While we’ve talked a lot about the welding of the truss together, and the cutting of all the pieces, the last phase involves punching two different types of holes in various places: four to allow for the connection of the roof (top), and eight to allow for the connection to the posts (side).
A total of 12 holes are manually drilled into each truss (8)
The four holes on top are accomplished by placing the truss into a jig, where there are blocks of wood at two different areas to allow the hole punch tool to fit in and line up consistently. Two holes are then punched on the top flange; the truss is then flipped and two more holes are punched in the same locations but on the bottom flange.
The truss is then tilted up onto the table and placed at an angle where a mag drill can be attached to it’s sides.
Mag Drills have a strong magnetic base that is operated by a switch, allowing for a perfect and uninterrupted connection to material.
For the side holes, there are two different truss types: A and B, being the red and blue holes, respectively. The reason being for this is that the bolts for these connections are so long, they will run into each other when turning a 90-degree corner on the post(s), thus the trusses are cycled back and forth in order to offset the holes by about 1-1/2″ vertically from one another.
