Structural steel detailing has a language all to itself. Most structural detailing is governed by common sense practices that have been proven out over decades of manufacturing and erecting steel supports and structures. There are guages to locate holes in angles, standard hole sizes, reccomended bolts and fasteners and all sorts of "rules of thumb" for locating and manufacturing gussets, plates and angles.

We use 3D modelling for steel structures especially where there is repetitive work, such as the four column support with angle bracing shown at the top right of this page. Entire sets of details can be generated by varying height, depth and width in the model. 2D Drafting is still used extensively because of the large amount of customer legacy drawing data still made in this format.

For structural projects related to residential homes and custom building in the United States we reccomend Opela Worx. This design firm specializes in the production of drawings and construction documents for building and for obtaining permits.

We work to CISC (Metric) and AISC (Feet-Inches) standards. Connections are as per the steel handbooks for both organizations including the use of 44W steel data to replace the old A36 standard.

OSHA ladders and handrails and process piping systems tend to go hand in hand with projects like structural supports, steel mezzanines and platforms, so there is a page we have devoted to osha compliant ladders and handrails and also piping drafting and design

The Manual of Steel Contruction link listed to the the bottom right is for "used" AISC handbooks, check here because there are often bargains. I paid full price on the
AISC website and if you can find one of these handbooks under $100, it's a good deal !