Videos / Training
Getting started with ILX Calcs
Your account, a project, your first calculation with the wizard, the results, the report and the sheet.
Transcript
Getting started with ILX Calcs.
Your account
ILX Calcs runs in your web browser, so there is nothing to install. Sign in with the email and password of your ILX account. New here? Start your free 30-day trial from the same page. No card needed.
The screen
On the left is the project panel. Projects hold calculations, each with its status and its highest ratio. In the middle are the inputs of the open calculation. On the right are the status, the key results, the drawings, the output buttons, and the checks.
A new project
To start a job, select the plus button at the top of the panel. Type the project name, and select Create. The project information opens next: the client, the address and the people on the job. Fill it in, or select Skip for now and come back later.
The first calculation
Under the project, select New calculation. Every type has a card with a picture of what it calculates. The tabs narrow the cards to one material, and the search box finds a type by name. Select Steel beam, then Next.
Configure
On the next step, pick the options as pictures. Here: a W shape, a simple span, and a compression flange braced continuously. The key inputs are below: the shape, the steel, the length and the loads. Set a W21X50, in A992 steel, spanning 35 feet, with 0.45 kips per foot of dead load, and 0.75 kips per foot of live load. On the right, the preview already runs the calculation. Check the mark, and select Create.
The editor
The calculation opens in its own tab. Results update as you type, and every change is saved for you. There is no Save button.
The results
The status bar reads Adequate, with total load deflection governing at a ratio of 0.845. Flexure is at 0.668. The reaction at each end is 31.5 kips at most. Scroll down for the shear, moment and deflection diagrams.
Change a value
Change the live load to 1 kip per foot, and the calculation and every drawing follow. The status turns to Not adequate, and the ratio rises to 1.014. Select undo to go back.
Report and sheet
Under the drawings are the output buttons. Calc report makes the PDF, with every check, its equations and its clauses. Drawing sheet puts the drawings on your own title block. Drawing DXF gives you the same sheet for your CAD software.
Help
Help is in the header. The question mark opens the user manual, and F1 does the same. You remain the engineer of record, so read each chapter's limitations for the types you use.
That's all you need to get started. Next, learn how to read the checks. Questions? Select Support in the app, or write to us at services@ilxstudio.com.