2D DXF plans

As well as the PDF cutting list and plans document, the 1:1 templates and CNC output, StairDesigner provides a 2D DXF plan.

We’ll cover a few examples here of how this might be used to:

1. Avoid obstacles
2. Define a cabinet below a stair
3. Create a template for a wreathed part in laminates

The 2D DXF plan output is accessed via the File menu > Export > DXF plan:

Avoid obstacles

In some situations, a window or a door might be in the trajectory of the stair. In such cases, it is useful to use the 2D plan to map the situation and then make the necessary design changes.

In this case, we’ve opened the 2D DXF plan of the stair in a CAD package and drawn in red the wall on the left side of the first flight together with the window position. The blue line represents the floor level.

The lower right corner of the window intersects the stringboard, we would like to cut the stringboard to accommodate the window.

To do this, we need to define the x and y coordinates for the intersection points on the CAD drawing (blue lines) as well as the corner position (yellow line).

Using the stringboard editing feature in StairDesigner allows us to position these specific points on the string geometry, their position was defined using the coordinate system.

More information:

Extended: string shape editing

The result is a cut-out of the stringboard at the exact position we require. Below is a new exported 2D DXF plan showing the stringboard changes.

Define a cabinet below a stair

Adding cabinets below a stair is common practice to utilise the space efficiently. Again, the 2D DXF plan can provide the information we need to build a cabinet that fits perfectly below the stair.

Here is the 3D of the stair we will use to define a cabinet below the second flight.

We’ve exported the 2D DXF plan and added the various dimensions we need.

The result is a cabinet with a height of 247.93mm and width of 1288.85mm. The top angle needs to be 45.23°.

Below we have drawn this cabinet in our design software PolyBoard using these measurements.

Here we can see the 2 projects combined in SketchUp using the 3DS output from StairDesigner and PolyBoard.

More information:

• StairDesigner output (non CNC): 3D DXF and 3DS output formats
• PolyBoard output (non CNC): 3D DXF and 3DS output formats

Create a template for a wreathed part in laminates

Below is a quarter turn stair with a wreathed stringboard corner section. We can use the 2D DXF plan to define the template for the laminates.

Here is the 2D DXF plan with the height of the wreathed part defined in the developed stringer view. The top view of the stair is used to define the template to be built in order to have a correct base to glue the laminates (blue).