This routine of course inserts this piece of Simpson hardware, and gives the user control over pin type, orientation, slot & drill sides. It can be used to connect a post to a plate, or a horizontal joist. Although not a traditional joint and not one of my favorites, it does enjoy popularity in a great number of engineering offices.
Insertion
- Select the beam which will receive the knife plates and pins.
- Select the female beam to which the hanger will be mounted.
- The script cuts a mortise to house the plate and screw heads on the female side--future versions will include an option to do this on the male side. The hanger is created with a default orientation as close to vertical as possible.
- Use the OPM to flip the plate orientation, or select an model, or the pin type.
The slot depth is calculated on lines 123 & 124 for both the stopped and through modes. Change the number in parentheses after the capitol U to alter the amount of overcutting.
All models of the Simpson part are available, as are the options for short or long pins. The slot can be through or from one side, drills can be from either side.
Mods
SimpsonCJT adds extra depth to both stopped and through slots. The slot is set to 12mm, the most common chain size. Pins holes are drilled with an extra 1/4" depth. You can adjust these numbers to suit your situation.
Drills are defined on line 138, by default the depth is 1/4" past what is required. The radius of the drill is the last argument on this line ( .25 ), bump it up to add a tolerance for the pins.
Caveats
- The script currently houses the CJT hanger into the female beam. In the future I might add the option to house the hanger into the end of the male beam.
- The hanger cannot be offset from center, I didn't code an option for this because I've never needed it--if this is something you would find useful email me -- cc@craigcad.us
- The script is intended for orthogonal connections. It models decently well for angled connections, but the machine operations are not viable.
