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using the stair tool


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I'm trying to draw a stair with winders but can't get to grips with the stair tool. At the moment I only need to draw it 2D but I want to be able to vary the position of the winders to try different variations of stairs. This is the type of stair attached, it's really very simple, I can make several versions in 2D but surely I should be able to do this far more quickly with the stair tool??

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The Stair tool under Stair Settings allows you to get pretty close--choose L-Stair, Winder. If that doesn't work then I think you have to model the winders one at a time. You could keep the L-Stair on a grayed layer, getting it modeled as close as possible and add your individual extruded treads on a second layer to see how things fit together, then mix and match as needed.

Tom

PS. Do the codes in the UK concern themselves with minimum widths of the pie-shaped stairs at their narrow ends? In the US we would be prohibited from such a construction.

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The Stair tool under Stair Settings allows you to get pretty close--choose L-Stair, Winder. If that doesn't work then I think you have to model the winders one at a time. You could keep the L-Stair on a grayed layer, getting it modeled as close as possible and add your individual extruded treads on a second layer to see how things fit together, then mix and match as needed.

Tom

PS. Do the codes in the UK concern themselves with minimum widths of the pie-shaped stairs at their narrow ends? In the US we would be prohibited from such a construction.

FYI: That is not necessarily true. Minimum tread depth for winders at narrow end is 6". R311.7.4.2 Tread Depth 2009 IRC.

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taoist: The winder treads on Picture 5 do not look like 6" minimum width to me which is why I posted my question about UK stair codes. I think if one was going to note the 6" minimum width (US), it would be imperative to also note the min. 10" width 12" out (walkline). Neither part can exist without the other.

Tom

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UK regs allow the narrow end of winders to be 50mm minimum, this is allows great flexibility. I still find the VW2011 stair tool clunky though so will have to keep drawing manually in 2D which is a shame as part of my reason to upgrade to 2011 was for better 2D functionality, as well as a quick way of modeling stairs in 3D. Does anyone know if 2012 offers an improved stair tool?

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I get a nasty message if I select the two lower winders, I can select the top two but can't see a delete option

It's not as nasty as it seems :). You need to fiddle with these settings:

Ok I'll have another go when I get time, as always when you are working on projects it's not always easy to go off on a tangent! Maybe the 2012 stair tool is more intuitive?? thanks

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I would suggest giving up on the Stair Tool and moving to the Custom Stair tool. This is another case where the new and improved tool doesn't yet do everything the old reliable tool does even though the new tool has been out a few versions already.

For us the Stair Tool from introduction has been a non-starter despite all the features for treads, railings, etc. it contains.

When first introduced it couldn't do both an upper plan and lower plan display like the Custom Stair tool. You had to 2d draft your upper stair plan. Without that it was worthless to us. It also didn't have the ability to link its height to layer heights. I think it may have added these features in later updates but then didn't have an offset for either the lower or the upper heights like the Custom Stair Tool. I think it was another version before that was added. Still in this version you can't do an angled platform with this tool.

The Custom Stair tool isn't perfect but I get far closer to what I need for construction document production by modeling the stairs I need for plans and sections. If I ever needed a detailed stair for an interior 3d view I might consider the Stair tool but it would be only for the 3d view. Not for construction drawings.

A simple improvement that would give me a lot of what I need in the Custom Stair tool is the ability to connect two straight runs of stairs and not only set them to independent widths (which we can do) but to offset their center line from each other. This would allow me to transition from an open tread to a narrower closed flight when one or the other railing dies into a wall. For this I either have to create a tread out of a platform or literally stack two Custom Stair PIO's with upper and lower height offsets as needed.

What we really need is ALL of the abilities of the old tool reflected in the new tool BEFORE the new tool gets introduced. One step forward and one step back is not progress.

Joe

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