Glenn Traylor

What is the Best Way to Handle Defects Under the Plated Area?

Glenn Traylor

Everyone who uses lumber in trusses understands that defects in lumber can impact truss performance in different ways. Some defects are not important but others will affect truss performance and can even cause truss failure. [For all photos, See PDF or View in Full Issue.] In the first photo,...

#16296 Cover image
March 2024
Issue #16296
Page 35
Glenn Traylor

Can Eased Edge Lumber Usage Impact Truss Design?

Glenn Traylor

Originally intended as an improvement in lumber manufacturing, most dimensional lumber used for framing has a radius corner created during the planing process. The rounded corner radius is intended to make the lumber easier to handle and can improve the lumber’s performance because sharp...

#16295 Cover image
February 2024
Issue #16295
Page 33
Joe Kannapell

The Last Word: Floor Machine Fiascos

Joe Kannapell

Before leaving the subject of floor trusses, two machines deserve special attention, the Tiger Cat and the Structur-Span. Both included features that were way ahead of their 1970s provenance and both were markedly faster than even present-day machines. Both plated the truss with a single pass,...

#16295 Cover image
February 2024
Issue #16295
Page 136
Joe Kannapell

Floor Truss Technology, Part VII: The Devil is in Those Details

Joe Kannapell

Building intricate floor truss details may bedevil a robot, but they provide the inherent advantage of floor trusses over I-joists. There are also things that floor trusses can do that I-joists cannot. And they facilitate the most efficient use of materials. Visiting an I-joist cut-off yard...

#15293 Cover image
December 2023
Issue #15293
Page 10
Glenn Traylor

Do Your Floor Truss Chord Splices Meet Your Design Requirements?

Glenn Traylor

It seems like a simple thing—connect lumber together with connectors creating a top or bottom chord for your floor trusses that exceed your lumber length inventory. It’s one of the simplest applications of metal connector plates. But, while the task seems obvious, there are several...

#15293 Cover image
December 2023
Issue #15293
Page 31
Joe Kannapell

The Last Word: The Concrete Truss Machine

Joe Kannapell

New inventions may fade away, but most provide valuable lessons, like the concrete truss machine. Not many of these were built, but they seemed to Cal Jureit to be the logical match for his new truss plate, and they set the course for all his future machines. Jureit had to have been...

#15293 Cover image
December 2023
Issue #15293
Page 134
Joe Kannapell

Floor Truss Technology, Part VI: The Last Round of Floor Machines

Joe Kannapell

Our contemporary floor machines were ready for the resurgence of demand that has followed the pandemic. These new models had many fascinating features, accumulated from the multiple iterations before them. They were more durable, they lessened labor, and they built a quality truss, embedding all...

#15292 Cover image
November 2023
Issue #15292
Page 10
Joe Kannapell

Floor Truss Technology, Part V: Current Machines

Joe Kannapell

Component manufacturers learned one very painful floor truss lesson in the 1970s that needed to be remedied in the 1980s – nightmare repairs can result from plates not being fully embedded. That predicament usually resulted from insufficient tonnage to fully press the larger plates found...

#15291 Cover image
October 2023
Issue #15291
Page 10
Joe Kannapell

The Last Word: Can Crooked Lumber Defeat Robotics?

Joe Kannapell

A robot visited the BCMC Show floor again this year, and, for the first time, really showed its stuff, picking truss plates like there was no tomorrow. And its dynamic demo couldn’t be missed, as House of Design (HoD) positioned their Nail Plate Picking Cell right at the exhibit’s...

#15291 Cover image
October 2023
Issue #15291
Page 134
Glenn Traylor

Are We Designing Our Components to Benefit Our Truss Builders and End Users?

Glenn Traylor

Many years ago, early in my career as a truss designer, I was interrupted by the production manager. He loudly entered my office with a piece of 2 x 12 and a circular saw and abruptly slammed both on top of my drafting table that was sporting a newly created truss layout. (We did not have...

#15288 Cover image
July 2023
Issue #15288
Page 35
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