2024: Scaffcalc Newsletter, Week 47

Week 47.

Reading time: approx. 6 minutes

Pun of the week:

Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long? Find the answer in the end of this newsletter

Hello!

From blueprints to advanced engineering, this update is packed with features to make scaffolding projects smoother and smarter than ever. Whether you’re fine-tuning your designs, preparing technical documents, or exploring Scaffcalc Labs for a sneak peek at upcoming tools, there’s something here for every scaffolder.

We’ve kept this newsletter short and actionable, so dive in – and don’t miss the AI Artwork of the Week for a little inspiration!

In this week’s newsletter, you’ll find:

News
1. Quotation 💰
1.1. Blueprint Tool Enhancements
1.2. Shape & Auto Tools
1.3. Sharing Projects
1.4. General Improvements
1.5. New Tutorials
2. Project Planning 📅
2.1. Material Lists & Components
2.2. 2D Drawing Preparation
2.3. UI and Navigation
2.4. Precision Adjustments
3. Engineering 👷🏻‍♀️
3.1. FEM Analysis and Dimensioning
4. Scaff Labs — Coming Soon 🧪
4.1. Corner Patching
4.2. GEDA Hoist Calculations
4. Need support?
5. AI Artwork of the Week

News

1. Quotation 💰

This section focuses on helping users quickly create professional scaffolding projects using blueprints, automatic tools, and easy project sharing.

1.1. Blueprint Tool Enhancements

New UI Updates: The blueprint tool has been redesigned for easier navigation and usability.

Check the scale on the blueprint

Use it in the “scale” area, e.g. 1:100
The scale factor allows you to enhance graphics. For example, choosing 2x doubles the pixels, resulting in a clearer blueprint, but it also increases the workload on your computer.

Dynamic Measurements: Now, you can see the measurements directly on buildings and scaffoldings (you can toggle this off using the hamburger menu 🍔 in the top left corner).

Shapes now have measurements for each length, height and width.

Scaffolding with measurements, according to your supplier.

1.2. Shape & Auto Tools

Polished Polygon Editing: Improved tools for merging overlapping polygons and refining shapes.

Pick the point you want to move, and use the pivot controls.

Scaffcalc Auto Tips:

Height Fixes: Automatically adjust scaffold heights for accurate designs.

Corner Handling: Corners are left unpatched because solutions vary by supplier—but scaffolds can now snap once corners are manually corrected.
Pro Tip: Having trouble with house heights? Use Google Earth for an easy workaround. There is a “Height from sea-level” indicator in the bottom right corner in Google Earth ↘️

1.3. Sharing Projects

IFC Export: Share scaffolds with collaborators via .ifc files for seamless external use.

Scaffcalc supports IFC 4 (the latest standard), but we’ve noticed that some software may not yet fully support it. If you experience any issues, it’s likely due to compatibility on their end, but we’re happy to assist in troubleshooting!

“Public” Feature: Use the “Public” setting to share projects more easily with others.

1.4. General Improvements

Snap Tools Made Easier: Scaffoldings now snap to their correct alignments. Scaffcalc understands that they share standards. Pretty amazing, and just this feature needed more code than letters in the Holy Bible.

This is insanely smart and smooth: Scaffcalc understands that the bays should share standard if they are beside each other. Try it out!

1.5. New Tutorials

Recreating a real life scaffolding we pass everyday:

Real life scaffolding in Scaffcalc — tips and tricks.

Generating all data needed to make a quotation, in less than a minute:

Getting all data needed for a quote, in less than a minute?

Coming soon: A tutorial series ranging from quick scaffolding tips to advanced features.

2. Project Planning 📅

This section highlights tools for managing scaffolding projects with detailed material lists, greater customization, and 2D drawing preparation.

2.1. Material Lists & Components

New Suppliers Added: Support for Plettac Perfect Contour, Solideq Ramscaff, and Mostostal Plus systems expands your options, in addition to Layher, HAKI, Plus8 and PERI.

Automated Essentials: Anchor screws, couplers, and platform locks are now auto-generated to save time.

Updated scaffold stairs, half size:

2.2. 2D Drawing Preparation

Build inside cylinders: Create a wall thickness for your cylinder, to create a hollowness to build inside.

Manual 2D Drawing Guide: Here’s how to get started while we finalize auto-generated drawings.

Use the hamburger menu to take a snapshot.

Use this tool to place yourself at the right angle.

Use the navigation control in the top right corner to place yourself at specific angles.

Twist the scaffolding for another view, and take a screenshot using the 🍔 hamburger menu.

The bay sizes will be visible from the top.

Use these images and place them in your document, or send them directly using email, sms or smoke signals.

2.3. UI and Navigation

Dark Mode is Here: Maps now have a dark and light mode for better usability in different lighting conditions.

Faster Navigation: Improved pagination and loading times for projects, so you can work faster.

2.4. Precision Adjustments

Snap with Accuracy: Options to snap boxes based on height help ensure all scaffolding components connect perfectly.

Guardrails Fixed: Addressed missing or floating guardrails when adjusting project heights.

3. Engineering 👷🏻‍♀️

Advanced tools for structural calculations and compliance in specific regions. Scaffcalc 3 supports calculations, while this is still in the works in Scaffcalc 4 Beta.

3.1. FEM Analysis and Dimensioning

Enhanced Calculations: Added components like Layher twin wedge couplers and reinforced ledgers for future load calculations.

Click on a ledger to change it.

Improved Safety: Better guardrail generation for complex systems such as HAKI and PlusEight.

We are working very hard to include load calculations in Scaffcalc 4 — thank you for you patience!

4. Scaff Labs — Coming Soon 🧪

Exciting updates on the horizon!

4.1. Corner Patching

Why It’s Tricky: Scaffcalc currently doesn’t patch corners due to the variety of supplier-specific solutions, but we have a solution to this.

Global Solution Incoming: A visual patch for corners is in development, with supplier-specific fixes planned for future updates.

4.2. GEDA Hoist Calculations

Integration of GEDA hoists with detailed calculations is underway.

We teamed up with GEDA GmbH, for implementation and calculations of their hoists. More details in future newsletters.

4. Need support?

We have a support channel where we try to gather all of you, our awesome users! If you use Support@scaffcalc.com, you’ll get a faster response since it’s an email address we all share.

Thank you for being part of the Scaffcalc family. We look forward to continuing to support you in your scaffolding projects.

5. AI Artwork of the Week

Winter is coming! And what could be a better way to celebrate this than to change the desktop wallpaper? We have about 9 wallpapers for you, for free.

Download wallpapers

Best regards,

Viktor & the Scaffcalc team

Pun of the week:

Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long? Because then it would be a foot.

2024: Scaffcalc Newsletter, Week 47