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Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

Can't figure out how to model winding stair railing.

Anonymous
Not applicable
Hello,

I need to model a winding stair rail. Have been trying to use
the spring object in the basic shapes folder, but can't get it to follow the
tread nosing. At the bottom it looks okay but as it follows the stairs up
and around it strays off path. Have tryed playing with the settings, rotation around x axis and rotation around y axis, but these don't seem to get me where I want and seem to change the proper location in plan view.

If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears:-)

In the mean time will have a look at the stair builder.
8 REPLIES 8
Anonymous
Not applicable
Stair tool is interesting, spent about an hour and a half there and actually was able to come pretty close to what I need. Looks like someone forgot to
give the option to change the railing color though, mine are the same color as the stair surface with no apparent way to assign them a different color. Also there is this strange triangular shaped bar hovering over the stair nosing from railing to railing. Will try to figure out how to eliminate that in the morning.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Can't figure out what this thing is that is crossing the stair path just above
the stair nosing and there does not seem to be a way to select a color for
the railing - am using the Stair tool and it almost works, but for above.
Trying to add a view - let's see if it works...

Okay, great the image is there.
I have left my original stairway that was modeled with slabs and a wall
under the treads clipped with CEO until I can get the stair tool to version to take over, Not quite there yet. I need the flat bar rails to be black, looks like their color is set the same as the stair. Also need to get rid of that thing crossing the stair!!

Okay, spent more time and was able to figure out how to get what I
wanted, pretty much!! from here I can model in the uprights in the rail.
and with a little more time spent can model in the extension of the upper
railing to connect with the stair tool railing.

Now just a matter of whether or not they can actually build it 🙂 Steel bars like springs "slinky like
stair tool detail.jpg
Anonymous
Not applicable
The color for the parallel rails is controlled here >Stair Selection Settings > Parameters >Surfaces > Frame Right

I seem to recall something similar to the undesirable fragments showing up. Check your rise run ratio - you might have exceeded what the programmers thought was an acceptable range and their clean up routines aren't covering your particular case. Just to check - reset these values or try another controlling type, say floor height or number of treads to control the R/R ratio.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Thank you, I finally found it as "frame"

Here is what it looks like so far
Anonymous
Not applicable
Not perfect, but it allowed me to do the flat bar rails to match the upper
floor railing:-)
Anonymous
Not applicable
Now I have a different problem. The railing doesn't go all the way to
the last tread nosing at the bottom.
It doesn't do it at the top either, but I made the last tread at the top the same level as the connecting walkway. Seems like if I get it to be right on the top it's wrong at the bottom...Ugh
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
In the Railing Settings page of the StairMaker Dialog ou can set an Upper Overhang and Lower Overhang values for the railing.
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
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Anonymous
Not applicable
Got it in there with the morph tool.
Copied the entire stair and dragged a copy over 100'-0" to an empty space, Changed the rail type and location. Morphed the
new rail only and then dragged it back the 100'