lightgage framing design

huangyhg

lightgage framing design
what references do you use to design lightgage or cold formed steel members?  i have the ssma product technical information guide.  also have the aisi cold formed steel manual but think it's one of the most poorly organized books ever written.  i'm looking for something a little more practical.  any recommendations would be great.
thanks
lightgage has only 2 textbooks that i know off.  the aisi manual which does have some good tables in it. also, there is cold-formed steel design by yu.  
i do not think that you will find any material that presents cold-formed in an easy to do manner.  the material is just too complicated.
if you keep the stuff sheathed on both sides it will work fine. if the stuff has any unbraced length beyond about 36 in you are going to trouble
clark steel framing has some great info. and free downloads. sample drawings and details, aisiwinv7.0, etc. some of the best that i have seen!
i would stick with the naspec and the ssma you referenced.  some manufacturers provide information but it is substantially the same as the ssma.  the manual, different from the naspec, i agree isn't much use.  imo, your best bet is to follow the naspec and write your own spreadsheets or mathcad sheets.  for fasteners, follow the naspec and the manufacturers' information.  by comparing tests to calculations, you'll get a better feel for who (manufacturers) padded the values they report.  
of course, there is always software.  you'll find several programs available but few that also check web crippling.  if you can find one that does it all it may worth having.
if you are looking for some software to help you out, the new versions of risa have cold form sections in there.  i've used it a couple times, but i'm not 100% sure how reliable it is.
i do a lot of cold formed design, and as mentioned above, if the   
atomic 25
follow daveatkins advice, call dietrich and order one of their catalogs.  they have more information than any other supplier i have seen in their new catalog. they also have a bunch of pre-fab connections with allowable load tables for just about any condition.
i spec steel studs using the ssma designation but our architects still use size/gage (i.e. 3-1/2" 20 gage) on their drawings.  am i being to narrow minded to insist on the ssma system?
i don't think dietrich, marinoware, etc... have their own catalogs anymore.  i think they have all switched to ssma.
i recently reviewed calcs where bracing was used at 6'0" o.c. and the program spit out that there was no reduction in the allowable moment.
dietrich has a big binder that uses the ssma designations and their catalog.  the best thing about their catalog is all the connection hardware.
be careful ssma studs are their own thing, they have different properties than there c-stud counterparts.  they also have punched holes along the length of the