Home made roof trusses 

Nice work.

This is awesome! I have a couple of ideas for this too. Weld the top of the jack to the press you built closer to the outside so you have plenty of room when pressing the plates. Add some wheels so the bottom of the press comes up around saw horse height. Use saw horses to hold the trusses in place so they overhang where the plates will be installed. Then you can wheel around the press to each plate and it would be sooooo much easier. You did a great job on that press build though. Looks very sturdy!

This is awesome!!

Pretty slick. Going to build one of these. Thank you for sharing. 👍🏻

You should be able to do both plates at the same time I would imagine, Good concept though.

can you share calculation for trusses?

While you are getting it done and it looks like it will work for your shed, there is a lot more that goes into proper truss design and construction. For starters, spruce or white wood is not acceptable to code for structural trusses. It all has to be yellow pine and your different pieces have to be different grades. For example, the top and bottom chords would be no.1 or SSDense, the vertical end would be no. 2 prime, and the webs would be no. 2 or no. 3. Im sure there are some places in the small trusses that would be just fine with 2x3 webs, but not in a truss of this size. I believe that your plates are also undersize for several of the joints and may not be at the correct orientation. These trusses would never pass a building inspection in my state and would not be allowed for use in any permitted structure.

Awesome job 👍

Really like this method. But i have some burnt trusses i would like to repair with out replacing the truss. I have 16 on centers so i would need to make something smaller

It seems like there has to be an easier way to press the gussets into the wood (without an uber-expensive roll press table). I'm envisioning a table on which the chords are are arranged into the truss and the surface has holes and slots to affix jig stops and fulcrum pockets. If I am doing any number of trusses, I am going to want a table regardless for the assembling. A fulcrum of a manually operated crimping press can be inserted into a fulcrum pocket adjacent to a junction sandwiched with gussets and then the gussets could be pressed into the wood using manual pressure with a long lever. The pocket, crimper and lever would be way lighter and easier to move around and manipulate. I didn't pay enough attention in physics to calculate out how much pressure can be achieved with such a system (and of course it varies depending on the size of the lever), but if they have manual presses that can fabricate compressed earth bricks, I imagine crimping some gussets is doable.

This is hard and time consuling work. Why you do not use magnets for holding bottom plates under the boards? This will save you some energy and time. Thanks.

I am a mechanical fitter, that rig looks to be twice the weight that it needs to be. My back hurts watching you work.

Looks good. Although I do have a dumb question. Why wouldn’t you put both plates in place to start with and then press them both at once? Seems to me like it would be half the work. Just curious. Thanks..

It looks good. I am a beginner. I would like to know the name of this weird metal accessories to bind the wood and where to buy them. Thanks.

Any idea where can buy truss plates not mending plates

how straigt does your top and bottom chords look?

Seems to be missing the engineering that determines the size and position of the connector plate? Did you just guess?

Assuming you got those plates from a box store - read the fine print on the truss plates “not for trusses”.

How thick is the steel plate you used for building this press? Thanks.

I like the job you did but I would like to know a few things as I am looking at making my own for an off-the-grid house I want to build. First, are you using 2x6 for the top and bottom boards? Second, what dimensional lumber are you using for the cross members? And last, the width of the house is going to be about 38 feet and I want to have the front an open floor plan. Should I double up on my top and bottom boards so they overlap to span that length?

Man I hope you don’t throw your back!!

Good for you on getting it done. Engineer?

Do you have any plans for the frame of the press?

Where to get a neumatic pump press? I need one !

That’s what a hammer is for