Tubular technician
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- Jan 30, 2025
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Hi all,
I’m after a bit of guidance from those of you working in scaffold design.
I’m based in the South West, England. I’ve nearly finished my HNC in Civil Engineering and I’m halfway through a Foundation Degree. I’m really keen to move into the design side and start doing proper hand calculations for basic scaffolds.
I recently sat down with my college tutor and worked through a set of calcs for a 4m long tower at 6m high. We covered:
On paper everything looked reasonable, but I’d really appreciate it if someone with experience could sense-check the general approach and advise me on any further calculations I need to do such as bending moment and shear ? Does that sound like the right way to be tackling a simple tower?
What I’m mainly struggling with is the order and structure. If you were starting from scratch on a basic independent tied scaffold, what sequence of calculations would you follow? A simple list of what you calculate first, second, third, etc. would really help me build good habits.
I’ve also got a few other questions if anyone’s willing to share their experience:
Someone kindly suggested a scaffold design course on LinkedIn on my last post, but with paying for my college degrees at the moment it’s just not affordable, so I’m trying to learn as much as I can myself.
I’m also currently looking for work experience with a scaffold design company as I know that it is almost impossible to self teach, so if anyone in the South West would be open to that, I’d be very grateful.
Thanks in advance for any advice — I’m genuinely keen to learn and improve.
I’m after a bit of guidance from those of you working in scaffold design.
I’m based in the South West, England. I’ve nearly finished my HNC in Civil Engineering and I’m halfway through a Foundation Degree. I’m really keen to move into the design side and start doing proper hand calculations for basic scaffolds.
I recently sat down with my college tutor and worked through a set of calcs for a 4m long tower at 6m high. We covered:
- Platform load per bay (Load Class 3)
- Load distribution to standards
- Adding self-weight
- ULS load combinations
- Standard buckling check (48.3 x 4mm tube, S355, 2.0m effective length)
- Basic wind load (unsheeted)
- Tie load check
- Overturning check
- Base bearing pressure with and without sole boards
On paper everything looked reasonable, but I’d really appreciate it if someone with experience could sense-check the general approach and advise me on any further calculations I need to do such as bending moment and shear ? Does that sound like the right way to be tackling a simple tower?
What I’m mainly struggling with is the order and structure. If you were starting from scratch on a basic independent tied scaffold, what sequence of calculations would you follow? A simple list of what you calculate first, second, third, etc. would really help me build good habits.
I’ve also got a few other questions if anyone’s willing to share their experience:
- Do most designers still do the majority of basic calcs by hand before using software?
- Does anyone here use SkyCiv for structural analysis and design of scaffolds?
- Are there any good resources (books, guidance notes, courses, websites) you’d recommend for learning scaffold calculations in more depth?
Someone kindly suggested a scaffold design course on LinkedIn on my last post, but with paying for my college degrees at the moment it’s just not affordable, so I’m trying to learn as much as I can myself.
I’m also currently looking for work experience with a scaffold design company as I know that it is almost impossible to self teach, so if anyone in the South West would be open to that, I’d be very grateful.
Thanks in advance for any advice — I’m genuinely keen to learn and improve.