Easiest way to joint 3D objects together?

I am drawing structural steel shapes like I beams and having a hard time joining them together. I have tried in the 3D solids mode (G) and also 2D wire frame. I end up using 2 view ports and 3 different moves before I even get close to connecting my beams together.

Also when I do get the beams on the same level, they dont snap into place well. Seems they only want to connect at either the ends or center point. If I take the snap off, there is no telling where it will land... not accurate.

There must be a trick to this.

Have you tried using the ALIGN command?

AutoCAD will prompt for source and destination points (up to three I think).

No I haven't, will give that a try. Thanks!

That works great, only problem is it still only grabs the center and ends. Would it be best to draw a reference line say part way back from the end of the beam to where I want the beam to snap to? No sure how easy drawing a added line on the beam will be lol. Is the reference line the best way to do this?

How many more reference points do you need?

ah, Im not sure lol. Lets say I have a 36 inch long beam and want to connect another beam 12 inches from one end, this would make a T formation. (which ever end... just for practice).

I tried doing a reference line and it i worked but Im not sure if thats the "proper" way of doing it, or faster way.

OK, I see what you're getting at. I suppose you could ALIGN to one end then MOVE the beam into position. A reference line works but it is still a two step process. Pick your poison.

In your example why couldn't you use the midpoints of the two beams? Unless they are different heights.

(this is a channel, same idea just not in I beam formation)

I should say channel since my example is a channel... Im used to working with I-beans.

Anyways, the reason is, the channel would be on center of the other channel at 18 inches, but I want the channel to connect at 12 inches. lol

Im drawing a steel platform I built at work which holds 3 hot water tanks on it. There is 2 channel cross supports inside a channel rectangular frame.

I see. Well, there is probably a way to do it that I am unfamiliar with. When you discover it share the secret. LOL

haha okay, so far the line I add for a reference to line up the channel 12 inches down seems to work for now till I find a faster way.

So far found some info that is close to what I was thinking...

"Having extra linear objects/lines to snap to can be helpful...... Not all shapes are perfect, so you might have to get creative. You can create a construction line layer to draw these lines on so you can erase them more easily, or just turn that layer off."

haha okay, so far the line I add for a reference to line up the channel 12 inches down seems to work for now till I find a faster way.

You owe me. I'll be back...to collect.

hahaha, ya ya well I was thinking there would be a better way. And I found this out after you taught me the align command. Thanks for that by the way!