King Posts

Hi all,

Have a couple of questions about king posts - focus is the centre of a gazebo roof where 6 hip rafters (150 x 50) meet...

1. Does the king post need to be the same width as the rafters? I thought it might be better if it was wider, say each hex face was 70, to give more space for any screws to live - then I saw blocklayers calculator which seemed to indicate the king post should be the same width as the rafters.

2. What's the best way to actually attach the rafters? I figure something like a shallow housing as in the pic might help keep them all aligned, but do you just use a couple of screws on each side of the rafters, or top and bottom, or ??

Once again, simple if you've done it or been shown it before, but puzzling when it' new.

Cheers,
Adam

They are desent size rafters so you will need a huge king posts if you intend on fixing as per that drawing.

Somene may have a better idea but a steel cleat as a capping with cleats to bolt the rafters to would be easy.

Yeah, I'd like to know to.

Most I've seen have the steel cleat capping like Toecutter said.
Which gives me the idea of adding a function to the gazebo calculator to print out a paper template of the cleat, to mark it out for cutting.
The paper probably wouldn't be large enough to show the full length of each of the 'fingers', but you could extend the markings to any length on the steel plate?
Would this be of any benefit?

If so:
Would you cut the whole shape out and bend the fingers down? Or would you cut the centre shape (hexagon etc) and weld the fingers to it at the correct down angle?
Or would you just get someone to make it for you?
I don't suppose you can buy them already made?

.
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I estimate it would costs around $100 to get 1 made as it would take over a hour to cut and weld plus material.

Heres a picture of the centre bracket on a gazebo the council built down the road. The bracket is underneath the rafters, so there's no king post, just a hexagonal shaped space in the centre, which the bracket covers. The bracket is bent, not welded.

Nice, with Laminated rafters

Ok. Did some checking - timber is difficult for a king post, as it needs to be big and strong (maybe some hardwood would do).

I did find some galvanized angle brackets that I might be able to bend and use to bolt the rafters together. I need more think-time and maybe some testing on a smaller scale (almost as much fun as making the real thing).

Thanks for everyone's input.
Cheers,
Adam