Creating a Custom Handrail Pattern and Extrusion Along Stairs and Platforms in SOLIDWORKS

Hello, in this video we're going to be creating our rail for the first time,  first by setting a rail pattern and then by using Boss Extrude in two directions to actually create the beams that hold up the handrail itself. So here we have our model. Our handrail is going to extend along the back edge of this second floor along the side and come down the stairs.

So I want to build my sketch on this second floor plane. You can right click on the plane itself or go into your feature tree and find it,  right click there and click sketch. I'm going to hold down ALT and use the arrow keys to turn this model around.

I just prefer to look at it in this direction. This beam is in the way,  so I'll right click and hide it. All right, let's begin to set our rail pattern spokes.

I'll grab the corner rectangle and create a rectangle off to the side here. The height and width of this rectangle is going to correspond to the board thickness and the narrow board width, so let's do that now. We'll set those global variables, board thickness, narrow board width,  and I'm going to start this pattern right on this edge of our second plank.

So let's grab that top line, grab the line of that second plank, make them collinear,  and these beams are going to rest on this outer frame. So I'm going to bring this over and snap it so it's partially resting on that outer frame. All right, let's create one more of these rectangles two beams away.

We can just go ahead and make collinear and equal relationships. There we go, snap it right there. Now I want this pattern to continue to this edge,  go left, and then down the stairs and continue all the way down.

So one thing I'm interested in is the space between our instances. So let's figure out what that is. Okay, seven inches.

So why don't we start a pattern that has seven inch spacing. When the pattern of the spokes goes down the stairs, it's going to fit between each set of steps in these little notched corners. So I'm actually going to start my pattern in one of those notches just to make sure that this pattern can continue seamlessly as it moves down the stairs.

So feel free to follow along. I'm going to snap a corner rectangle. Oh, that's a center rectangle.

Let's grab a corner rectangle, snap a corner right there, nested in that little corner,  snap this one to that corner. And why don't we just go ahead and make this equal to one of our existing boards. Great.

And let's pattern this direction. Linear sketch pattern, entities to pattern, grab all four. We are going left to right.

Let's just make sure we're going the right direction. Set our instance space to seven. And let's just keep adding instances until we find a good stopping point.

And I feel like that works because this distance and this distance are roughly the same. I like the way that looks. Let's go ahead and close out that pattern and solidify that distance with a smart dimension.

Beautiful. Actually, better yet, why don't we do this? Delete that smart dimension. Let's create a reference instead.

I'm going to grab this line and make sure that these lines are equal. There we go. That way, if anything changes with our planks,  our pattern of the handrail will update as well.

Okay. So far, so good. I think we have the beginnings of a handrail pattern that will extend from the back all the way to the side.

But there's one problem. You can see these rectangles are extending themselves onto that first plank. That's not what's happening here.

I want these rectangles to only fit on the frame,  but they're being set by the stairs, which are inset from the edge of the playground,  as you can see here. So let's fix that. Let's go ahead and close out our sketch and save it.

I want to take this initial sketch here that creates these stairs. We'll find that right here. In this case, for me, it's Boss Extrude 30, but yours might say something else.

Find the sketch that began that Boss Extrude. Right-click it. Go to Edit Sketch Plane.

You'll remember that we have it along the face of this beam. Let's right-click and delete that. Assign a new face, moving it backwards.

In this case, it'll be the outside of the playground,  and set it like that. All right, now let's go back into this handrail sketch that we created. We're going to zoom in.

Okay, perfect. Now our handrail beams are sitting right on that outside edge, and they don't have to shift forward or backward when they start descending down the stairs. This is exactly what we want.

I'm ready to make a Boss Extrude with what we have here. First thing is, I'm going to highlight this left-hand rectangle. I won't delete it because that'll delete the pattern.

Instead, I'm going to click For Construction. I do not want to turn that into a Boss Extrude. Let's go ahead and select Extrude Boss Base.

For this first direction,  let's pick Blind and set it to 30. This will be our handrail height. Make sure to uncheck Merge Result.

Let's go ahead and open the Direction 2 box. Click the box that says Direction 2,  so we can activate Direction 2. For this, we'll set it up to Vertex and choose the bottom of the outside frame. You can see how this handrail is going to hug the outside frame on both sides.

That's exactly what we want it to do. All right, let's go ahead and close that with a green check mark. These bodies are intersecting.