help needed for stair layouts

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I'm working in a fab shop that makes stairs for industral buildings and i want to be prepeard when he asks me to step ou to the plate. any tips or thoughts will be helpfull . thanks mel
Reply:If you need to figure out stair layouts from scratch, go buy yourself a Construction Master IV calculater. There is a newer one, but I don't know which one it is. They have all the stair functions programmed in. You just have to supply two sides of the triangle, it does the rest. They have them at Home Depot for about 50 or 60 bucks. They are designed with carpenters in mind, so many functions won't help much. However, stair functions are the same in wood and steel.For the old school types,....... yes it is a crutch. Yes, it does all the work for you. HOWEVER, it does all the work without mistakes ( given correct input ) and it does it much faster than doing it the hard old fashioned way. Time is money, plain and simple. Faster computations ( and more accurate ) results in faster work times and higher profits. No one can argue with results.Don
Reply:You will neeed a set of stair clips for your two foot framing square.  I use a variation for my stringer layout.  Are you having to design stairs from the original total rise and run or are you supplied with a detailed print?
Reply:Yes i should be but i saw the print for the latter they built and i could understand some of it. i do know that the mesurments that i use must be of the finished floor height. i am not at the job sight so i must use the deminsons givin' to me. i like the  calculater idea. but i may just get both tools just in case. and lets face it you can never have too many tools. thanks!do what you love ... and hang the rest
Reply:Often you are given lots of dimensions for your stair stringer layout.  The trick is to get a system going for picking off your dimensions then transferring them to the stringer.  I like to layout the one stringer shown on the print and transfer my measurements to the matching/opposite side of another piece of channel layed beside the original on the horses.Layout your end carefully first using the bevel angles given check your layout and locate the nose of your top landing.  Often the nose line running along the edge of the stringer will be an inch below the edge.  You can run the line with your combination square set at the distance with soapstone.  Now measure the length of nosing line and make the bottom nose.  Layout the bottom end.  Between the top and bottom nosing you will have to locate the remaining nosing locations.  You can walk the distance down using a big dividers, or set a tape along the nosing line and mark the locations.  the second way is very easy if you are in metric since you can just add raw nosing spaces ( no fractions)Double and triple check your layout before cutting the ends of your stringer.  You will waste a lot of material if you make an error and splicing stringers is frowned upon.I use a fifty foot tape and magnets.  The long tapes sit flat on the material.  I am always on the lookout for old speakers in order to score magnets.