LSF sheets

From the model to the sheet, without redrawing

In LSF, the crew that assembles the house does not read the 3D: it reads paper. The installer needs to know where each panel goes, what is inside it and how each window opening is framed. The factory needs the marks and the lengths. The engineer needs to sign all of it.

In CalcSteel these sheets are not drawn by hand. With a wall selected, the wall footer shows six sheet buttons. Each one creates a sheet in the Prints tab (Sheets list), already laid out, with the views, the schedules and the title block.

The sheet is live: it stores only the choice (which wall, which scale, black and white or not) and redraws from the model every time the project changes. Move a window in the 3D, and the plan, the panel and the opening schedule change together.

• 6: sheet buttons in the wall footer
• 3 sheets: on this page: plan, panel and opening details
• 2 schedules: that come in on their own: walls and openings
• A3: starting paper; only the plan goes up to A2 or A1

The other three buttons (Joints, Typicals, Project cut list) have pages of their own: Standard details and Cut list, takeoff, DXF and IFC.

Four pieces, three readers

An LSF house reaches the site as a stack of finished panels. The sheet set is what says which panel goes where, facing which way, and what is inside it. That is why it has three readers, and each piece speaks to one of them.

Why generate, and not draw

The sheet comes from the same bars the 3D shows and the calculation checked. The panel elevation reads the same set of pieces as the 2D wall view. There is no second drawing to fall out of date: change the model, and the sheet changes with it.

What this page covers

The four pieces requested for the 9x7 house: panel plan, wall elevations, wall schedule and opening schedule, plus the title block, the paper, the scale and the PDF. Joint details and typicals are in Standard details; the project cut list, DXF and IFC, in Cut list, takeoff, DXF and IFC.

What 16970-2 asks of the drawings

NBR 16970-2:2022, the Brazilian standard for light steel framing design, treats an LSF design as a set: specification, calculation and drawings. Three of its items say what the sheet set must carry. We cite only the item number; the text of the standard belongs to ABNT.

The order of use in this house

Since the sheet is live, the order breaks nothing: any sheet redraws when the project changes. But there is an order that closes the set sooner and avoids checking twice.

1. Calculate first

While the calculation runs, the button creates the sheet but does not switch tabs: the message says the tab switches when the calculation ends. And drawing a house that still fails is rework.

2. Fill in the title block once

Company, project, client, location, engineer of record and registration apply to every sheet. The app writes the scale and the sheet name on its own (step 9).

3. Panels before the plan

The FOLHA (sheet) column of the wall schedule and the marker of each wall on the plan say which sheet holds the panel. A wall with no panel sheet shows "·", and the note says so. Generate the panels first, and the plan is born with all six sheets referenced.

4. One panel per sheet

Selecting several walls puts the panels together on one A3, if they fit. In the house, the 9 m front with a door and a window already needs a sheet of its own: alone, it came out at 1:50, and at that scale the opening framing is still readable. Before that, give each window a name (J1, J2, J3), because the app creates them all as J1.

5. Details last

The Details button draws one detail per type of opening framing, and the type comes from the pieces in the 3D. Change the header of a window, and the type may become another. Leave it for when the openings are settled.

Panel plan

1. Select a wall and click Panel plan

In the LSF tab, click a wall of the house. The wall footer opens with the sheet buttons on the right. Panel plan creates the sheet for the story and opens the Prints tab.

2. Read the sheet

For the 9x7 house the app put the plan on A2 at 1:50: A3 at 1:25 and A3 at 1:50 did not fit with the schedule beside it, and A2 at 1:50 is next in line. The cut is at 1.50 m, the same as the LSF plan.

On the sheet: the plan cut at 1.50 m, with the marker of each wall, and on the right the wall schedule, the legend and the notes.

Wall schedule

The wall schedule has no button of its own: it goes on the plan sheet, on the right, with the legend and the notes below. It reads the same plan and redraws with it.

3. Check the columns

The "todas:" (all) row gathers what the walls have in common: in the house, height 2.80 m, FRAMECAD 89×41-39×12×0.95 stud at 600 mm and the track in the same section.

The legend only carries what the plan has. Note 1 carries the project steel, ZAR-230 with fy 230 MPa, and note 2 the fastening, with size and spacing.

4. Adjust the sheet in the Views section

Click the plan inside the sheet. The Views section shows its control: Black and white, Connection marks, Scale 1:25, 1:50 or 1:100 and, with more than one story, Story.

Each click on Panel plan creates another sheet, with "(2)" in the name. To change the scale, use the control.

Wall panel

5. Select V6 and click Sheet

The Sheet button creates the "Painel V6" (panel V6) sheet on A3. If the V6 sheet already exists, it opens the existing one, without duplicating it. With several walls selected, it tries to put the panels together.

The elevation is seen from outside, the same direction as the 2D view. On V6 you can read door P1 and window J1, each with its lattice header (chord BS, verticals TP and WV, diagonals DG), the king studs KO, the jack studs JK, the blocking BQ of the bracing and the straps FC. At the ends, the corner pieces come translucent and with the name of their owner: "da V1" and "da V3" (from V1, from V3), outside this wall's list. At the top, the running dimension only on the first section of each group; on the right, sill 1,000, opening 1,000, 700 to the top and the 2,800 wall height; at the bottom, the section with the clear openings and the 9,089 total.

Marks and cut list

6. Read the marks

A mark is a code plus the group number. Pieces with the same code, section, length to the millimeter and fold get the same mark, in the drawing and in the list; the number goes from the longest length to the shortest. On V6, the eleven full-height studs are all M1, 2,800 mm long.

7. Check the list

MARCA, PEÇA, PERFIL, COMP., QTD and KG (mark, piece, section, length, quantity, weight). The row turns orange when the piece is longer than the commercial bar, 6,000 mm if the market does not say otherwise. On V6 it is track G1: two at 9,089 mm, one at the top and one at the bottom. Decide the splice before sending it to the factory.

Opening codes as the opening schedule explains them. A column would come in as PB and the bracing strap as FX; the house in the screenshot has neither.

One story per panel

In a two-story house, the ground floor panel does not carry the wall above or the gable. What touches it stays: top track, floor joist, bearing truss.

The track runs through the door

The field track is one piece per level and runs across the door opening. Note 3 of the list says to cut it on site, after fastening the panel.

Opening details and opening schedule

8. Click Details

The button creates the "Detalhes de abertura" (opening details) sheet on A3: one detail per type of opening framing at 1:20 and the opening schedule on the first sheet, in the top right corner. In the house, two types came out, D1 (the window) and D2 (the door), and the app spread them over two sheets: "Detalhes de abertura" and "Detalhes de abertura, folha 2".

Title block

9. Fill in the title block

The title block is the same as on every CalcSteel sheet. You fill in one part; the app writes the other.

You fill in

The fields are filled in under Settings, Title Block. Company (without it, your name goes in), project, title, drawn by, checked by and the engineer of record, each with the registration, date, revision, logo, client and location.

The app writes

The sheet name and the scale. With views at different scales on the same sheet, the scale becomes "Var.". The sheet name has a fixed width in the technical title block and gets cut.

With no model chosen, the sheet uses the technical one.

10. Paper and scale of the house

Export

11. Export PDF, in the sheet bar

With the sheet open in the Prints tab, click Export PDF in the bottom bar. The app copies the sheet drawing, removes what is screen only, opens a window with the exact paper size and calls the browser print. In the dialog, choose Save as PDF, paper the size of the sheet and 100% scale. One sheet at a time.

Login and plan

Both PDFs require login and count toward the monthly sheet PDF quota of the free plan.

For printing

Turn on Black and white in each view first: the pieces lose their paper color and keep only the line. If the print "fits to page", the title block scale no longer holds.

Paper, scales and switches of each sheet

The switches of each sheet are in the Prints tab, Views section, after clicking the drawing inside the sheet. They store only the choice; the drawing redraws from the model.

Details: the combinations

The automatic layout tries to put everything on a single sheet, in this order: detail at 1:20 with section at 1:5, 1:25 with 1:5, 1:20 with 1:10, 1:25 with 1:10. If none fits on one, it keeps the first that fits on more sheets. Above 1:25 the detail is already at panel scale and does not show the opening framing, so 1:50 only through the control.

Panel: the layout

Panels and cut list are arranged on the A3 without covering the title block; with several walls, all at the same scale. The list goes on the sheet beside the panels.

When the button says no, and what to do

Every refusal becomes a 5 second message under the button, with the reason. None of them creates a half-built sheet.

1. "the project has no LSF wall". Applies to the three buttons. A loose bar from the Structure tab is not an LSF wall.
2. "the wall does not fit on an A3 even at 1:100". The wall is too long for the A3. Split the wall into panels, as the factory would.
3. "the panels do not fit together on an A3; request one panel per sheet". Too many walls selected at once. Select one and click Sheet; repeat for each.
4. "the plan does not fit on an A1 even at 1:100". The project is too large for a design scale. Not the case of the 9x7 house.
5. "no wall starts at +N m". A story requested with no wall. The message lists the stories that exist. In the house, requesting +3.00 m answered "no wall starts at +3.00 m; the project stories are at +0.00". Likewise, requesting the panel of a wall that does not exist answered "wall V9 does not exist; the project has V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6".
6. Details with no opening, or "a detail does not fit on an A3 even at 1:25". "the project has no opening", or "the project openings have no framing yet"; a huge opening may not fit.
7. "created; the tab switches when the calculation ends". Not an error: the sheet exists, but the calculation is still running. Wait and open the Prints tab.

Common mistakes when checking

1. FOLHA column with "·". The wall has no panel sheet. Generate the panel; the plan updates on its own.
2. Two identical plans. Each click on Panel plan creates another sheet. Delete the extra one in the Prints tab.
3. PDF out of scale. The browser print fitted it to the page. Use paper the size of the sheet and 100%.

The sheet reads, it does not calculate

The engine checks the limit states of each bar (see Reading the results); the sheet draws on paper the same model the engine checked, with the marks and the kilograms that come from the pieces.

What stays with the designer

1. Boards, window frames and cladding. The detail is of the steel (note 3 of the opening schedule), and the dashed faces of the section are those of the track. The enclosure is specified separately.
2. Position of each screw. The fastening goes in the note, with size and spacing.
3. Checking the sheet. The sheet comes from the model: check each one before signing the title block.

The path, in one line

Passing calculation → title block filled in → Sheet for V1 to V6 → Panel plan (FOLHA with no "·") → Details with the opening schedule → Black and white → Export PDF sheet by sheet, paper the size of the sheet, 100%.

The sheets of the house

• 1: ground floor panel plan, with the wall schedule
• 6: panels, V1 to V6, with section and cut list
• 4: openings in the opening schedule
• A2: the plan, at 1:50; panels and details on A3