Folding/ rotating staircase for theater set

SketchUp Gallery
1

I’m trying to design this staircase for an upcoming musical and I figured I’d post the process here because I think it will make me actually work on it more.

Rules:

  1. I do not have a metal shop, everything is wood.
  2. These are 1940’s cruise ship stairs
  3. I do not have extensions for modeling, native tools only.
  4. I’m not currently dedicated to this initial sketch of a design, feel free to play/ ask questions, etc, if it pleases you to do so.

Basic set model —> lakewood Anything Goes.skp (233.2 KB)

Basic stairs pulled out into side model —> fold out stairs.skp (338.8 KB)

Set sketch

IMG_4301
IMG_43012752×2064 228 KB

Stairs

IMG_4302
IMG_43022752×2064 499 KB

IMG_4303
IMG_43032752×2064 510 KB

IMG_4306
IMG_43061920×1440 147 KB

7 Likes
2

That’s rather interesting. You could make each stair flight the same width and have it notched at the landing. That would prevent it from over rotating. Another notch at the other end of the movement range could stop it from over rotating in the other directions. Or maybe rollers at the bottom of the upper-outer stringers that just rest on top of the landing - Edit, oh, I see the left one is like that. It just needs a framed support under it.