in a failing primary connector below, a popup warning will allow you to open the member with the failed connector to update it.

You can also open Connectors from the file menu (Project > Connectors) without having to open any particular beam.

You can also change the member you are designing connectors for by changing the name at the top. (This allows you to quickly cycle through designing connectors for all of your members at once using the Save & Continue button at the bottom.)

If you have any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our customer service at [email protected].

Thanks for reading!