Curved Staircases
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I call the top of the stringer that continues under the floor the heel. There is now an option for "has heel". I've also added in tread bullnose.
I've added building code information into the defaults.txt file. Minimum Rise, Maximum Rise, Minimum Run, Maximum Run, Minimum Stair Width etc. The defaults are currently set to Canadian National Building code but can be modified for your own area.
The stair maker plugin uses these values to adjust things like number of Risers so that the stair will still meet code.
I've also added in more 0 value settings. If one of the following 3 values is set to 0 then it will be calculated. So you only need 2 of these: 1) degrees, radius, Run at walk line.
I've also added in a setting in the defaults.txt file to finish off housed stringer(s) at a certain height above the floor. I set it to 12.7mm in the picture.
You can run the Stair Maker a second time set as if you are creating a handrail (0 riser and tread thickness, housed inside stringer and no outside stringer ). Adjust the radius by the thickness of your stairs inside stringer. Adjust the thickness of the inside stringer (handrail) to the width of the stair minus the thickness of both stair stringers. This creates a square tube that can be edited and pulled straight downwards ( on blue axis ) to form a finished stair bottom.
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"I've added building code information into the defaults.txt file. Minimum Rise, Maximum Rise, Minimum Run, Maximum Run, Minimum Stair Width etc. The defaults are currently set to Canadian National Building code but can be modified for your own area. "
awesome.
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Wow.... impressive!!! I'm still trying to learn how to build a cabinet efficiently. Lol!!
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Calvin,
Did you by any chance go to my web site? CabMaker32.com.
I am a big advocate on the 32 mmm construction system. You can build very good looking cabinets using these guidelines.
I can also give you many reasons why you will become very efficient. This system is scaleable. So if you are a one man operation or a much larger company you would have to make some tooling choices.
Anyway - if you are interested - we can continue this. We can also take it off line if you wish.
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I have one type of flare working. I call this the continuous flare where every tread is flared by the same amount. Set Flare treads equal to the number of treads on the stair and Set the Flare amount to what you are interested in.
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that looks great.
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I've been busy working on handrail and deciding how to handle it.
I'm thinking of having a drop down list for handrail styles. So just pick one.
Additionally - I'm thinking to add a new handrail profile to the list - you provide the model with a handrail profile and set the top center of the handrail at the origin and select it before running the stair builder plugin. The plugin would then ask you to give a name for the new handrail profile ( you could cancel at that time ). If you provide a name then I would save the profile to disk using the name as part of the file name. Next startup I will read in the file names and add it to the list.
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Here's a better closeup of the handrail. You can see that I have started with a reasonably complex one to make sure that it works.
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Sounds perfect.
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I have now finished the bullnosing of the treads. This needed to be automated so that the routing of the housed stringer would be correct.
I am deciding which features will be offered in a free version of the Stair Builder. I will then continue adding more features to a pro version which will have a cost associated with it.
I am currently considering having a free version for basic curved stairs. The features that will be left out of the free version and included in the pro version are:
- profiled handrails
- adjusting tread nosing, thickness and amount dadoed into stringer, no bullnosing
- adjusting riser thickness and amount dadoed into tread
- stringer thickness
- flared treads - progressive and continuous
- No dadoing of treads and risers into stringer.
Please provide feedback on what I am considering.
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I want to say that if there isn't any interest in a free version of the stair builder (meaning no comments) then I will concentrate just on the pro version.
I've built the treads this way - using an outline for the top and bottom faces and taking a copy of the tread profile and scaling, rotating and moving into place. The tread data then fills in a polygon mesh - and we have a tread.
I had been using Fredo6 round over - but this strategy will allow me to add different tread profiles - I will not be limited to just round over.
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I'm interested in the free version... But, I'll most likely being going with the paid plugin.
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I have added a selection of handrails. You can also add your own handrails. Simply create a handrail profile for level rail. Profile must be on the x and z plane - y is ignored.
select the handrail and choose the Add Handrail icon. You will be prompted for a handrail name ( it will over write a handrail if the name already exists ).
These are the ones that I have added and given names to.
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The line quality looks good... can we see the geometry of the rails?
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I'm not sure what you are asking.
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Same view of rails but turn on hidden geometry in the view drop down menu before you take the picture. I'd like to see the poly weight. Like you did in the tread pics.
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No problem,
I should have mentioned that the configuration file has an item called segments set it to what ever you want (within reason)
Here is a picture of a flared tread with the new setting which produces a chamfer
segments=0The reason is that a chamfer is within building code as is a tread with a bullnose
I also have these settings
inside_stringer_section=3
outside_stringer_section=4This allows you to change how many segments of handrail and stringer there are for each tread. One for inside and one for outside curved rail / stringer.
Since you can make a handrail any way you want. The arc can have as many or as few segments as you wish.
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that's great... I like being able to adjust the polys in plugin made geometry.
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Hi Garry,
I had to join when i came across this. I think this is a very well taught out plugin ,and i will certainly buy it.
two questions,
1.... will it be for solid modeling only ,or have you plans to output vector drawings for each part (say dxf/dwg format and nested). I manufacture staircases on a cnc router and this would be a big help if that could be done.
2.....what kind of timescale do you think it will be finished and ready for purchase?..I wish i had your cumputer programming skills and i am amazed what you have achieved.
Regards jabbers -
Hello Bob,
Welcome to Sketchucation, and thank-you for your kind words!
If you visited my web site you may have noticed that I have cabmaker32 cabinet making software for system 32 style cabinets. I have done work with nesting parts and outputting DXF files for cabinets. I have a program called CutMasterPro that takes output from cabmaker32 and optimizes it for material utilization.
CutMasterPro only optimizes rectangular shaped parts.
What kind of parts are you using CNC for? Do you have a flat bed or pod style CNC? Do you have a lathe attachment? What size of bed. I'm thinking you might have a 3 axis CNC.
I would guess that you would machine all flat parts such as treads, flat risers, flat stringers, Rail parts such as elbows etc. I would like more information to determine exactly what parts you would want DXF for and also what parts would require nesting.
The software as a first version should be ready within a month or so. All depends how many more features will make it into the first version. At a very minimum I still need to finish off the top nosing assembly ( needs bullnosing like the rest of the treads ). I would like to complete the progressive flare but it doesn't have to make it into the first version. I do have to complete documentation and do more testing. So at a very minimum it would be 3 weeks.
If you are serious about wanting the software - we can arrange something.
When I was building curved stairs I would glue lam treads as a rough over sized blank. Treads for open riser freestanding stairs would have 3 layers of 3/4 fir plywood. For cheaper frameups I would purchase 1" spruce ply as it meets code. I would then draw the treads on the blanks using 1 or more templates, then rought bandsaw the treads a bit oversized and then screw on the template and use a 7 hp shaper with a tersa head and a perfectly sized collar press fit onto a ball bearing. Essentially I would use the shaper to finish size the treads.
I could go on and on - perhaps it is best that we take this off line. You send me a private email from my web site if you wish.
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