Star Signs

Product(s) What do they make?

Signs. All varieties. From huge stadium signs to doorway markers.

Market(s) for whom do they make it?

Businesses that require visibility of location to the public. Businesses that need signs for wayfinding.
Universities. Sports Teams. Individuals.

Materials.

Aluminum, plastic, glue, rivets, vinyl, auto paint, photo sensitive plastic, steel, rubber.

Forming Technologies.

CNC, hand cut, hand formed, hand assembled, photo-sensitive plastic.

Cutting Technologies.

CNC Router, Hand Cut with power tools, hand cut blade, laser cutter.

Joining Technologies.

Glue, solder, rivets, screws.

Finishing Technologies.

Auto Paint. Sealing Caulk. Covered in Vinyl. 

Overall Impressions/Epiphanies.

Always impressed at what an unassuming warehouse actually contains. Just looking at the building, one probably wouldn't expect them to make signs for such big name clients. The quality of work and the scale of projects they take on are very impressive.

Reuter Organ

Product(s) What do they make?

Pipe Organs, from start to finish.

Market(s) for whom do they make it?

Churches, universities, private citizens.

Materials.

Poplar, Oak, Walnut, Aluminum, Copper, Lead/Tin mix for smaller pipes, cow bone, goat skin, sheep skin, kangaroo skin, steel, zinc.

Forming Technologies.

CNC, hand cut, hand formed, glue press, sheet metal maker, hand assembled.

Cutting Technologies.

CNC Router, Hand Cut with power tools, hand cut blade.

Joining Technologies.

Glue, solder, springs, screws.

Finishing Technologies.

Blow torch on copper pipe, paint on zinc, laquer over finished pipes, wood stain, polished cow bone, wood/bone veneer on keys.

Overall Impressions/Epiphanies.

It’s amazing that something as elaborate as their finished product comes from that little warehouse/shop. I’m also surprised they have a bladder to hold the air, I figured it would just be a reservoir or accumulator with a pressure regulating valve. It was an impressive place and operation.

Here's the 3 views edited into one clip

A Cool Train Video!

Today I was willing to sacrifice one of my cameras to try and get a video I really wanted. I actually thought that this was the last time I'd see this camera in one piece, but there was a shred of hope that it would make it through.

To my complete surprise the train passed and it was still in one piece! I took video from two separate cameras and am going to be combining them into one clip, but for now this is the coolest view and I just had to share it.

The photos are of the one camera as I was bidding it farewell and the other is of the other two cameras I had setup with different vantage points.

Enjoy!

Stuck Going 80 on the Highway.

Just had a rather interesting occurrence a few hours ago. Meagan, Liam, and I were driving home in our 4Runner. I know everyone's heard about the Toyota stuck throttle issues and well, it happened to us. I still wouldn't trade this thing for a Honda Pilot or Jeep, I really like the 4Runner. In my case it was purely a mechanical issue.

I had set the cruise at 75 and a bit later I realized I was going 80. I tried to cancel the cruise and nothing happened. Hit the brakes, nothin', still cruising at 80 without my foot on the gas. Then I turned the cruise OFF, still nothing. At this point I began to realize something wasn't right. I removed the fuse panel inside and began to look for the cruise control fuse. Couldn't find it. Still going 80 and haven't yet told Meagan anything was wrong. So, I then politely asked if she could get the owners manual and try to locate the Cruise Control fuse. Which prompted the question, "What's going on?" So, I explained it and she got a little scared (panicky as I later found out) but I couldn't tell at the time. There wasn't a cruise control fuse to be found inside the car.

At this point, I didn't know it was a mechanical issue. That's why we were looking for a fuse. I thought it had just malfunctioned and I wanted to disable it by removing the power. So, now the goal was to stop the car safely while trying to keep the engine from over revving. I'd depress the brakes and slow us to 60 or so, it wasn't easy, then I let up and it'd speed back up to 80. I shifted it into neutral to see if it would cancel the cruise. It didn't. The engine quickly revved to over 5000 rpm. This is when I realized it must be a mechanical problem and I was just going to have to get it to a slow/safe enough speed and then kill the engine and come to a nice controlled stop.

I could have at any point just shifted it to neutral and slowed to a stop. However, I was trying to save the engine as well.

So, I commenced stopping it the only way that was left. I applied the brakes and muscled it down to below 20. It wasn't happy to be slowing down, it was shaking quite a bit. Side note: I need to replace my rotors. It was actually shaking A LOT. We got to below 20 and I turned the key to ACC and shifted it to Neutral. The engine shut off and I continued to apply the brakes and pulled the e-brake to come to a complete stop.

I hopped out and opened the hood to figure out what went wrong. That's when I discovered the linkage was physically stuck. I unstuck it and checked a few other things prior to starting it up again. It started fine and we made it home safely. Once home, I sprayed the linkage with lubricant to keep it from happening again. I'm also going to call the dealer in the morning to see if they'll do anything about it.

Yeah, pretty crazy huh?