We think carefully about how we will move our pieces in the shop as we build them. They need to be safely lifted into the transport truck and secure while they are being transported. Once on site our customer needs to easily and safely move them once more, lift them into place and secure them in place permanently. It is easy to say but requires lots of thought and engineering to pull off.
The planning starts as we design the pieces with lifting and mounting points built in from the start. The combined weight of the pieces for this shipment is about fifteen thousand pounds.
Tomorrow the trucking company will drop off a fifty-three foot long trailer for us to load. It will leave on Thursday morning. Today we shifted our efforts from production to packing. The pub signs we finished late last year were cut off their temporary stands and welded onto a new custom designed steel pallet. Underneath the signs four post backs will rest. These heavy pieces will provide ballast weight to keep the top heavy signs in place.
The pieces are fabricated from a variety of materials including, steel, plywood, concrete, sculpting epoxy and 30 lb Precision Board. Each piece has hard points built into the piece for lifting, carrying during transport and final mounting.
The massive (and heavy) posts sit on a structure that mimics the six by six steel posts they will surround when they are mounted. In the background two arches are mounted back to back and at a slight angle for safe moving and transport. Ten of these arches will fit on this load.
