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5/27/2018 Ask MAKE: How do trusses work?
Barbara writes:
Geometry
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If, on the other hand, you make a square with four sticks, it will be almost
impossible to keep the structure from turning into a rhombus when you push
on it, no matter how much tightening you do.
Unlike the triangle, the rigidity of this structure depends on the rigidity of the
connections. To really keep a square rigid, you need to add a diagonal brace
to create two triangles within the square.
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So if you want to make a structure that’s rigid regardless of the rigidity of its
connections, you start with a triangle and build onto it by adding sticks to
make more triangles. That, in a nutshell, is a truss.
Laws of statics
An ideal truss is like our assembly of popsicle sticks: a set of straight
members or elements, pinned together at their ends, with forces applied only
at the joints. (We’ll get to the relation between real trusses and ideal ones in a
bit.) Under these conditions, each member in a truss is loaded only at its
ends. Some of the loads may be coming from the externally applied forces,
and others will be coming from the members to which it’s connected, but
whatever their source, the loads are acting exclusively at the ends.
For our truss members, this means that forces on the members are axial
(that is, they act along the axis of the member), putting them in either pure
tension or pure compression.
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In trusses loaded by downward forces, the members along the top (the “top
chord”) are in compression and the members along the bottom (the “bottom
chord”) are in tension. The members connecting the top and bottom chords
(the “web members”) may be tension or compression, depending on their
angles and the distribution of the loads.
The forces in the members can be calculated in several ways. The traditional
“by hand” methods are the method of joints and the method of sections. For
truss analysis via computer, the nite element method is the standard
technique.
E ciency
The fact that the forces on each truss member are axial is the key to a truss’s
e ciency. In an axially-loaded member, the force is carried equally by every
part of the member–no part is wasted.
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Contrast this to a beam. When you load a beam at the center, the stresses
are much higher there than anywhere else. The material away from the center
just isn’t doing as much work, lowering the e ciency of the structure.
By sizing the members of a truss just right, you can tune it to carry huge
loads while using very little material. This is how people win balsa wood
bridge competitions. Real-world trusses can’t be optimized the way a balsa
wood bridge can, because real-world trusses have to carry many different
combinations of load, and a truss optimized for one set of loads won’t be
optimal for another set. Still, even when they can’t be fully optimized, trusses
are usually much lighter than alternative structures.
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Furthermore, the top chord is loaded by the roof sheathing along its entire
length, not just at the joints.
These deviations from the ideal do, in fact, generate additional stresses by
imposing bending loads on the truss members. Fortunately, these additional
stresses–structural engineers call them “secondary stresses”–don’t alter the
truss’s behavior much and can be ignored in most cases. In trusses, the
difference between theory and practice is small.
Uses
So if trusses are strong and stiff and e cient, why aren’t they used for every
roof? Three reasons come to mind immediately:
1. They take up space in your attic. Although the total volume of lumber
used by roof trusses is less than the total volume used by a set of rafters
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and ceiling joists, the web members of the truss cut the attic up and make
it less usable.
2. They’re harder to adapt to some roof plans. If your roof has lots of valleys
and hips, it’s easier to frame with rafters than with trusses.
3. They require extra equipment to put in place. A truss has to be pre-
assembled and then lifted as a complete unit up onto the framing. This is
no big deal if you’re building an entire subdivision and can hire a crane to
do several houses a day. But if you’re just doing a single house, the cost of
renting a crane can be prohibitive. Rafters can be put in place by a small
crew of framing carpenters.
But trusses are used in lots of roofs, both in residential and commercial
construction. Warehouses and warehouse-style stores are almost always use
steel trusses because they’re the cheapest way to hold up big, open
expanses of roof. Next time you’re in a Costco or Sam’s Club, take a look up.
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We try to cover up and coming video makers with the Weekend Watch
column, but we’ve never covered anyone as new to the game as The Maker
Monster. This beastly builder only has one video to date, posted only ten
days ago, but it has already gotten over 5,000 views. He’s also already signed
up over 600 subscribers to his nascent channel. Apparently, being a monster
who’s also a maker carries a certain appeal.
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By Gareth Branwyn
@garethb2
11 hours ago
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Tips of the Week is our weekly peek at some of the best making tips, tricks,
and recommendations we’ve discovered in our travels. Check in every Friday
to see what we’ve discovered. And we want to hear from you. Please share
your tips, shortcuts, best practices, and tall shop tales in the comments
below and we might use your tip in a future column.
***
In my forthcoming book, Tips and Tales from the Workshop, I recount a
conversation with toy inventor Bob Knetzger at Maker Faire Bay Area last
year where I asked him for some tip suggestions. His response was: “Close
your eyes when you’re blowing sawdust out of a hole.” This is the kind of
safety reminder that may seem painfully obvious on its face, but it’s also
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worth being reminded of such things from time to time. I spend a lot of time
trying to collect those glittering gems of “ah-ha!” tips, it’s nice to not neglect a
few of the “duh-ha!” tips, too. I asked my Facebook friends to share some of
their best Captain Obvious tips. Here are some of my faves. You can read the
entire thread here.
By Gareth Branwyn
@garethb2
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