Stair Design Software

Here’s the third video in my using Progecad with StairDesigner series.

StairDesigner does a very good job of calculating and technically drawing the stair and you get all parts and working documents automatically.

But it falls short when it comes to specific design features like turned newel posts, spindles, moulded handrails etc.

Luckly all StairDesigner projects can be exported in DXF and easily reworked in most CADD programs.

I have used Autocad to design stairs for many years now.

Stair design with only Autocad is slow and error prone. It could take me several hours, sometimes days, of drawing to get the working plans for a stair and even then errors went un noticed and were giving us unpleasant surprises when putting the parts together in the workshop.

Over the years I developed some simple Autocad tools to speed up the work but everything remained very cumbersome and SLOW!

 

When StairDesigner came along everything got faster and easier!

The drafting errors practically disappeared and everything fitted perfectly in the workshop.

Besides the technical side of things StairDesigner’s automatic 3D made a great impression on my customers.

3d was always my big problem.

2D technical design was slow but OK with AutoCad, I just appreciated so much the ease compared to drawing the stair full size on the workshop floor, but when a customer asked for a perspective view my troubles started.

I’m not a great artist and though perspectives of furniture worked OK, stairs turning in all directions were making life hell.

Especially as people don’t pay you for a perspective drawing it’s just for free and takes for ever to set up.

The worst would be someone asking for variations, “and what if we added turned posts and changed the spindles to metal tubes ??”

Back to the drawing board!

 

Even when AutoCad came along with it’s 3D, building a 3D stair although possible, was a major nightmare  and challenge.

Drawing a 3D stair in Autocad  could bankrupt us before the customer even considered signing a cheque!

StairDesigner made life easier for basic designs but as we made more and more higher end stairs the projects quickly went over StairDesigner’s 3D functions.

So I combined the two.

StairDesigner draws the basic 3D and Autocad or Progecad do the rest.

It still takes a bit of time, but the effort is often well worth it.

A well designed stair shown off to it’s full advantage will often sell much better even though more expensive than a cheaper model.

And it’s so much more fun to design and make!

 

Here’s how I add turned posts and some extra fittings to a StairDesigner 3D stair.

And then light it up to look classy.

StairDesigner’s DXF export works well with most CAD programs so it’s not limited to using ProgeCad.

Progecad is a great cheap 2D/3D solution that works just like AutoCad for less than 1/10 of the price!

 

Hope you enjoy.

Leave a comment even if you didn’t!

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Click here to buy StairDesigner ProDXF

Click here to buy Progecad 2011

 

For more information on using ProgeCad and AutoCad with StairDesigner, take a look at these articles:

http://stairdesignsoftware.net/how-to-design-curved-strings-and-handrails-using-stairdesigner-and-progecad-3d

http://stairdesignsoftware.net/how-to-build-a-3d-stair-project-with-stairdesigner-and-progecad

http://stairdesignsoftware.net/editing-a-curved-string-stair-in-autocad

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Technorati Tags: autrocad, cadd, drawing stairs, ProgeCad, stair, Stair building, stair calculations, stair design, stair plan, stair software, stari construction

ProgeCad, Using Stair Designer autrocad, cadd, drawing stairs, ProgeCad, stair, Stair building, stair calculations, stair design, stair plan, stair software, stari construction

Here’s an email sent to me by Serge from France.

Serge is a subscriber to my email list and has no previous experience in stair building.

Serge has built himself a stair using only the free software and resources available on this web site.

I was very impressed by the way Serge undertook his project.

I think that everybody can benefit and learn something from his story and experience.

Thanks Serge for sharing this.

Here’s the translation of Serg’s email. The original is published on my French site:

http://www.stairdesigner.org

 

 

****************************

Hello Ness,

Excuse me for this long letter, but you can use it as testimonal.

To start, I’d like to thank you for all the help and advice you have given on your site and emails.
6 months ago I went to a well known stair manufacturer in France to order a cheap staircase to enable me to access the first floor of my garage.

This stair was a ¼ turn, with a total height of 3,28 m, at a 95° .

After a long time spent trying to force his industrial software to build a stair that would fit me, the salesman could only offer me a 15 step quart turn with a 90 angle.

This was no good to me at all. So I decided to built it myself.

I am not a professional woodworker, in fact I’m a scientist, but I always liked woodwork.
Browsing the wed for help and information I quickly found your software " Stair Designer " which gave me the answers to my questions.

With help of your documentation and tutorials, I quickly and easily got the hang of using the demo version of " Stair Designer ", and designed a stair that fitted my project.

Nonetheless, having at my disposal the plans of the parts, steps, stringers, posts and spindles walking(marches), silt, posts, and spindles, but without dimensions, I found myself in front of a choice: not being professional I did not want to buy the complete software,

I thought of buying your highly-rated plans (through your StairFile service),

or accept the challenge to reconstruct the plans from the specifications given by the demo version of Stair Designer.

I opted to take up the challenge and draw the plans myself.

I revised my trigonometry and rolled up my sleeves to learn to use, the free version of ProgeCad that is downloadable from your web site.

My rudimentary English allowed me to understand the basics of this professional level CAD software and I managed to draw the plans and use Progecad to get all the part sizes.

I must admit that the stair template models with their free  plans were of great help as references, and enabled me to work and move forward  confidently.

I chose to make the stairs in spruce, using only the minimal tools that I had at hand, a jointer, circular saw, a router and an orbital sander.

I worked part time at my own pace, for 2 months (I’m retired so I do have some free time) and machined up the parts.

Yesterday I went to install and everything fell into place perfectly, just like the drawn model.

For anyone who would like to undertake a similar challenge, I would humbly give the following advice:

- Use StairDesigner to design your project. It’s easy to use and covers most of the different types of stairs that might want to build.

- If you don’t have a good understanding of geometry and maths, and can’t use some sort of CAD software don’t try to draw up the plans by yourself. Use Ness’s StairFile or StairPlan service, it will save you hours of calculations and possibly expensive errors.

- If you don’t have a few good portable tools and some mastery of woodworking, either get someone else to help with the woodwork or subcontract it.

Otherwise go to it!

It is a fantastic experience, that will make you use your muscles and your brain and give you a lot of satisfaction.

 

To conclude, thanks again to Ness, you can be proud of yourself to have enabled a complete beginner design and build a stair that’s a just a little complicated.

On the other hand it’s a real commercial flop for you, because with your help and tools I have managed to do for free what would have cost me dearly otherwise.

I feel a little guilty of using your advice and support without paying.

So a thousand thanks for continuing to teach freely for our pleasure and profit.

Serge

 

Thanks to Serge fro this very instructive email.

 

If you want more information on using the demo version of StairDesigner and Autocad or Progecad read these articles:

http://stairdesignsoftware.net/stair-software-to-modify-stair-plans

http://stairdesignsoftware.net/using-autocad-with-a-stair-calculator

http://stairdesignsoftware.net/using-a-stair-template

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Technorati Tags: autocad, cadd, ProgeCad, stair, Stair building, stair construction, stairdesigner, stairsoftware

Customers and Users, ProgeCad, Using Stair Designer autocad, cadd, ProgeCad, stair, Stair building, stair construction, stairdesigner, stairsoftware

Stair caculator software and AutoCAD

StairDesigner can calculate and build and draw stairs very fast and efficiently but as with all parametric software whether it is stair software or not, it doesn’t cope with all the intricacy and complexity of real world situations.

I find that once StairDesigner has drawn up the general stair plans it’s often necessary to add details or modify the design to adapt to my construction techniques and the specific on site situations.

In the majority of projects that I have its rare that I only have the staircase to build. In general the staircase needs at least a balustrade around the stair well, where as more than often I need to design many elements that parametric stair software is not built to cope with, like balustrades around complicated stair wells, cupboards under stairs, specific handrails and balusters, curved steps, etc, etc……

After having looked around at other design software I’ve finally come to the conclusion that although parametric software is great for stair calculations and design, only general drafting software like Autocad can really cope with all the different situations that I come across in my real life stair design situations.

Leaving out the design details, specific moldings, cupboards, here are some of the main limitations that I have found with the StairDesigner parametric stair calculator:

- Doesn’t draw bull nose and curtail steps and curved risers.

- Doesn’t draw starting volutes

- Can’t give different thicknesses for strings on each flight

- Doesn’t design the string and handrail transitions to level landing

Luckily StairDesigner drawings can be exported in DXF and opened in a general drafting software to update and modify the design details.

In this video I show how to take a stair built in StairDesigner and open it in Autocad to add a bullnose step.

Of course I use AutoCad but the same process can be used with any CADD software that can read DXF files.

If you are only interested in building manufacturing drawings then a 2D drafting program like Solid Edge is easily enough. For 3D presentation a dedicated rendering tool is probably easier than AutoCad.

The interesting thing about combining CAD and StairDesigner is that it gives unlimited design possiblities for adding and modifying the stairs.

To read our review on StairDesigner just click on the link below:

<Stair software review>

Here are some other articales for AutoCad users:

Spiral Stair case problems - AutoCAD Forums
Spiral Stair case problems AutoCAD 3D Modelling & Rendering.

3d Curved stair - AutoCAD Forums
Making stair in 2d and 3d with AutoCAD

Creating a New Drawing by Using Parts from Another Drawing
Create a separate staircase drawing by using the staircase you’ve already drawn.

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Using Stair Designer autocad, cadd, calculator, curved, software, stair, staircase, stairway, step, string

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