My Materials & Processes class has taken two field trips since the semester started. The first was to Reuter Organ. It was probably one of the coolest field trips I've ever been on, second of course to the Russel Stover Chocolate Factory in the fifth grade. Reuter Organ is one of the only places that builds organs start to finish all on the same site. They finish about 5-10 per year and the average cost varies between $450-$500 thousand dollars. The selling market specifically targets churches, colleges and universities, and private residences.
Seeing the way everything was created and built was so crazy. The interior pieces are primarily made out of poplar, the metals used are mostly copper and zinc. They also case their own spotted metal for the small pipes. The keys are bass wood with coatings of either plastic, wood, or cow bone overlays. There was a super huge gluepress and a ridiculous CNC router. Everything they had was just crazy to see.
Our second field trip was to Star Signs. They build all sorts of signs for different companies. After all the drawing, info management, and graphic design, the building process breaks down like this:
Materials: PVC, polycarbonate, steel, plexiglass, vinyl, aluminum, acrylic, maple, walnut, foam, automotive grade paint
Building: Routers, extrusion, welding, screws, glue, sanding, grinding, and everything else you can imagine.
Something i've never learned about was the was braille is applied to signs. Braille is an ADA requirement for all interior directional signs. It's made in a photopolymer process where the plastic hardens when it's exposed to light. It goes in a funny looking box with all sorts of drawers. It goes through layers of UV rays that raise the plastic before it goes into a separate section to get washed and finished.
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