102 — Slab Dowels

Slab dowels are the bars that tie a panel to the slab it stands on. Six rows to a panel, one page.

Like every feature in this series, there are two ways in and they reach the same dialog:

  • Main Panel Details → tick Slab Dowels

  • ConstructiVision menu → Slab Dowels (c:cv-feat-dowels)

The difference is when the panel redraws, not what gets written. Route A defers the redraw until you accept Main Panel Details; Route B draws as soon as you click OK.

Note

This lesson also exists in the browser. Work it in ConstructiVision on the web — same steps, same values, so you can follow either and end up with the same panel.

The six columns

sd_dlg gives every row the same six fields:

column

what it means

Enable

whether this row draws at all

Intersect

how the bar meets the slab — Trim, Offset, Extend from Top, Extend from Bottom

Elevation

from Finished Floor to the centre of the row

Max Spacing

the widest gap allowed; the run fills in at this spacing or closer

Length

how far the bar extends beyond the panel

Inset

how far in from the panel face

Two of those read from a datum you should not assume. The dialog states both on its own first line: elevation is Finished Floor to the centre of the row, and length is the part extending beyond the panel — not the total bar.

Steps

  1. Open Main Panel Details and tick Slab Dowels. The feature’s dialog opens immediately.

  2. Elevation 0 — at the slab.

  3. Max Spacing 48 — four feet. The run fills in at that spacing or closer, so this is a maximum, not a pitch.

  4. Length 24 and Inset 4.

  5. OK, then OK on Main Panel Details. The panel redraws once.

  6. Reopen from the menu this time and tighten Max Spacing to 36. More dowels in the same run, and the panel redraws on OK.

Enable is not the same as filled in

A row can hold a full set of values and still draw nothing, because Enable is a separate tick. If you have typed a row and see no dowels, check Enable before you check your numbers.

This lesson does not click Enable on camera — the recording harness can address a field by name but not this particular tick — so what you see drawn is whatever the row’s Enable was already set to. That is worth knowing when you follow along: tick it yourself.

Where they draw

Dowels land on the hardware layer, which is the same layer the top-plate and ledger anchor bolts use. So “the hardware layer has entities” does not by itself prove your dowels drew — if you are checking your own work, count them or look.

What to take away

Every row is a run, and every run is measured from a stated datum: elevation to the centre, length beyond the panel. Get those two readings right and the rest of the row is arithmetic.