[TheForge] helical railing calculations

[Mike Spencer]

> played with the geometry of helices, as in helical railings for
> circular staircases....Is this subject of any interest or use to
> anyone on this list?

Yes. Haven't thought about this for some time but I may soon break
down and make a helical staircase for the shop.  Peggy's getting tired
of using a ladder to get to her loom.

> ...feasibility of constructing these railings from four FLAT curves,
> each representing 1/4 rotation.  I think the answer is yes, but I
> haven't tested it yet.  The question I addressed was, what would be
> the radius of such a curved railing.  That, I got an answer for.

I don't quite understand what you mean.  And being a night owl, right
this minute I have to go off an try to see some *normal* people while
*they* think it's still daytime. :-)  But I'll get back to it tonight.

In the meantime, could you give a little more explanation of
"constructing these railings from four FLAT curves"?

I did once try to do some calculations for an elliptical helical stair
and, after some pages of scribbling and grovelling through books,
smacked into something called "elliptical integrals" that I couldn't
hack.  Maybe now that I have Maple V [1] it would be less impenetrable?

- Mike

[1] [OT]  Anybody have a Maple V Reference Manual they'd part with?

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

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