Building a Window Grille : Shop Tour

Hey, Dwight Kopp here with Forgotten Mountain.

Behind the Scenes Tour

So today we’re going to take a tour kind of behind the scenes, looking at the process for building window grilles, and we get calls from all over the country to design window grilles for a variety of different sizes and shapes of windows, from garage windows to round windows, to arched windows to arches, funny arched windows, and all sorts and manners of patterns and designs. And it’s really fun. But I thought it would be kind of fun us to take a quick behind the scenes look so that you can see what the process looks like.

Generating a Design File

We start with coming up with the design file. So anytime we get an order, a customer sends us the exact dimensions that they need, and we set up the design file to match that and use the pattern in the optimal way based on the kind and shape of window that they have.

So all our designs are sized down to about a thousandth of an inch, and our laser is able to cut that.

Precision Laser Work

So once we have the design file complete, then we cut that with the laser cutter. The laser cutter is just an amazing piece of technology, and I can’t say that I pretend to understand exactly how it all works, but I do know how to drive it. So kind of like a Lamborghini, I may not know how it all works, but it sure is fun to drive. And so we send the file to the laser cutter.

Quality Check

We cut the pattern on the laser, and once the pattern is complete, we check it for integrity. And when that piece is done, we take it into the paint booth. And in the paint booth we paint it.

Paint Booth

Usually we have anywhere between one and four coats of paint, depending on the kind of paint, just to make sure we get adequate coverage.

After it’s painted, obviously it has to dry. So once the paint dries, then we take it to assembly. If there’s any specific assembly that needs to be done for that grille before it goes out the door, normally that would only be required for something that is multiple pieces or perhaps something that is getting a solar screen. So all of the grilles obviously come with the magnets, and if somebody does not have the solar screen, the magnets are installed on site. Otherwise, parts of the magnets, like the strike plate for the magnets, are installed behind the solar screen before they leave our shop. Once that’s all done, the grille is ready to be packed.

Packing

So we pack it usually within its own frame, so all of the pieces go out with a wooden frame around it, which has really helped with making sure that it arrives in good shape. We’ve had very, very, very few damaged claims, but in the event that something does show up damaged, obviously that’s ours to carry. We take care of that. But we’ve just been very impressed with our shipper. UPS has done a great job keeping our product in good condition right up to the other side of the country, and in some cases the other side of the world. So that’s the process. Thanks for joining me on a little shop tour.