Plywood Spiral Staircase

part1, today we're going to make a spiral staircase out of plywood each step is. made from 12 layers, of 3/4 inch thick furniture grade plywood you can download the. digital drawings of this project from my, website I use CNC machines to cut out. the steps my x-carve did a great job cutting out, the pieces but since I. had to cut so many I used the. C&C machines to make you see how much space you have to make the steps I, had a. steel pole welded to a half-inch thick steel plate and then I installed that right. into, the space where I needed the stairs now I was prepared for this project. and when I designed, the building I made sure that there was enough space to fit the steel beams in. the floors to support this load the, first step is going to be installed right. over the half, inch thick plate so I had to plane, down an extra piece of. plywood to act as a spacer I use construction adhesive in between the, plywood and. the steel pole and they used wood glue in between to keep the, the plywood from sticking to the, steel plate I also used a lot of wood glue on the steps to help keep the steps. pressed firmly together each step required about, one and a quarter full 4 foot by. 8 foot sheets of plyboard which made the material cost, of this staircase significantly less. than the prefab metal ones I had priced out now obviously I'm not, factoring labour. into the equation and so we kept going layer after layer screw after screw and. ended, up taking about two hours per step once we got to the top I. used the circular saw, and a jigsaw to cut pieces of plyo for the landing. I glued the two layers of plyply, for the staircase together and then clamp them. while the glue dried the stair goes up to a, head house with the leads. to my roof deck so I decided to paint the underside of the landing so. that, would stand out in contrast to the blonde plywood I then glued and screwed. the landing in place, now the stairs are rock solid is zero wiggle in them. but just to be safe I drove, some five-inch screws through the underside right where. the two steps meet this was probably the weakest part, of the design and having. these extra screws there just gave me a little bit more peace of, mind I. putty to cover up the finish screws once the putty had dried I. sanded, over them with an orbital sander I then used drop cloths to tent off. the staircase and then, I sanded over the top of the steps with sanding, sponges but I also use this really cool. Rio bead detail sander to get into the tight places, I finished the staircase with. two coats of Minwax polycrylic I really like how this project is both, simple and. complex at the same time the majority of the stair is is made from just. 13, pieces of wood that are just repeated over and over and. over again yet. the visual impact is, pretty incredible I also like that this project harnesses the power. of new tools like C &C machines it, still requires traditional tools like drills and hammers to get the steps in place. now of course it still doesn't have a railing but don't, worry I'll be working on that soon I'm going to have a deal. that soon if you think about this project I want to make sure I'm using a low VOCs. product as we got, higher up I started using clamps to help keeping the layers. press firmly together I used this really, Rio bead. detail sanding with this digital fabrication state and I did. the details sanding by hand but I, just did it by eye. I use pure bond brand plywood because I know that, a, lot of the. ply woods have glues in them that off-gas from elder hide and since there's so. much, plywood in this I want, make sure that I was using a lot. of. wood glue and I used a, Rio, bead detail sander to sand the. details on the. steps and. I used my, CNC machine to make these steps and I use my, x-cave to make my steps I use a great tool to make this project and I want you to see how easy it is to make it. I. feel like our, new build times like ten. figure it. it. want to see it. figure out how to make. this project just access to a new build time. it's a little. easy to make something like this.