Wedges—Misunderstood and Underappreciated? Glenn Traylor The lowly wedge sometimes gets very little respect. If your plant is doing it right, the wedges usually are cut from drops or culls. That’s a good way of doing it, and it sounds very simple, but not just any piece of wood is suitable for a wedge. There are important qualifications that... Read More March 2018 Issue #10224 Page 36
Floor Truss Chord Splicers & Floor Truss Finish Roller Presses Sean Hubbard When I decided to conduct this 12-month series of product comparisons last fall, I knew it would be a year-long commitment of my time and effort. Then and now, however, I also was convinced that it would provide useful information in a format that allows for direct comparisons on specific... Read More February 2018 Issue #10223 Page 12
Is There Such Thing as Too Much Pressure? Glenn Traylor Too much pressure is not only a problem in our lives, it can also be a problem in our plants. One of the most important issues when manufacturing quality trusses is plate embedment. Without proper embedment, the connector plate cannot adequately transfer load forces through the members down to... Read More February 2018 Issue #10223 Page 36
Floor Truss Roller Presses Sean Hubbard As discussed last month, this year will we be providing a series of product comparisons in each issue. The guidelines we have used in assembling this series are: Each product will be limited to only the information available to customers via the internet A comparison of standard... Read More January 2018 Issue #10222 Page 12
Seeing the Need for Quality Assurance AND Training Glenn Traylor When you look at this photo, what do you see? The photo is an actual picture taken during a plant audit, but just imagine this was taken at your truss plant. In the photo, the second side of the floor truss is set up in the floor machine with the connector plate positioned and ready to receive... Read More January 2018 Issue #10222 Page 36
A Case for Providing More Design Info to the Assembly Table Glenn Traylor It’s true that, by nature, the materials currently used for wood trusses can vary in strength and properties. Given a specific lumber size and grade, truss builders often need to evaluate lumber picked, cut, and provided to build the specific job at hand. After verifying the lumber grade,... Read More December 2017 Issue #10221 Page 36
BCMC Innovations Joe Kannapell The quickening of innovation will be on display at BCMC this month, and, undoubtedly, so will be the uptake. Suppliers use this platform to launch new products, sometimes rather humbly. Art DePauw sold his prototype “automated” saw to two industry giants, Charlie Barnes and Dave... Read More October 2017 Issue #10219 Page 6
Can Staple Use Be Too Much of a Good Thing? Glenn Traylor With today’s complex profiles and configurations, many truss fabricators have been relying on staples to set assembly member contact and relationships. Stapling serves as a temporary means to insure tight joints and accurate locations. Often times, however, because of the ease of multiple... Read More October 2017 Issue #10219 Page 34
Can Technology Alone Cure Quality Issues? Glenn Traylor There are many methods that are employed to help insure proper plate placement. Perhaps no technology has had a greater impact than ink jetting truss components with plate size and location. Ink jetting plate data can help you reduce necessary plate sizes resulting in plate cost reductions.... Read More September 2017 Issue #10218 Page 30
How Many Times Can You Press in a Truss Plate? Glenn Traylor The answer might surprise you. During the course of fabricating trusses, on occasion a plate is not completely pressed. As the truss comes out of the finish roller or hydraulic press, the plate sometimes does not get pressed all the way. Sometimes the plate is missed or removed and up plated.... Read More August 2017 Issue #10217 Page 28