Custom railing design troubles

[mthurnauer]

I am trying to make a railing that has a certain number of vertical railing members and then a section of horizontal railing members. I started out trying to make a custom panel and when I loaded the panel into the project, the horizontal members sloped the wrong way on my stair. I also had a hard time getting the horizontal members to flex with the length of the panel. The second method I tried was to make a solid panel and then array a void that would cut the panel into a series of horizontal members. Once I loaded the panel into the family, the voids sloped the wrong way. So, I am still stuck. Please look at the attached sketch. Any help to create this family wold be greatly appreciated

[phyllisr]

From your description, I cannot be entirely certain I understand what you have tried and what does not work as you expect.

From your sketch, I might tackle this strategically by making a baluster family that includes all three vertical members. Next, I might make another baluster family for the horizontal members. Finally, in the project, I would make a railing family wherein the balusters are effectively next to each other with an "every other one" pattern and a railing profile for the top. But then, this is just a quick solution and not particularly elegant. Just a thought...

Maybe post a little more information about what this railing is doing (spacing expectations, size, corners, for stairs or just straight or other) and perhaps I can suggest a more appropriate strategy.

[mthurnauer]

I need to have this railing design for both level areas as well as along ramps and at some stairs. One unit in the pattern has four vertical members and then a section of horizontal members. The verticals are 2" x 3/4" and the horizontal are 1-1/2" x 3/4".

You mention having a baluster family for the horizontal. I have tried making a baluster panel for the horizontals and have not been able to get it to work right. The horizontal members either don't change length depending on the width of the panel or they won't change angle with the panel.

[mthurnauer]

I have found a solution to my problem, but I think that they way the railing treats baluster panels is a bug. Here is the reason: As stated before, I am trying to make a railing that has a mix of vertical balusters and horizontal balusters. It appears that I needed to make the horizontal balusters by creating a baluster panel family. I made this family which has the default parameter of Width. I created a few types that are 2', 2'6, and 3' wide. When I define the pattern of the railing, I want to have three vertical balusters that are 4" from the previous baluster, then have the panel, and then three more vertical balusters that are again 4" from the previous. When the program defines the spacing as 4" from previous, it uses the center of the panel family and not the edge. So, to get the baluster to be 4" from the edge of the panel, I need to indicate that it is 1'-7" from the panel which places it 4" from the edge of the panel. However, this causes my Pattern Length to be longer then is desired and I get a large space that I do not want. The only work around that I found was that I need to make a panel that is all verticals and a panel that is the horizontals. This sort of works, but I cannot treat the end of the run properly. I.E. the last panel either runs long and does not get cropped off or I end up with a gap at the end of the run. I tried using the option to fill the end of the run with just vertical balusters, but again, it measures from the center of the last panel and I get vertical balusters going through the horizontal members.

So, long story short, the program needs to fix the measurement of Distance From Previous to measure from the end of a panel and not from the center.

[Andre Carvalho]

What if you create two railings: One with one type of baluster (the horizontal ones) and other railing only containing the 4 thin vertical balusters. Both together would create the complete railing. That way you could play independently with their distance from each other.

Just an idea...

Andre Carvalho