Computer Software for Steel Professionals
Structural Material Manager Support for Digital Plan Measures
When estimating steel jobs, you are typically working off of printed drawings and are not provided with CAD files. Without access to such CAD files, you cannot simply use Structural Material Manager's optional External Data Interface to import the bills of material needed for the estimate.
Any item lengths that appear on the drawings can of course be typed into Structural Material Manager as-is. In lieu of having CAD files that can be imported, hand-entering printed lengths is the quickest and most accurate way to input them.
Whereas some lengths appear on plans, it is usually the case that not all of the lengths that you need are actually printed on the drawings. Unknown lengths thus must be approximated based on measurements made on the scaled drawings.
Some companies make digital plan measures that make it easy to determine unknown lengths from drawings. These are rolling tools that are used by selecting a scale factor to match the plan and rolling the tool along the distance to be measured. Although an LCD display built right into the device shows the measured length, a far more effective way to work is with an optional PC interface kit that sends that length to the current input area of any Windows application. In terms of using such a tool with Structural Material Manager, you would have the material entry screen ready to input the Length field (i.e., the Length field would be "focused" with the blinking cursor located there) before rolling the digital measure. The measurement sent by the device then appears in Structural Material Manager's Length field.
Digital plan measures typically send values in a decimal format (such as 7.5625) rather than the more traditional format of feet, inches and fractions (such as 7'-6 3/4 in keeping with this 7.5625 example). That is no problem, as Versions 11.1 and higher of Structural Material Manager have the ability to accept lengths in either format. The Structural Material Manager User’s Guide (available online by following this link) discusses the manner in which Structural Material Manager rounds decimal length values to the nearest sixteenth of an inch for English / Imperial jobs or the nearest millimeter for metric jobs.
Calculated Industries (http://www.calculated.com) makes the Scale Master II in both standalone and PC-connected versions. Their Scale Master II PC Combo Kit (Model # 6325, list price $149.95) comes with both the Scale Master II plan measure and the necessary components to wire it to your PC's USB port.
Scalex Corporation (http://www.scalex.com) produces digital measuring tools known as PlanWheel and Scale-Link. More so than a standalone PlanWheel, their Scale-Link USB2 kit (list price $124.95) is the combo that would be of interest to many Structural Material Manager users since it includes both a digital measure and the components needed to wire it to your PC via a USB port. They even make a $200-$300 version of the Scale-Link that interfaces to your PC wirelessly.
You can order digital measures directly from the manufacturers: Calculated Industries (http://www.calculated.com) and Scalex Corporation (http://www.scalex.com). Tiger Supplies (http://www.tigersupplies.com) and Nationwide Drafting and Office Supply (http://www.nationwidedrafting.com) are also worth considering, as each of these resellers carries both brands at less than list prices.
E.J.E. Industries, Inc. is in no way related to Calculated Industries or Scalex and earns no commissions from them. We merely refer you to these third parties because their digital plan measures are able to be effectively used in conjunction with the E.J.E. Industries Structural Material Manager system.