Spiral Staircase help

[winchman]

A very good friend of mine needs some technical help with a spiral staircase hand rail.
He bought the staircase second hand he has it installed and the uprights for the rails but I wondering how best to make the rail or where to buy it?
It would be ideal if he could rind some one and ask all his questions so who is our resident expert do we have a Spiralman on the forum?

 

[MattF]

Metal or wooden handrail?

 

[winchman]

I think it should be metal the stairs are Cast from memory and he is using a rope at the moment

 

[RonA]

I know the intention is to put a metal handrail in but this is my spiral staircase at chez nous, it has a wooden handrail.
The staircase itself was home made (not by me I may say) & the wooden handrail is formed by hardwood laminations. The have been cut to the curve of the outside dia & then glued together to achieve the final thickness.
RonA

 

[winchman]

Ho do you begin to mark it out etc?

 

[Kent]

Take it to someone who can and has the gear. That's best ! Other than that it's lots of hardboard templates, lots of checking and bit by bit

Now then its remarkablely hard to get a spiral staircase to comply with building regs. Before you spend time or money make sure it will comply when complete

 

[winchman]

Its in a Barn workshop, he is a very skilled chap so it goes against the grain to give it to some one else when I am certain he will be able to do it himself to a very high standard, he's the sort who you want with you when you crash in the desert as he would make you a new plane from junk

 

[RonA]

I know the guy who built the staircase & made the handrail, he has no technical drawing skills & he would have set it out by trial & error.
The handrail is jointed in three positions along its length but the joints are staggered across the laminations for strength. My guess is he used a piece of large cardboard to make a pattern & then used that to mark up the laminated hardwood. There are signs where he didn’t quite get it right but overall it’s a decent enough finish & at first sight you would think it’s a solid piece of wood.

RonA

 

[8ob]

You only need two lumps of timber sleepers set apart on the floor and a sledge hammer, an old boy I worked with years ago used this method for making hoops etc for fire escapes . Chalk the radius on the floor and work off that, you would be very surprised at what can be achieved on cold steel with just a hammer and a little patience

Bob

 

[Kent]

Its in a Barn workshop, he is a very skilled chap so it goes against the grain to give it to some one else when I am certain he will be able to do it himself to a very high standard, he's the sort who you want with you when you crash in the desert as he would make you a new plane from junk

So he doesn't need even ask then ? It's a ball breaker involving lots of templating and begger in about
OR
Simply punch it in

Regulations still apply only they are a tad stiffer when it's work / commercial use

 

[steve t]

if its steel is it going to be a convex rail, if so get it rolled to the diameter across the point where the stairs have done a half turn, this can then be tacked on to your top post and pulled down using gas/ dogs to tweak every six inches or so to keep handrail horizontal, then tack to your main posts on the nose of each tread as you go. If using tube get a specialist to roll it to the diameter and rise in one go.