May 2016 Advertiser.

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May 1st, 2016 #09202 Page #31

Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the

Primer for Wall Panels

Adverti$er

Part Two

By: Jay Halteman

President at Wood Truss Systems, Inc. In the first part of the Primer for Wall Panels, we discussed the fundamentals of wall panel production and how they may figure into your wood component business. In summary, we asked the reader to remember that wall panels were built for decades with little more than a blueprint, carpenter’s square, a hand saw, and a “can do” attitude. In closing part one, we stressed that before you invest in wall panel production you should consider some of our basic criteria and ground rules: •

Rule #1: Your most likely prospect for manufactured wall panels is the same person/company that is directly responsible for framing labor. In other words, the person who signs the P.O. for wall panels needs to be the same person that “writes” the check for framing labor, as they are the one who benefits directly from field-labor savings.

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Rule #2: From our experience we believe that wall panel equipment is easy to over-invest in.

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Rule #3: All you must have to build wall panels is a flat surface such as a floor deck on a job site (aside from a saw, lumber, and nails of course).

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Rule #4: Equipment purchases should be based on matters of productivity and quality. Let your combined experience be your guide as to what is truly sensible.

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Rule #5: Your investment in equipment is largely determined by what your daily or weekly linear feet of wall production objectives are today and over the next 3 to 5 years.

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Rule #6: The very best equipment for your specific needs can be some combination of new, used, and even “home” made.

As promised, here is Part Two of the Primer for Wall Panels with the answer to the question; “What are the fundamental elements of equipment necessary to build wall panels?” • Product Design: Of course manufacturing any building component begins with accurate design in your shop. The plant can only build what is designed so it is critical that the designs match the intent of the construction documents provided by the building contractor or architect. It is also critical that the panels are designed to fall within the limits of the plant’s capabilities. For example, if you have a framing table that allows for up to ten foot high walls, a 12 foot wall will need to be built elsewhere or field-framed. Wall panel layout is generally done using the following methods: Manual design of panels: For years people have hand drawn wall panels. The most efficient way to manually design wall panels is to mark up the blueprints based on the preferred panel lengths, then draw a separate bottom plate drawing showing the stud and opening placements with both heights and horizontal dimensions. For a house or two a week, this may be fine. The drawback is using a blueprint that has a dimensional error. Your wall panels would be inaccurate if you only use the graphics without double-checking the written dimensions. Primer for Wall Panels Part 2 continues on page 32