u/imjusthereforlaugh

The question is related to Woodworks software. I'm looking for something to investigate wood shear wall (USA) FTOA method which led me to reviewing Woodworks Shearwall software.

The firm I work for has generated and uses an excel spreadsheet (I created it) to utilize perforated shear wall design method. This is our go to for 99.9999% of walls. However, as I'm sure we all know, more and more architects like to chop up their walls like crazy, due to oversized windows, constant bumpouts, recesses, etc. Can't stand it...and this hurts the perforated wall design method.

Has anyone used the Woodworks Shearwall software, and compared it to a company spreadsheet in terms of "speed and efficiency"? I can design a typical building in under half a day probably quite easily using my proprietary spreadsheet if the walls/buildings are reasonable. The Woodworks Shearwall software seems a bit too onerous after messing with the trial for a bit. I understand it will "get easier with practice", and perhaps "template files" may help.

The APA FTOA spreadsheet is quite limited, however it could be used as a starting point for a company FTOA spreadsheet...but I figured perhaps the Woodworks software was a bit more capable. While this is true, setup to get to your wall design just seems ugly.

Anyone aware of the status of the indx stuff? Am I correct that it's still not for sale?

Would love to see what 2...3...maybe 4 nozzles would be for our printer vs something like a snapmaker U1.

EDIT: So yeah, using the flushing tower works freaking great. That's what I've been missing this whole time.

If your gcode is set up to flush when loading filament, no real need to flush much into the tower. Alternately, you can NOT flush during the filament load, and let orca do it into the tower. Might save a few cm of filament that way.

Obviously you still have to manually swap....but this removes the blobs or restart color marks.

I love learning about stuff like this!

ORIG POST: Perhaps I didn't realize this, but I've always used the baked in stock macros for filament swaps. That means I had to sit with tweezers and snag the bits of filament before it goes to the model again. Was I being dumb by doing that?

I assume I can utilize orca's features and the flush tower, to not have to grab that bit of filament, and make the filament swap transition to the model clean.

I always had bits of filament dangling, and catching on the prints because I didn't use any towers.

Am I correct here? This can be done? Any recommendations on settings?