I need a sign

We makes signs all day long in our shop but we only make certain kinds of signs. The signs are dimensional. When someone comes in to ask about a flat sign we happily send them down the road to our friends at Gidney Signs. They specialize in high quality flat signs.

This past week we took delivery of a shiny, new shop truck. It needed our logo on the side of course. So what to do? Well , I took it to our friends, Gidney Signs. I brought them the digital file of our trademark ship flying through the crescent moon. The boys printed it out on their fancy digital printer and cut our web address from some vinyl. They had the decals waiting for me when I dropped by today. But I had one more request for the Gidneys and that was to apply it to the truck doors and tailgate as well. While I have applied some vinyl over the years I knew these guys were experts at what they do. They got the decals on nice and straight and without any bubbles too. They are professionals after all.

Thanks for a nice job! When someone asks me where I got the work done I'll be sure to send them to the Gidneys.

-grampa dan

Shop drawings

Under normal building practices 'shop drawings' refers to detailed plans used to fabricate things built in a shop. Occasionally I'll draw some up, most often freehand, and not often to scale. I do them so I can send them off to an engineer (to make real ones). On rare occasions we will actually refer to shop drawings in our shop, but not often.

Shop drawings in our shop take on a whole different meaning. For us they are quick scribbles done in the shop (or on a worksite). Most often they are drawn with a piece of soap stone on the welding table, or if that is full, on the shop floor. On a worksite they are done with a felt pen or carpenter's pencil on a scrap of wood. They can be drawn in the dirt with a sharp stick as well.

Today Chris was in our shop and we were discussing how to build a rather complex piece. Simply describing how we were going to build it wouldn't do. He whipped a piece of soapstone out of his pocket and then crouched down to draw on the floor. In a couple of minutes he had drawn multiple versions and angles of viewing on the floor, complete with square tubing sizes and quantities. The notes on the floor described how pieces would be angled, where they would be welded and how other pieces would fasten on. All the information we needed was there.

Once we had settled on the solution to this complex problem there was no need for anything more. Cleanup was simple. Being in a heavy traffic area it would be gone in a few minutes. It was a green solution for no paper was used in it's execution. And as long as it works it was plenty good enough for us.

-grampa dan

Collaboration

The more experience I get in this business, the more I realise that my projects can only get better if I rely on collaboration with others to influence the things I do. I've learned it many times over with my crew. I bring the initial idea to the table and then allow them to interpret the designs. In the process things often change a little (or a lot), sometimes in ways I never imagined. 

As we get further into the final design of the Trinidad project I am involving a whole new set of professionals and collaborators. I'm working with train builders, rock fabricators, ride manufacturers and many others. As I get into the details I realize I still have a whole lot to learn. By surrounding myself with experts (in their fields) I know we can make the project so much better. I have to do my homework of course, due diligence to make sure these folks know their stuff and have a proven track record. As I seek proposals and bids I most often find the cheapest price is not necessarily the best value. The search for working partners involves interviews with lots of back and forth conversations. As always, I look for people who are passionate about what they do. While they certainly need to make a profit at their part of the project I am also looking for people who fall in love with the project as much as I. In the end I want everybody to be more than a little proud of what we accomplish, to create a dream project we can all look back on and say "THAT WAS FUN!" If we can make that the case I know I will get their very best work.

Today, I spoke at length with a climbing wall builder with an impresive track record. It didn't take long for me to understand his passion for his craft. He enthusiastically suggested a few changes and additions to make our wall better and unlike anything ever built before. 

By the end of the day we had exchanged numberous emails as well with the design quickly evolving and developing. We are down to the wire with last minute changes and some sharpening of the pencils on details but it is looking good. This is going to be fun...

-grampa dan