mängda

Sweep a cross-section into a volume

Measure the shape on the section, pull it out along the plan and get the cubic metres — width and height from there, the length from here.

Foundations6 min11 steps
  1. 1

    Pick Cross-section (“Tvärsnitt”) on the section drawing

    The tool is the same as Measure stirrup (“Mät bygel”), only for a whole shape instead of a number of legs: an edge beam, a ditch, a slab with its thickened edge. It is grey until the section has a scale of its own.

  2. 2

    Click round the outline

    Click round the shape the section shows, at least three points. Hold Shift and the line locks straight — a cross-section is mostly straight edges and right-angled corners.

  3. 3

    Finish the outline

    Double-click or press Enter. You do not have to click back on the first point — the outline is closed for you, and the box Save the cross-section (“Spara tvärsnittet”) opens.

  4. 4

    Check Width, Height and Area

    Under Measured cross-section (“Uppmätt tvärsnitt”) all three stand, read off on the section's own scale. Check them against the drawing before you save: that is the area every cubic metre is then worked out from.

    Worth knowing. An outline that crosses itself counts as two areas that cancel each other out, so the area comes out too SMALL and nothing warns you. If the area is smaller than you expected, that is nearly always what has happened — undo and draw it again without crossing the line.

  5. 5

    Give the cross-section a name and press Save (“Spara”)

    Write what it is: Edge beam 400, Ditch 600. The name becomes the heading of the row in the bill of quantities, and two cross-sections cannot be called the same.

  6. 6

    Switch to the foundation drawing and pick it under Saved measurements (“Sparade mått”)

    The panel only exists on the plan. Under the heading Cross-sections (“Tvärsnitt”) the row stands with width, height and area — click it, and the tool jumps to Sweep cross-section (“Svep tvärsnitt”).

  7. 7

    Pull it out along the run

    Click along the run the cross-section follows — the edge beam round the house, the ditch along the boundary — and double-click or press Enter. No box asks anything more: the volume is the area times the length.

    Worth knowing. The width and the height come from the section, the length from the plan. Both sheets must therefore have the right scale — the section when you measured, and the plan when you pull it out.

  8. 8

    Read the volume in the bill of quantities

    The cross-section gets a row with its name: number of sweeps, area, length and volume in cubic metres. Pull the same cross-section out in several places and they are added together on the same row.

  9. 9

    Do not expect the volume in the quote

    The cubic metres come along in the bill of quantities and in all three exports — in CSV and XML, and as the table Tvärsnittsvolymer (cross-section volumes) in the PDF. The quote prices per metre and per item, and there is no m³ item to price it against, so there they do not appear.

  10. 10

    Do not count on the wastage margin either

    Wastage is put on what is delivered: pipe and bar per metre, boards per square metre, stirrups per item. A swept volume is instead how much ground is there, so the percentage is not put on it.

    Worth knowing. Concrete and fill are ordered against their own over-fill, and that is a different figure from the project's wastage margin (“Spillmarginal”). Add it when you order, not here.

  11. 11

    Do not delete a cross-section you have already swept

    The waste bin on the row in Saved measurements (“Sparade mått”) removes the cross-section — and then every volume you have swept with it disappears from the list. There is no measurement left that says how wide or how deep it was.

Next steps

Do the steps on a real drawing

Open the tool and follow the walkthrough on the sample drawing that is already there. No login needed.

Open the tool

Stuck on a step? Get in touch — we are happy to take a look at your drawing.