Spiral Stair

Engineering ToolBox - enabled for use with the amazing FREE SketchUp 3D drawing and modeling program.

Spiral Stair

Make your own spiral staircase

spiral stairs

	Rise
	Rotation (degrees)
	Width
	no. of steps
	thickness of steps
	nosing projection


Unit rise Elevation angle deg

Insert!

Rotate the screen or widen the window to see full table!

Length
Color
Offset

Tip! Use the vertical and horizontal planes to position the stair - remove the planes after insertion.

spiral stair

Add handrails and details for the stair by selecting and working on one step (all steps are instances of the same components).

spiral stair

A larger inside radius can be achieved by using a larger width - modifying the unit step after insertion.

Tools - accessed from within SketchUp

NOTE!! - the "insert!" and the Tools features only works when the engineeringtoolbox exension is opened from within SketchUp. Install the extension as described in the right column - restart Sketchup and open this tool from the Sketchup Plugins menu.

Edit

undo! - redo!

Color

change color! - of the selected object(s) - may be slow for some more complicated objects (save your model first!)

View

iso! - top! - front! - right! - left! - back! - bottom!

Make Component

make! - makes a component of the selected object. Note that all objects from the Engineering Toolbox are inserted as individual groups. You should transfer a group to a component sharing the same definition when there is more than one instance of the same object. Tips! Rename the object to its final name before making it a component (in outliner or with right click and entity info).

Rotate Object(s)

degrees around red, green or blue axis! (select object(s) first). Very handy for objects with curved surfaces like pipes, elbows ..

Move or Copy Object(s)

move/copy! no. copies red green blue (offset from current position
- move or copy (multiple) selected objects. Make advanced geometric constructions with multiple selections, multiple copies and the offset.
Tip! - Use "Make Component" to save space and reduce computer load when working with multiple copies.

The Knife

- inserts a "Knife" to cut in one or more objects.

insert the Knife! size of the Knife

cut! - before cut: customize the inserted Knife! The Knife is a group you can rotate, change the size of, and even add or remove objects within (example - add a function curve for an advanced cut). You can also make your own Knife by naming a group "theKnife". After insert and customizing the knife - positioning it to the object(s) where to cut - select the object(s) (must be groups) - and click cut! Afterwards - select the object(s) and remove the parts of the object(s) that you don't want.
YouTube demo of the Knife!

Move an Object to another Objects Position

move! - select two objects - then click "move" and one of the objects moves to the position and angle of the other object. Handy when moving between axis systems.

Change Insertion Point

You can change the position and angle of an inserting object by pre-selecting an existing object before Insert! The inserted object will inherit the position of the selected object. Handy when working with non-default axis.

Insert Line

red green blue - Start position
red green blue - End position

insert! - use this feature to add a reference line

Insert Horizontal Plane

insert! red (size) green (size) blue (vertical position)
- use this feature to add a horizontal reference plane

Insert Vertical Plane

insert! red (horizontal position) green (size) blue (vertical size)

insert! red (size) green (horizontal position) blue (vertical size)
- use this feature to add vertical a reference plane

Insert Box

insert! red (width) green (depth) blue (height)
- use this feature to add a box to the model

Insert external Component

insert! name url
- use this feature to add an external .skp component from the internet by adding the component url

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Engineering ToolBox Sketchup Extension

Insert standard and customized parametric components - like flange beams, lumbers, piping, geometric figures, function curves, stairs and more - to your Google SketchUp models with sketchup.engineeringtoolbox.com

Sketchup Engineering ToolBox

It's FREE and FUN!

Download SketchUp

If you don't have Sketchup installed on your computer - download the amazing FREE SketchUp here!

Note! - SketchUp Free and Sketchup Shop (the web apps) can't use extensions. You need to install a local version of SketchUp Pro (paid) or Sketchup Make 2017 (free) if you want to use the Engineering ToolBox extension.

Basic Use of the Engineering ToolBox Sketchup Extension

From within Sketchup - open the Engineering ToolBox extension, navigate to component and select insert! - and the component will be added to your model.

Watch basic use of the Engineering ToolBox extension in YouTube

How to add the Engineering ToolBox Extension to your SketchUp

If you experience problems with the functionality - try installation alternative 2 or 3.

Alt. 1 Sketchup Extension Warehouse

open your Sketchup installation
from the Sketchup menu - select Window > Extension Warehouse - and search for "Engineering ToolBox" - and install!
the extension can be enabled/disabled from the Sketchup menu Window > Extension Manager
restart of Sketchup may be required to activate the extension

Alt. 2 Download the Extension - Install with the Sketchup Extension Manager

download engineeringtoolbox_tools_v1.0.5.rbz to a location on your computer
open your Sketchup installation
from the Sketchup menu - select Window and Extension Manager, the button "Install Extension" - and select the downloaded file
restart of Sketchup may be required to activate the extension

Alt. 3 Download the Extension - Manual Install

open the Sketchup Plugin folder on your system
(on Windows it should be something like C:\ProgramData\SketchUp\SketchUp 202X\SketchUp\Plugins\)
(on Mac it should be something like /Users/username/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 20XX/SketchUp/Plugins/)
if present - remove the engineeringtoolbox_tool.rb file and the engineering_tools folder from the Plugin folder
change the extension for the downloaded file (engineeringtoolbox_tools_v1.0.5.rbz) from rbz to zip
decompress the file in your file manager
copy the decompressed engineeringtoolbox_tool.rb file and the engineering_tools folder with its content to the Plugin folder
restart Sketchup

Note that this procedure may be different in older Sketchup versions.

How to use the Engineering ToolBox Sketchup Extension

From the Sketchup menu - select Extensions > Engineering ToolBox. A page like this opens in a separate window - navigate to the wanted component - and select insert! to add the component to your SketchUp model.

Note! The SketchUp Engineering Toolbox is an online resource updated continuously. You need an internet connection to operate.

For some components parameters like length, color, offset and more can be modified before insertion.

Customized components can be inserted by changing parameters in the dialog boxes at the end of the component lists - and clicking "custom!"

Selected objects in the model can be manipulated - rotated, moved, colors changed and more - from the Tools section.

Assistant objects like lines, horizontal and vertical planes can be added.

Some Tips and Tricks

The most efficient way to learn SketchUp is by watching the tutorial videos.

Organize your model in groups - add components to the groups!
Example: Use separate groups for construction steel, piping, the different HVAC systems and more.
Always keep an eye on the model in the "Outliner" window.
Use layers to organize and control the visibility of the model.

The most convenient way to copy an object is by selecting it, using move or (m) and pressing Ctrl (makes a copy) before moving.

Use the rotation tool on this page to precise rotations of components like bends, pipes ...

Precise moving of a object can be done by selecting a point in the object that can be connected to a point in the new position (like a edge on a component, surface, a midpoint or similar).

Bill of Materials

Be aware that objects from The Engineering ToolBox are inserted in Sketchup as Groups. They will show up in the Sketchup > Window > Outliner dialog but not in the Sketchup > Window > Model Info > Statistics (Only Components) dialog.

If you want to make "Bill of Materials" from your model

insert an object from The Engineering ToolBox
select the object in the model (or in the Outliner) after insert
click The Engineering ToolBox "Make Component"

The objects will now show up in the Sketchup > Window > Model Info > Statistics dialog and be available for reporting through Sketchup > File > Generate Report feature or other third party report generators.

An insterted object from The Engineering ToolBox can also be converted to a Component by right clicking the object and selecting Make Component. The name will not be preserved and must be changed after the conversion.

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