Trix aren't just for kids

So I need a big protractor to draw my stair winders for my new stairs


and I cruise the WWW Search engine links and find a couple neat sites with printable protractors:

http://www.ossmann.com/protractor/

http://www.lawrencegoetz.com/measure.htm

http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/protractor-using.html

Then I think, what about one of those old-school classroom chalkboard compasses, and off I go, to be reminded of the tack, string, pencil trick.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4420899_make-compass-using-pencil-string.html

Well, I also get stuff on magnetic compasses, and land on the Energizer Battery site with all kinds of neat learning stuff, including... DaDa! Making a Circuit Tester!
http://energizer.ca/learning.aspx

Haven't tried the Play gadgets yet...

Trix aren't just for kids.

 

Although I've never constructed any set of stairs, I know they are more complicated than just nailing some boards together. Lots of geometry - which I was pretty good at in school. Rise / Run; stringers, treads. I'll have to do a simple 3 or 4 step stair set this coming spring on my back deck.

On the string protractor thing, at our old house in Orange, CA I was re-doing the look of our front door area - Had an exterior wall over the front door about 12' tall - I wanted a decorative arch that mimicked the style of the front door. Had to do the 'string thing' with a pencil and about a 10' radius to make it look right. Cut it out of plywood.

 

I posted the best links I could find on stairbuilding in my Reno thread, page 11:
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=154841#post154841

I could have done it with my Punch ViaCad program, but this winder has to address some of the structural realities, like 4 posts supporting it, head clearance in the Pantry below, and old joist construction with new joist construction. I can build it faster than I can draw it. I've kept a notebook diary of notes and sketches to keep my thought stream going on this whole reno thing, balancing between living in the house, moving plumbing and electrical, all in one-day work plans. So far, so good.

What I really like about the really old plan that I found and explanations about this winder section, is that I can build it separately and do the bottom 12 steps and stringers also as a unit, with all the freedom to make adjustments. Should be done next week.

 

Suggestion .... check your local building codes for minimum standards ... its a pisser to build them and the inspctor wont pass em when the neighboring municipality will.

 

Done that, but I'm building them to your better US NBC 2009 standards, and making them ready for one of those electric stair climbers.

 

You gots a link for the stair climber? ... I have about four straight stair climbers out here that I keep re-installing when the owner "crosses over" .... never dealt with a winder-climber.

 

Here's one!

http://www.prking.com.au/Products/StairLifts/StannahStairliftsCurved/DescriptionFeatures.aspx

More UK info on that one and others:
http://www.stair-lift-review.com/chair-stair-lift/basic-guide-to-stair-lifts-and-stair-climbers/

OR, I could run a ski-lift seat from the ceiling...

 

Wow, thats cool ... and the track can also serve as a handrail. ,,, thanks.

 

That's how I'm doing both my handrails - the new stairs are 42" wide! Did that to get the kingsize bed upstairs, the 2 queensize beds will go up easily. Also did them at a 31.7 degree angle. If the wife ever wants her piano upstairs, I'll refinish it and take it up in parts.

My neighbour is a manager and musician at a big music store. He's taught me how to tune it.
http://www.long-mcquade.com/

Its a nice 30 year old piano:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0002240

from a well-known maker:
http://www.pianoworld.com/masonris.htm

Took 4 of us to load it and bring it in. Down 6 steps at the previous owners' and 4 up at mine. Must weigh in around 600 lbs. at least! My trailer tires (15" rims) took it well, but we sure struggled. Getting old, I guess...

 

I don't understand the question.
Down south, people just staires out the winder.



Sometimes for just a little while, sometimes for a protracted period of hours.

 

You Floridians are puttin' the Axcent on the wrong Silable!

 

Norm, the thumb tack, string, and pencil..... I still sweep the floor of the shop from time to time and finnish the job while all the rocket scientists are lost in.....


Scale down your layout first and do it on a sheet of paper, or on the back of a sheet of drywall etc. If your layout is correct (scaled down) yout numbers and angles will be correct

 

My daddy was a carpenter and I've been one for nearly 40 years.
All I know is that steps are the flat parts things you step on and a staircase or stairs is the thing with steps, and if I had it to do all over again I would of been a plumber.


Good rules of thumb.

Tread plus twice the riser equals 25.
Tread multiplied by the riser equals 75.

All you need is a 4 foot level, rule and a steel square with a couple of rafter/stair gauges, and a lot of tedious cipherin'.
If you use a calculator you're cheating.

 

"Aw hell, just eyeball it" ...........lol

 

Yeah! Exactly what I did all day yesterday. I can't use the saws until the stitches are out on Tuesday, so I went checking my routers and sawblades and lining up my lumber and hardware.

I'm making a layout on some 1/4" ply, full size for the winders. Since I'm not actually making a full 90 degree turn on the Stringer, where I could have used a real 4" X 4" post, and mortised out the riser/tread outline, so I have to fiddled with the top end of the stringer on the short side (after 11 th tread of 15 treads (16 risers). The good thing is that I can shave a little less than a 1/4" off of a 2 X 6 to support the winder treads. Gonna be slick.

I did a drawing in the Punch VIA CAD 2D program, and that helped get some dimensions of the winders, so I'll try to do a fan-type effect with the Birch Ply grain, with the grain running on the length of each tread, instead of cutting them on the length of the sheet grain. Gonna look great, with a clear spar urethane - no stain.

The nosing is gonna be tough to find, and solid 1 1/2" Birch lumber around here? HA! So, I'm thinking I'll try to find some 1 1/2" FIR lumber and make my own. Color and closed grain are close enough, and then use buscuits to install them into the treads - 1 1/2" X 3/4 thick. I can do them on my router table. Ditto with the handrails.