Curved Staircases

Krisidious · 11 Nov 2013, 20:25

The line quality looks good... can we see the geometry of the rails?

Garry K · 11 Nov 2013, 21:17

I'm not sure what you are asking.

Krisidious · 11 Nov 2013, 21:39

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.

Garry K · 11 Nov 2013, 22:06

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=0

The 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=4

This 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.

Krisidious · 11 Nov 2013, 23:12

that's great... I like being able to adjust the polys in plugin made geometry.

jabbers · 13 Nov 2013, 23:41

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

Garry K · 14 Nov 2013, 17:15

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.

Garry K · 19 Nov 2013, 21:47

I have spent some time conversing with Bob and have spent some time working on an eliptical stair. I have also worked on a couple of follow me plugins for handrails.

The first plugin allows you to add handrail profiles to a handrail profile that is in my space. I create a GKWare folder that contains a Cabmaker folder (if you are running my Door maker) and a Stairmaker folder for this plugin that I am working on. There is a folder called Handrail under the Stairmaker folder that contains 1 file for each handrail that you wish to use. I will provide the 6 mentioned earlier.

The follow me handrail plugin centers the top of the handrail on the path that you choose. It begins by scaling the handrail vertically based on the initial slope of the path.

I made the handrail that is on the elliptical stair with this plugin.

I modeled the elliptical stair mostly by hand - as my stair plugin does not currently build elliptical stairs. I also had to make an elliptical plugin which builds a 180 ellipse where each point is close to the same distance apart from the prior point. The math for the ellipse does break down close to each end. But it is workable. This results in, elliptical stringers and handrails that are very close to a constant pitch which will make building the elliptical stairs easier.

notareal · 19 Nov 2013, 22:19

Impressive work so far!

Garry K · 19 Nov 2013, 23:30

Thanks - I appreciate what you said.

Here's the same stair with round spindles which go 2, 1, 2 on the treads starting at the middle. I worked it out so that it still meets code for spindle spacing here in Canada.

Krisidious · 20 Nov 2013, 01:47

Looking good Garry.

pbacot · 20 Nov 2013, 05:16

Awe-inspiring work, knowledge, and perseverance. I hope I can design such a stair into a house someday.

Garry K · 20 Nov 2013, 16:21

Thank you very much for your comments.

I'm hoping that my tool set will simplify and speed up the design process.

The big bonus is helping clients visualize a complex stair. If the plan changes for what ever reason - a new stair can be quickly put into the plan without costing hrs and hrs.

Garry K · 23 Nov 2013, 16:41

I'm preparing to cap off this version 1.0 on the Stair Builder Plugin System. This version will include The main Stair Build plugin, The Add a Handrail Profile plugin and Extrude Handrail along Path plugin. The complete system comes with 6 pre-defined handrail profiles as described in earlier posts. The system also comes with a pre-defined file of default values in a file called defaults.txt which is found in the folder plugins\GKWare\StairMaker. A help file called StairMaker.pdf also exists in this folder. The help file is short and contains an important section which explains special behaviour of a few input box entry fields. The 6 pre-defined handrail profiles are in 6 corresponding files in the folder plugins\GKWare\StairMaker\Handrail.

There has been only 1 comment about a free version. Since that is the case I am not considering creating a free version at this time. I do however, want a few beta users. If anyone is interested in testing out the software please contact me with a personal message - either from my web site or from within this forum. I am expecting to have the documentation completed by the end of this coming week.

The attached pictures illustrate a couple of steps in modeling a stair and attaching a handrail.

jabbers · 23 Nov 2013, 17:29

Garry,
That looks amazing.
Will rail options include balustrade with newels top & bottom?.
regards bob

Garry K · 23 Nov 2013, 18:34

I am fully intending in adding posts and spindles ( newels and balustrades ) in the future. But it probably won't be ready by the end of this week.

Krisidious · 28 Nov 2013, 21:59

First run of Stairmaker... first impression is holy mackerel is it fast. PDF recommends running in another instance of SU since it uses origin for radius. I think you might be able to bypass that by making the stair in a blank group, but have not tested it yet. Wow is it fast. a lot of geometry and detail to pop out in almost instantly. It also creates a highly detailed and professional curved stair. It's the holiday and I just had to play for a bit. I'll look into more in the coming week. Great work Garry.

Garry K · 28 Nov 2013, 22:09

There are a number of different possibilities. Could have a drop down box that contains possible choices as an insertion point for the stair. Such as "Origin", "Click Center", "Top Left", "Top Right" etc.

Then there is the idea of rotating the stair into position.

All this could be set up prior to drawing the stair. Need more feedback on this.

jabbers · 29 Nov 2013, 00:08

Garry,
Initial testing of the beta plugin looks very encouraging. I am very confident that this plugin will help stair designers/manufacturers model there staircases quickly and efficiently, and best of all, can be edited in your dialogue boxes in matter of seconds. Looking forward to help develop this plugin to a invaluable tool..
Regards BOB

Krisidious · 29 Nov 2013, 06:15

click center would be my preferred method. With the speed of your code I don't think there will be any issue with running in the current model.