Creating Continuous Glass Guardrails

[robert.manna]

Has anyone been able to model a decent looking contrinuous glass guardrail similiar to what Julius Blum or Blumcraft offer? I want a system that uses 5' long glass pieces, and have not had much success both on stairs and flat systems. I have toyed with baluster panels, and using a modified curtain wall system, each has its problems, in either case results are not entirely satifactory. I have attached my test file so folks can examine what I've already created.

http://www.juliusblum.com/prodsec02.html

http://www.blumcraft.com/products/products.php?id=32328


Thanks,
Robert

[frame]

Reduce file to just the railing then purge all unused objects (re: file menu)
Should make file smaller.

[SCShell]

Hey there,

For glass railings, I use curtainwalls. Seems to be easier for me. On stairs, I edit the profiles to match the stairs and landings. Nice thing is that the grid panel points are easy to adjust and so is the trim metal for the cap and bottom.

Hope this helps maybe
Steve

[robert.manna]

Yeah, part of my experiment was using curtain wall. However I was getting some strange mullion behavior when I placed my vertical curtain grids. My "mullions" representing the mounting shoe and cap had poor joints/joins where the vertical grid line intersected. My solution was to use model lines, however this is not really satisfactory.

[sbrown]

I would make a profile that is the glass, ie 1/2" wide by 3' tall or whatever and use that profile as a rail with the glass material.

Then add the ballusters to that. I may be missing your issue. looking at the images they look very easy to create in revit.

One trick with balluster panels is to make any piece you don't want to change size as a generic model, then bring that into a balluster panel family.

[robert.manna]

I would make a profile that is the glass, ie 1/2" wide by 3' tall or whatever and use that profile as a rail with the glass material.

I have tried this, however the results on stairs don't quite work. Quite honestly I'm not entirley sure why, I think it has to do with how it interperts the sweep profile when it creates the rail sweep up the stair. Take a look at the file I uploaded if you want to see what I'm talking about.


Then add the ballusters to that. I may be missing your issue. looking at the images they look very easy to create in revit.

One trick with balluster panels is to make any piece you don't want to change size as a generic model, then bring that into a balluster panel family.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, however my problem is not in the baluster panel itself, the problem is the pattern spacing of the panel. The tool really isn't adaptive enough to deal with "balusters" that are actually 5' long. It over shoots, and there is not an easy way to really control how you deal with "make-up" space when designing a railing system like this. I.E. if I wanted the joint lines of the panels to match with other building elements I'm better off using a modified curtain wall, however modified curtain wall has issues on stairs, and even on stairs I would like better control of where my joint lines end up. Simply being able to justify left, right or center doesn't do it.

[janunson]

I use just 3 rails for this, 2 if the base is embedded in the floor - one for the outline of the metal top, antother for the outline of the glass... just draw new profiles and set them to railing type and load into your project, then they'll be available in the railing dialog...

Only problem - Only 1 height per railing type. the other option is doing balluster panels,,, problem there, only 1 width (rail has to be a multiple of that width or will have an empty space.

Also, i think there's a point where it's not practical to keep putting information into the model. Something like panel joints could be drafted on in a few views where necessary, or done through shop drawings... I'd probably use model lines to get them in there if i needed to see them in 3D for some reason.

[robert.manna]

I use just 3 rails for this, 2 if the base is embedded in the floor - one for the outline of the metal top, antother for the outline of the glass... just draw new profiles and set them to railing type and load into your project, then they'll be available in the railing dialog...

Only problem - Only 1 height per railing type. the other option is doing balluster panels,,, problem there, only 1 width (rail has to be a multiple of that width or will have an empty space.

Also, i think there's a point where it's not practical to keep putting information into the model. Something like panel joints could be drafted on in a few views where necessary, or done through shop drawings... I'd probably use model lines to get them in there if i needed to see them in 3D for some reason.

I agree that at some point it is better and easier to draft in details. However, I don't think it is outlandish of me to expect to be able to easily include the mounting show (which you seem to omit if its embedded), and I also don't think it is unreasonable to want to model the correct number of panels/joints. I want the joints, so that the interior designer sees them, and I want them integrated, and not as model lines, so that when the rail curves, I don't have to work too hard to determine where they should be. And I want the correct number of panels, because what is the point of calling it a building INFORMATION model if I can't accurately quantify the number and type(s) of panels. Assuming that I could schedule the number of panels, and the information about those panels, for instance their dimensions, I could provide that information directly to a manufacturer and it could be used to directly mill the glass panels to spec.

In any case, have you used this method on stairs? I tried using a profile to create a "rail" that was a continuous glass panel, however it didn't come out right, and I tried it a couple of different ways. I agree that it works fine if your guard rail is flat.

[sohocad]

try this...

[robert.manna]

try this...

Could you provide screen shots and description? We are still in V7, and I know you can't back-save.

Thank you,
-R

[sbrown]

A fall back is what I used to do which is make the continuous glass rail with the top and bot rail profiles and the glass as a profile rail, then make a struct family or generic family for the posts, place in plan where you want then cut a section an move them up as needed. then you have full control over their placement and height.

[BSaunders]

Thank you SohoCAD,

I used your file as a base to assist my firm with a suitable sit-in set of rails. I still need to practice the creation from scratch but this is a good jumping point for me.

-sun



try this...