2026 Marching Band Props

October 5, 2026 – Full Props on a Monday Night

Monday night means another band rehearsal, but tonight we had a little more work to do than usual.

The band director had requested that we have the full set of props available for one of this week's rehearsals.

Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal. We'd just pick whichever rehearsal worked best for the parent volunteers.

But I'm heading to Cleveland for work Tuesday through Thursday this week.

That pretty much narrowed our options down to one.

Full props tonight!

What Does Full Props Mean?

At this point in the season, we've gotten our rehearsal routine down pretty well.

The 12 stair props and two stages are already at the school, and the students pull them out for every rehearsal. When rehearsal is over, they put everything away.

That part of the process has become pretty routine and doesn't require much involvement from the parent props crew.

But the full show also includes our eight large media frames and the front sideline screens.

Those are stored in our small trailer and don't come out for every rehearsal.

So when the directors request full props, that means a little extra work for us.

First, I need to hook the trailer up to my truck and pull it over to the practice field.

Then we unload the cart holding the front sideline screens and assemble all eight media frames.

Each media frame is 12 feet wide and 9 feet tall, so there's a fair amount of equipment to unload and assemble.

Fortunately, after three years of using these frames, we've gotten pretty efficient at putting them together.

And the new storage racks we built in the trailer a couple of weeks ago have made the process much more organized.

Everything has its place, which makes it easier to find the pieces we need and get the frames assembled.

Plenty of Helping Hands

We had a good group of parents helping tonight, along with some of the students.

That makes a big difference.

With enough people, we can spread out the work of unloading the trailer, assembling the media frames, and getting everything positioned around the field.

And once rehearsal was finished, everyone pitched in again to take the frames apart and load everything back into the trailer.

It's nice to see how smoothly the process works now compared with the beginning of the season.

Everyone has become familiar with the equipment, and we don't have to spend nearly as much time figuring out what goes where.

That's one of the benefits of all the work we put into making the props modular and organizing the trailer.

The goal was always to make setup and teardown as manageable as possible for the volunteers who would be doing it week after week.

Looking Ahead to Birdville

With all the props on the field, we got another chance to see how the complete show is coming together.

And I have to say, the props are looking good.

After months of fabrication and weeks of small improvements, it's satisfying to see everything out on the field being used the way it was intended.

This Saturday, the band heads to Birdville for another marching contest.

After last weekend's USBands contest was canceled because of rain, we're certainly hoping for better weather and an opportunity for the students to compete.

Tonight's full-props rehearsal was another chance to get everything ready.

A Short Week for the Props Crew

With my work trip to Cleveland starting tomorrow, I'll be away from rehearsals for the next few days.

Just hook up a trailer, assemble some frames, watch rehearsal, and put everything away.

At this point in the season, that's what I call a pretty good Monday night.

October 4, 2026 – The End of an Era (and a Steak Dinner)

Today was a big day at the Maker At Play props workshop.

Not because we were building something new, making another modification to the stair props, or preparing for another marching contest.

Quite the opposite.

Today's goal was to give Susie her garage back.

She hasn't been able to park her car in the garage since we started building this year's props back in June.

For almost four months, the garage has been transformed into the Maker At Play props workshop, filled with steel tubing, welding equipment, grinding dust, tools, and whatever prop we happened to be working on that week.

But with all 12 stair props finished and the marching season well underway, it was finally time to reclaim the space.

And there was one rather large obstacle standing in the way.

Goodbye, Prototype

Back in April, we built our first full-size prototype of the stair props.

That prototype played an important role in the project.

It allowed us to test the basic design, evaluate the stair dimensions, work through construction techniques, and make changes before committing to building all 12 production props.

Over the months, it also became our test platform for new ideas.

Whenever we wanted to experiment with something before modifying the finished props, having that prototype in the workshop was incredibly useful.

But now its job was done.

And it was taking up a considerable amount of garage floor space.

There was really only one thing left to do.

Time to chop it up.

From Prototype Back to Scrap Metal

It's a little strange cutting apart something you spent so much time designing and building.

Back in April, that prototype represented the beginning of a pretty ambitious project. It was the first physical version of something that had previously existed only in Fusion 360.

Now, six months later, we have 12 finished stair props being used by the marching band.

The prototype had served its purpose.

So out came the cutting tools, and I started breaking it down into smaller pieces.

Some of the steel went back into the scrap metal pile, where it might eventually become part of another project.

I like the idea that some of that metal could find its way into something new in the future.

Other pieces went out to the curb for bulk pickup, or perhaps for one of the people who drive around the neighborhood collecting scrap metal.

Either way, the prototype was officially retired.

It was a little bittersweet, but also satisfying.

After all, the whole point of building a prototype is to learn from it and then move on to the finished product.

And we certainly did that.

Four Months of Workshop Dust

With the prototype out of the way, the biggest obstacle was gone.

Now it was time to tackle everything else.

Tools needed to be put away, leftover materials moved, and the garage floor cleared.

And then came the cleaning.

Almost four months of cutting, welding, and grinding steel had left their mark.

If you've ever done much metal fabrication, you know how fine grinding dust manages to find its way onto absolutely everything.

The floor was no exception.

So I spent some time sweeping up the accumulated dust and debris from months of prop construction.

It was a pretty good reminder of just how much fabrication work had taken place in this garage since June.

Hundreds of steel pieces cut, countless welds, 12 stair props built, and more hours in the workshop than I care to count.

All in a space that is normally supposed to hold Susie's car.

By the end of the day, the garage was cleared, swept, and ready to return to its original purpose.

About That Steak Dinner...

Now, there's another important reason I've been looking forward to this particular milestone.

Somewhere along the way, I was promised a steak dinner when the props were finished.

Of course, the definition of finished can be a little tricky when it comes to marching band props.

We technically finished building the props back in August.

But then there was artwork to install, flag storage to improve, handrails to experiment with, Coroplast panels to add, and countless other little adjustments.

There's always something else to do.

So we established a much more concrete definition of completion.

The props would officially be finished when the Maker At Play props workshop was converted back into Susie's parking spot.

No ambiguity there.

And as of today, that milestone has been reached.

Which means I believe there's a steak dinner in my near future.

And after four months of building marching band props, I think I've earned it.

The Workshop Is Closed... For Now

It's hard to believe we're finally at this point.

What started with a prototype in April turned into months of planning, cutting, welding, assembling, painting, and installing artwork.

We built 12 full-size stair props, worked through plenty of design changes, and somehow managed to turn a two-car garage into a small manufacturing operation.

Now the production work is behind us.

There will undoubtedly still be repairs, adjustments, and last-minute changes as the marching season continues.

But those are maintenance tasks, not another full-scale fabrication project.

For now, the Maker At Play props workshop is officially closed for the season.

Susie gets her parking spot back.

The prototype has returned to the scrap pile.

And I'm looking forward to a well-earned steak dinner.

After almost four months, the garage is finally a garage again.

At least until the next project comes along.

October 3, 2026 – All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

Well, the rain we were worried about earlier this week finally arrived.

And it brought plenty of friends.

Today was supposed to be our second marching contest of the season, a USBands competition. Instead, it turned into a very wet Saturday filled with weather delays, loading props, unloading props, and a performance that never made it to the competition field.

Just another adventure in marching band.

The Weather Wasn't Looking Good

We knew going into the weekend that rain was going to be a problem.

Yesterday, USBands had already announced a five-hour delay to the contest schedule in hopes that the weather would improve enough for the competition to continue.

With that delay, they had also announced that the competition would only include preliminary performances. There wouldn't be any finals.

Not ideal, but at least the band would still get to compete.

John was also supposed to have a cross country meet this morning, but that had already been canceled because of the rain.

So with cross country off the schedule, we could focus entirely on marching band.

Or, more accurately, on trying to figure out whether marching band was actually going to happen.

One More Attempt at the Coroplast

Before loading the props, I had a little unfinished business from last night's football game.

The black Coroplast panels we had installed between the steps looked great, but the double-sided tape had failed spectacularly.

Several panels had fallen off during halftime, and we'd spent part of the evening hunting them down around the track.

Today, we decided to try something different.

Instead of using more double-sided tape, we reattached the loose panels using a combination of Gorilla tape and duct tape.

Not exactly an elegant engineering solution, but sometimes you just need something that will hold.

With the contest scheduled for today, the priority was getting everything secured and ready to go.

We could always come up with a more permanent solution later.

Loading Without the Students

Because of the rain, the band's pre-contest rehearsal was moved indoors.

That meant they wouldn't be rehearsing with the props, which gave us an opportunity to start loading earlier than usual.

Normally, we wait until the students finish rehearsing with the props before we can begin loading. We also typically have students helping with the process.

Today was different.

With rehearsal taking place inside, the props were available, and the parent volunteers could get started loading without the students.

So we went to work.

Twelve stair props, the media frames, stages, and the rest of the equipment needed for the show all had to be loaded into the trucks and trailer.

The rain certainly didn't make the job any more enjoyable, but the props crew has done this enough times that everyone knows the routine.

We got everything loaded and ready to go.

Now we just needed the weather to cooperate.

Another Delay

Before we left the school, we received another update.

The contest was being delayed an additional 30 minutes.

At this point, we'd already had a five-hour delay announced the day before, and now we were adding another half hour.

So we waited at the school.

The trucks were loaded, the props were ready, and everyone was standing by for the next update.

After the additional delay, the final decision came.

The USBands contest was canceled because of the rain.

Well, that was disappointing.

And what made it even more frustrating was that four other marching contests in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were still happening.

Our USBands contest was farther south, so we assumed they were getting more rain than the areas north of DFW.

Still, it was hard knowing that other bands were getting to compete while ours wasn't.

And the unfortunate reality of marching contest season is that there are no makeup dates.

With contests scheduled every Saturday, there isn't room in the calendar to reschedule a canceled competition.

You don't get another chance at that contest.

You just miss out.

And Now We Unload

Of course, canceling the contest doesn't magically put all the props back where they belong.

Everything we'd just loaded now had to be unloaded.

So the props crew went right back to work.

We spent the day preparing the props, loading everything for a contest, waiting through weather delays, and then unloading everything without ever leaving the school.

A complete load-and-unload exercise.

Not exactly the kind of practice we were hoping for, but at least our transportation process got another workout.

The Show Must Go On, Sort Of

Even though the contest was canceled, the band still got an opportunity to perform.

Instead of taking the field at USBands, they performed inside the school's arena.

It wasn't the contest experience everyone had been preparing for, but at least the students had a chance to perform after all the work they'd put into the show.

And considering the weather outside, an indoor performance was a pretty good alternative.

Keeping It in Perspective

It's disappointing to lose a marching contest, especially during your child's senior year.

This is John's final marching season, and Susie and I know there are only so many opportunities left to watch him perform with the band.

But we also have a little perspective from doing this with our older sons.

Our oldest son's senior year was right after COVID, and he only got to perform at the regional contest that season.

After all those years of marching band, that was his entire senior-year contest experience.

That experience taught us something.

You can't assume every performance, contest, or opportunity on the calendar is actually going to happen.

Weather, pandemics, and any number of unexpected circumstances can change everything.

So we've learned to appreciate the opportunities we do get rather than focusing too much on the ones we miss.

Would we have liked to see John and the band compete today?

Absolutely.

But we've also been through a season where there were far fewer opportunities than this one.

And we're grateful for every performance we get to watch.

A Very Wet Saturday

Marching band season is full of things you can control.

We can design and build props, improve the transportation process, organize volunteers, and prepare for contests.

But we can't control the weather.

Today was a perfect example.

A cross country meet canceled, a marching contest delayed five hours, then another 30 minutes, and finally canceled altogether.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, we managed to load and unload an entire marching band's worth of props.

Not quite the Saturday we had planned.

Today's final score: Rain 1, Marching Contest 0.

But the band still got to perform, even if it was inside the arena instead of on the competition field.

And after ten years as band parents, Susie and I have learned that sometimes the best thing you can do is appreciate the moments you get.

Because you never really know which ones might be the last.

October 2, 2026 – The Great Coroplast Easter Egg Hunt

Friday night means another home football game, and tonight I had one more prop improvement to finish before the band took the field.

Or at least I thought I was finishing it.

After spending the past few days cutting and painting black Coroplast panels to fill the gaps between the steps, it was finally time to get them installed on the remaining stair props.

The goal was simple: make the staircases look more finished by blocking the view through the open frames.

The black panels looked great on the three props we tested earlier in the week, and the directors had given us the thumbs-up to finish the rest.

All we needed was a quick way to attach them.

Double-Sided Tape to the Rescue

I decided to use double-sided tape to secure the Coroplast panels behind the stair frames.

We've used this same tape to attach the large printed Coroplast artwork to the sides of the props, and it's been holding up well.

So it seemed like a reasonable choice for these smaller panels.

The installation went quickly.

I worked my way through the props, attaching the black panels between the steps. The tape grabbed well, the panels seemed secure, and everything looked good.

No drilling, no screws, and no complicated mounting hardware.

Just peel, stick, and move on.

Sometimes the simplest solution is the best one.

At least that's what I thought.

Wait, Weren't There More Panels?

About an hour later, the band was getting ready to take the field for its halftime performance.

As the props were being moved into position, I noticed something that didn't look quite right.

A few of the black Coroplast panels I had just installed were missing.

Seriously?

They had barely been on the props for an hour.

Apparently, the double-sided tape wasn't nearly as secure as I thought.

By the time the band took the field, five panels had already come loose.

And the wind wasn't helping.

After the halftime show, even more panels started coming off.

So much for my quick and easy installation method.

An Unexpected Easter Egg Hunt

Fortunately, we managed to find all five of the panels that had fallen off before halftime.

Unfortunately, they weren't all sitting conveniently next to the props.

They were scattered around different parts of the track.

Which turned the evening into an unexpected Easter egg hunt.

Instead of searching for colorful plastic eggs filled with candy, we were wandering around the track looking for black rectangles of Coroplast.

Not exactly how I expected to spend my Friday night.

We gathered up the missing panels and also removed some additional pieces that were still attached to the props but had started coming loose.

Better to collect them now than have them disappear somewhere during tomorrow's contest.

At least we recovered the material and won't have to cut and paint replacements.

Well, That Didn't Work

The frustrating part is that we've had good results with this same double-sided tape on the larger Coroplast artwork.

But apparently, attaching panels behind the steps is a different situation.

Between the movement of the props, the mounting surfaces, and the wind, the tape just wasn't doing the job.

It's another reminder that something can work perfectly well in one application and fail in another.

And, of course, we discovered the problem the night before a marching contest.

Because when else would it happen?

Tomorrow's Problem

We have another contest tomorrow, which means we'll be loading all the props and heading out again.

Before that happens, we'll need to come up with a better way to secure these black Coroplast panels.

The panels themselves look great. I still think filling the gaps between the steps was the right decision.

We just need an attachment method that doesn't turn the football field into a scavenger hunt.

So tomorrow morning, it's back to figuring out how to keep everything attached.

Tonight's lesson: Double-sided tape is great, right up until it isn't.

And apparently, black Coroplast is surprisingly good at playing hide-and-seek.

October 1, 2026 – October Brings the Rain

October is here, and apparently, so is the rain.

We've got rain forecasted through the weekend, which could make Saturday's marching contest a little more interesting than we'd like.

Of course, rain and marching band props seem to be a recurring theme every year.

At this point, I think dealing with wet props, muddy fields, and soaked equipment is just part of the job description.

From 100 Degrees to Cold and Wet

One of the things that always amazes me about building marching band props is how much the weather changes over the course of a season.

We start working on props in the summer, often dealing with 100-degree Texas heat while cutting steel, welding frames, and assembling structures.

By the time we get into the heart of marching contest season, we're sometimes standing outside in chilly rain, loading those same props onto trailers and trucks.

It's quite a transition.

And somehow, every year, we manage to get caught in at least a few good rainstorms.

We've loaded props in the rain, unloaded props in the rain, and spent plenty of time standing in wet parking lots trying to get everything packed away.

The show must go on, and apparently, so must the loading crew.

The Glamorous Life of the Props Crew

One of the things that always amuses us is hearing other band volunteers complain about the weather.

Especially when they're sitting comfortably inside a dry school building while the trailer and props crews are outside getting absolutely soaked loading equipment.

We just smile.

After all, somebody has to get everything loaded.

And apparently, that somebody is us.

It's all part of the experience, and after ten years of doing this, we've collected quite a few memories of rainy marching band days.

So today's post includes a collection of rain photos from different prop seasons over the years.

Consider it a little photographic tribute to the volunteers who keep working when the weather isn't cooperating.

And perhaps a reminder that if you volunteer for the props crew, you might want to bring a rain jacket.

Meanwhile, Back at the Props Workshop

Despite the weather, we did make a little more progress on the stair props today.

Yesterday, I cut the remaining black Coroplast panels needed to fill the gaps between the steps on the other nine props.

Today, those panels were handed off to Susie for painting.

She's taking care of getting them painted black so they'll be ready to install.

It's another small step toward giving all 12 stair props a more finished appearance.

Nothing particularly complicated today, just steady progress on one of our latest aesthetic improvements.

Welcome to Bandtober

With another contest coming Saturday and rain in the forecast, we'll see what October has in store for us.

Hopefully, the weather cooperates long enough for the band to perform without everyone getting soaked.

But if not, we've certainly been through it before.

After ten years of marching band props, I've learned that you can plan the construction, transportation, and setup down to the smallest detail.

The one thing you can't control is the weather.

And if the rain does show up Saturday, the props crew will be out there doing what we always do.

Getting wet and getting it done.

September 30, 2026 – A Little More Coroplast, A Little More Progress

The last day of September, and we're still working on marching band props.

At this point, I think it's safe to say that prop season doesn't really end when the props are finished. It just transitions into a never-ending series of small improvements.

Fortunately, today's project was a short one.

Nine More Props to Go

Last night, we installed black Coroplast panels between the steps on Props #6, #7, and #8, and the results looked great.

The black panels blocked the view through the open stair frames without overwhelming the design like the white Coroplast we had tried earlier. Mounting the panels behind the steel frames also preserved the shadow lines that help define the individual steps.

With the director's approval, we decided to make the same improvement to the remaining nine props.

And luckily, we already had most of the material we needed.

After rehearsal last night, Susie and I pulled out some leftover Coroplast from last year's marching show. No reason to buy new material when we had perfectly good sheets sitting around waiting to be reused.

A Quick Session in the Shop

Today's goal was simple: cut enough panels for the remaining nine props.

Each panel needed to be 22 by 11 inches, so this was mostly a matter of setting up the saws and making a bunch of repeat cuts.

Between the table saw and miter saw, the work went pretty quickly.

No complicated measurements, no welding, no new CAD designs, and thankfully, no unexpected problems to solve.

Just cutting Coroplast.

After months of fabricating steel frames, building staircases, installing artwork, and making last-minute design changes, there's something satisfying about a project that can be completed in one short shop session.

Ready for the Next Step

With all the panels cut, we're one step closer to having the same finished look across all 12 stair props.

We still need to paint and install the remaining panels, but at least the cutting is out of the way.

It's not the kind of progress that makes for a dramatic before-and-after photo, but these small tasks add up.

And with another contest coming this weekend, every little improvement helps.

September is officially over. The props, apparently, are not.

September 29, 2026 – Sometimes Black Is Better

A relatively slow night on the props front, but we still managed to squeeze in another improvement to the stair props.

After deciding yesterday not to install the back Coroplast panels, Susie and I started thinking again about another visual issue that had been bothering us.

You can see straight through the stairs.

The stair props have open steel frames, and while that makes them lighter and easier to work with, it also means you can see right through the gaps between the steps.

From the audience's perspective, that doesn't look quite as finished as we'd like.

We had already experimented with covering those gaps once before, but the results weren't exactly what we had hoped for.

So tonight we decided to give it another try.

White Wasn't the Answer

A couple of weeks ago, we cut some white Coroplast panels and attached them between the steps on one of the props.

The idea was that the white panels would contrast nicely with the black stair treads and tie into the white slide.

In theory, it sounded good.

In practice, not so much.

The white Coroplast dominated the staircase. Combined with the large white slide, there was simply too much white, and the individual steps lost some of their visual definition.

We removed those panels and went back to thinking about other options.

This time, we decided to try black Coroplast instead of white.

And we made another change to the design.

Rather than attaching the panels to the front of the stair frame, we would mount them behind it.

That would allow the steel frame and individual steps to remain visible in front of the Coroplast, hopefully creating some natural shadow lines and giving the staircase more depth.

At least that was the theory.

A Quick Stop in the Workshop

Before heading to rehearsal, I went out to the Maker At Play props workshop and cut enough Coroplast for three props.

Each piece measured 22 by 11 inches, and with the table saw already available, it didn't take long to cut everything to size.

In fact, this was such a quick job that I didn't even bother changing into my shop clothes.

That's a pretty rare occurrence during prop season.

Of course, we also needed black spray paint for the panels.

Which meant another trip to Home Depot.

At this point, I feel like Home Depot should be sponsoring either the band or the Maker At Play props workshop. We certainly spend enough time and money there.

With the Coroplast cut and the paint purchased, we headed to the high school for rehearsal.

Props 6, 7, and 8 Get the Upgrade

We decided to start with Props #6, #7, and #8.

These are the three stair props that begin the show positioned in the center of the field, making them a good place to test how the new panels would look together.

We installed the black Coroplast behind the stair frames, filling in the open spaces between the steps.

And this time, the results were much better.

The black panels blocked the view through the props without drawing attention away from the staircases themselves.

I also think mounting the Coroplast behind the steel frame made a big difference.

With the frame in front of the panels, the steps create natural shadow lines that help define the individual treads. Instead of looking like a large solid block, the staircase still has depth and dimension.

It's a much cleaner look than the white panels we tried earlier.

Sometimes a small change in color and placement makes all the difference.

Three Down, Nine to Go

We also got a thumbs-up from the band director, which was the confirmation we needed.

The black Coroplast looks good, doesn't interfere with the students using the props, and helps give the staircases a more finished appearance from the audience's perspective.

That's exactly what we were hoping for.

So now we have another production task.

Three props finished. Nine more to go.

But that's a job for tomorrow.

For tonight, it was nice to make a relatively simple improvement without having to redesign anything in Fusion 360, weld more steel, or troubleshoot another piece of equipment.

Just a little Coroplast, some spray paint, and another trip to Home Depot.

A pretty quiet evening by Maker At Play props workshop standards.

September 28, 2026 – Handrails, Flag Tubes, and a Golf Cart Mystery

Monday night means another rehearsal at the high school, and tonight we had a few things on the agenda.

The biggest was the first real-world test of the new handrail we installed on Prop #12 yesterday. After all the discussion about safety requirements, CAD designs, and conduit bending, it was finally time to see whether the students actually liked using it.

We also had another request from the color guard director.

Two more flag storage tubes needed to be added to Props #11 and #12.

At this point, I'm pretty sure the other 11 props are going to start getting jealous of Prop #12. Between the new handrail, the back Coroplast panel with its access door, and now additional flag storage, it's quickly becoming the fully loaded limited-edition model of our stair props.

And because apparently I don't have enough jobs during marching season, tonight I also needed to switch from prop builder to golf cart mechanic.

More Flag Storage

Our first stop was Home Depot to pick up more concrete form tubes.

We've been experimenting with these tubes for a few weeks now as a way to keep the color guard flags organized and prevent the silks from spilling out of the troughs underneath the props.

The larger 12-inch tubes worked well for containing the flags, and adding smaller 8-inch tubes inside them gave the guard more options for separating flags used during different parts of the show.

Now the color guard director wanted additional storage on Props #11 and #12.

With the new tubes in hand, Susie and I headed to the high school and got them installed.

Another small improvement checked off the list.

Part Four Is Coming Together

With the flag tubes installed, we spent some time watching rehearsal.

The band was working on new choreography for Part Four of the show, which features the percussion section.

While percussion takes the spotlight, the woodwinds perform choreography on the stair props.

This is one of the things I enjoy most about getting to watch rehearsals. We spend months building these large structures without fully knowing how they'll be used in the finished show. Then, as the drill and choreography come together, we finally get to see what the designers had envisioned.

And tonight we got to watch our son, R1 in the video, working through the new choreography on the props.

Of course, I was also paying attention to how the students were using the new handrail.

But before I could spend too much time evaluating that, I had another piece of equipment to fix.

The Golf Cart Mechanic Is In

Our band golf cart had apparently decided it wasn't going to work today.

It had been running just fine Saturday at the marching contest, but now it was completely dead.

No response from the accelerator. Nothing.

Before heading to the school, I had done some internet research on possible causes based on the symptoms.

One of the troubleshooting steps I found was to check the Tow/Run switch.

I didn't even know the golf cart had a Tow/Run switch.

Apparently, electric golf carts have a switch that disconnects parts of the electrical system when the cart needs to be towed or serviced. If that switch is in the Tow position, the cart won't operate normally.

So I found the switch and checked its position.

Tow.

Well, there's your problem.

I flipped it back to Run, and just like that, the golf cart was working again.

That might be one of the easiest mechanical repairs I've ever made.

Later, I learned what had happened.

Another band parent thought the switch needed to be in the Tow position for the golf cart to charge, so they had flipped it Saturday night when putting the cart away after the contest.

Mystery solved.

No dead batteries. No failed solenoid. No electrical repair.

Just a switch in the wrong position.

Sometimes troubleshooting is really just figuring out what changed since the last time something worked.

The Handrail Gets Its First Test

With the golf cart back on the road, I returned to rehearsal to watch how Prop #12 was working with its new handrail.

And the initial results were encouraging.

The students were naturally reaching for the handrail as they ascended and descended the stairs.

That's exactly what we had hoped would happen.

They didn't need to be instructed to use it. The handrail was simply there when they needed it, giving them another point of support as they moved on and off the prop.

From that perspective, the prototype was a success.

But as I watched more of the rehearsal, I started noticing something else.

When the color guard members stood on the props and spun their flags, the handrail looked like it might get in the way.

That was something we hadn't fully considered when designing it.

The railing works great for students climbing the stairs, but the props serve multiple purposes throughout the show. What helps one group of performers might create a problem for another.

I wasn't the only one thinking about it.

One of the color guard dads mentioned that his daughter had also wondered whether the handrails would interfere with the flag work.

That was definitely worth considering before we started building 11 more.

What About the Back Coroplast?

We also got feedback on the back Coroplast panel we had installed on Prop #12 yesterday.

We had intentionally waited to install the back panels until we could see how the students used the props during rehearsals. The idea was to make the props look more finished by covering the open backs, while adding access doors so the color guard could still reach the flags stored underneath.

But after seeing the back panel in use, we decided it was creating more problems than it solved.

For starters, the backs of the props don't really face the audience during the performance, so the additional artwork wasn't contributing much to the visual presentation.

More importantly, the Coroplast was getting in the way of the performers.

The students already have very little time to transition between different parts of the show. They need to grab flags, move around the props, and get into position quickly. Adding a panel and access door just created another obstacle during those transitions.

And when you're dealing with choreography timed down to the second, even a small delay matters.

So the decision was made to remove the back Coroplast from Prop #12 and leave the other 11 backs open.

Sometimes making a prop better means adding something.

Other times, it means recognizing that something you spent time designing, cutting, and installing isn't actually helping.

In this case, function wins over appearance.

At least we figured that out before attaching all 12 back panels.

Eleven More Handrails? Not Yet.

At the end of rehearsal, I checked in with the head band director to get his thoughts on the prototype handrail.

The feedback was positive.

The students used the handrail and liked it. The directors liked it too.

But we shared the same concern about how it might interfere with the color guard's flag movements.

The decision was to wait.

The color guard director would review the flag routines and see whether the choreography could be adjusted to accommodate the handrails.

If that worked, we could move forward with building the remaining 11.

If not, we might need to rethink the design or decide whether the benefit of the handrails was worth the tradeoff.

And that's exactly why we built one prototype instead of immediately making all 12.

Another Night of Testing and Learning

Tonight was a good reminder that marching band props have to work for a lot of different people.

The students moving the props need good places to grab them. The performers climbing the stairs need to feel confident. The color guard needs room to spin flags and quick access to their equipment. And everything still has to fit into the trucks and survive transportation.

Making one part of that experience better can't come at the expense of another.

The handrail worked exactly as intended for the students climbing the stairs, but now we need to make sure it doesn't interfere with the rest of the show.

And the back Coroplast was a good example of why we continue testing ideas even after the props are technically finished. It looked good, but it wasn't worth slowing down the performers for something the audience would rarely see.

So for now, Prop #12 remains our test platform, and the other 11 props will have to wait to see whether they get the same handrail upgrade.

At least the golf cart is working again.

One successful handrail test, two more flag tubes installed, one back panel rejected, and one golf cart repaired with the flip of a switch.

Not a bad Monday night.

September 27, 2026 – One Handrail Down, Eleven to Go?

After yesterday's marching contest, it was back to the Maker At Play props workshop today.

And yes, we're still working on the stair props.

Today's goal was to build and install a complete prototype handrail on Prop #12 so the students could test it during Monday's rehearsal.

After all the discussion about safety requirements, railing designs, and whether we even needed handrails, it was finally time to stop drawing them in Fusion 360 and build one.

Bigger Is Better

One design decision had already changed since Thursday.

Originally, I was planning to use 1/2-inch EMT electrical conduit for the handrails. We've used EMT on props in previous years, and it's inexpensive, easy to bend, and galvanized, so it doesn't require painting.

But the more I thought about using 1/2-inch conduit, the less comfortable I was with it.

We needed to drill 1/4-inch mounting holes through the conduit, and that doesn't leave much material on either side of the holes. I was also concerned that the smaller conduit might bend too easily when students grabbed it for support.

So I decided to move up to 3/4-inch EMT.

On Friday, I made a Home Depot run to pick up some 3/4-inch conduit and fabricated a sample section. We took that sample to Saturday's contest and compared it with the 1/2-inch version we had experimented with Thursday night.

The difference was noticeable.

The 3/4-inch conduit felt much more substantial, and I was considerably more comfortable with it being used as a handrail.

Decision made.

Learning to Bend EMT

Thursday night, when we still thought we might need to fabricate 12 complete safety railings before our second contest, we had placed an Amazon order for several different EMT connectors.

Now that the requirements had changed, we weren't in nearly as much of a hurry. But the connectors had arrived, we had the conduit, and Prop #12 was sitting in the workshop.

We had everything needed to build a complete prototype.

I started by drilling the mounting holes in one end of the EMT.

Then came the part I was a little less confident about: bending the conduit.

I've bent EMT before, but getting several bends positioned correctly so the finished handrail lines up with the existing prop structure takes a little planning.

So I did what any reasonable maker does when trying to improve a skill.

I watched a few YouTube videos.

After picking up some tips on measuring and positioning bends with a conduit bender, I marked the locations on the EMT and started bending.

And to my surprise, the bends worked the first time.

No wasted conduit. No cutting off a bad bend and starting over.

That's always a nice feeling.

A Few More Design Changes

As I worked through the actual fabrication, the design evolved a little more from Friday's Fusion 360 drawings.

The latest version uses one continuous piece of EMT running from the bottom of the staircase, up along the steps, and across the top toward the back of the prop.

An additional vertical post connects to the handrail with a T-fitting near the top of the stairs, providing another support point.

This gave us a fairly simple structure without needing a bunch of separate conduit sections and connectors.

There was also one other important change.

The handrail is now only 32 inches tall instead of 42 inches.

Originally, we were designing around the USBands requirement for a 42-inch safety railing. But after receiving clarification from the contest organizers, we were no longer building these as required safety railings.

The purpose now was to give students something to hold while climbing the stairs, helping them feel more confident moving quickly during the show.

That meant we had more flexibility with the height.

And 32 inches had one very big advantage.

The props would still fit inside the box trucks with the handrails attached.

That's a significant improvement over the original design, which would have required removing the railings every time we loaded the props and reinstalling them at the next rehearsal or contest.

With 12 props, even a few extra minutes per prop adds up quickly.

If we could make the handrails useful to the students without creating additional work for the prop crews, that was definitely the better solution.

Once the bending and drilling were finished, I bolted the handrail onto Prop #12.

The whole process went surprisingly quickly.

And I have to say, the finished handrail turned out really nice. With the smooth transition bends and clean connectors, it actually looks like something professionally manufactured rather than a DIY project built from electrical conduit in my garage.

I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

Now we had a real handrail installed on a real prop, ready for the students to try.

Time to Work on the Backs

With the handrail complete, Susie and I moved on to another unfinished part of the stair props.

The back Coroplast panels.

We installed the artwork on the sides of all 12 props several weeks ago, but intentionally held off on attaching the backs.

There were a few reasons for that.

First, we wanted to see how the students would move the props during rehearsals. The open backs provided plenty of places to grab the steel frames, and we didn't want to cover those areas until we understood how the students were actually handling them.

Second, the color guard needed access to the flag troughs underneath the props.

And finally, some of the soloists also needed access to the interior of the props during the show.

Adding a large Coroplast panel across the back might make the props look better, but it could also make them harder to use.

So, once again, the plan was to test the idea on one prop before committing to all 12.

Trimming the Coroplast

When we ordered the printed Coroplast, we intentionally left approximately three inches of extra artwork around the edges.

That gave us some flexibility in case the final dimensions of the props varied slightly from the original CAD models.

Now it was time to remove all that extra material.

We set up the table saw and started trimming the back panels to their final dimensions.

There were 12 panels to cut, so having the table saw set up made it much easier to get consistent results.

Once all 12 panels were trimmed, we took one and attached it to Prop #12.

Then we added a trap door in the panel to provide access to the flag trough.

The goal was to keep the back of the prop visually covered while still allowing the color guard to quickly reach the flags stored inside.

But just like the handrail, we needed to see how it worked during rehearsal before deciding whether to install the remaining 11 panels.

Back to School

By the end of the day, Prop #12 had become our latest test platform.

It now had a new 3/4-inch EMT handrail running along the staircase and a Coroplast back panel with an access door for the flag storage.

Two new features, both ready for their first real-world test.

Susie and I loaded Prop #12 back into the truck and returned it to the high school, where it could rejoin the rest of the prop herd in time for Monday's rehearsal.

Now we wait for feedback.

Will the handrail help the students move up the stairs with more confidence?

Will the Coroplast back look better without getting in the way of moving the prop or accessing the flags?

And, most importantly, will the directors want us to repeat these changes on the other 11 props?

I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

One handrail down. Eleven more, maybe.

September 26, 2026 – Contest Day! Show Time!

After months of designing, cutting, welding, painting, and assembling props, it was finally time to see everything come together on the competition field.

Today was our first marching contest of the season, held in Melissa, Texas.

And while the band had spent weeks rehearsing the show, this was also the first real test of our entire prop transportation and setup plan.

Will Everything Fit?

The day started at the high school, where the students had a morning rehearsal before we began loading all the equipment for the contest.

This was the moment of truth for all the transportation planning we'd been doing throughout the summer.

We had 12 stair props, two stages, eight media frames, and 10 front sideline screens, along with all the other equipment needed for the show.

Everything needed to fit into two 26-foot box trucks and our smaller cargo trailer. The band instruments and additional equipment would travel in the semi-trailer.

I'd spent plenty of time thinking through how everything would be loaded, but there's always a little uncertainty until you actually start putting props into trucks.

Fortunately, everything fit exactly as planned.

Even better, we had so many students and parent volunteers helping that I had the luxury of mostly supervising the loading process rather than doing all the heavy lifting myself.

After spending most of the summer building these props, that was a pretty nice change.

With everything loaded, we headed to Melissa for the contest.

It's a stadium we've visited for marching contests in previous years, so at least we were starting the season somewhere familiar.

The Prop Crew Gets to Work

When we arrived, we parked the trucks and trailers and already had a full crew of parent volunteers waiting to help unload and assemble everything.

It's always encouraging to see that many people willing to help.

The unloading and assembly went smoothly, especially with the media frames.

This is our third year using these frames, and many of the volunteers already know how they go together. The new trailer storage system also made it easier to find the pieces and get everything assembled without sorting through piles of steel tubing.

Once everything was assembled, we moved the props to the staging area to prepare for the band's performance.

Marching contests have very tight timing requirements. Each band gets just five minutes to move everything onto the field and set up, followed by only two minutes to clear the field after the performance.

That's not much time when you're moving 12 large stair props, eight media frames, stages, and sideline screens.

And this was the first time our band had attempted the full contest setup this season.

But everything went remarkably well.

A few of the back media frames might not have ended up in exactly the correct positions, but overall, the students and volunteers got everything onto the field and ready for the performance without any major problems.

After months of working on individual pieces of this project, it was great to finally see the complete show on the competition field.

And just like that, the first performance was over.

We cleared the field, moved everything back to the trailers, and settled in for a few hours while we waited for the preliminary results.

Lunch With the Original Band Kid

Our oldest son joined us today to help with props.

That made the day a little more special.

After all, he was the first of our three sons to choose band back in sixth grade, many years ago. That one decision eventually led us down the path of becoming band parents, volunteering to help with props, and ultimately spending the last ten years building increasingly elaborate marching band structures.

It's funny to think about how much of our lives can be traced back to one kid deciding to join the school band.

So while we had some downtime, we grabbed lunch with him.

Then it was back to the trailers.

Because apparently, even on contest day, I can find workshop projects to work on.

Six Holes Times Twelve Props

First on my list was making progress on the possible handrails for the stair props.

After the discussions with the directors over the past couple of days, we had decided to build one prototype handrail for testing at Monday's rehearsal before committing to all 12.

But I still wanted to get the mounting holes drilled in all the props while we had some extra help available.

Each prop needed six holes.

That's 72 holes in total.

The day before, I had made two drilling jigs to help position the holes consistently, and I brought two drills with me to the contest.

With a couple of other band dads helping, we took turns drilling through the steel frames.

Having the jigs made the process much easier. Rather than measuring and marking every hole individually, we could position the jig and drill with confidence that the holes would be in the correct locations.

We worked our way through all 12 props and got the job done.

I also had an opportunity to test-fit a prototype of the upper handrail section to see how it lined up with the mounting holes.

One more task checked off the list, and a big head start on Sunday's project.

From Prop Crew to Trailer Maintenance Crew

With the drilling finished, we switched jobs.

Now we were the trailer maintenance crew.

Our semi-trailer was making its first outing of the marching season, and we had rented a truck cab to pull it.

When the cab was hooked up to the trailer the day before, we noticed that the upper running lights on the trailer weren't working.

I had brought my multimeter to the contest so we could use some of the downtime to troubleshoot the problem.

After checking things out, we discovered the issue wasn't with the trailer at all.

It was a blown fuse in the rented cab.

Fortunately, I happened to have exactly what we needed.

A few years ago, we had a fuse blow in one of our trucks during an away football game. That resulted in a late-night trip to Walmart to find replacement fuses.

After that experience, I ordered a large assortment of automotive fuses from Amazon and started keeping them in my truck.

Today, that decision paid off.

We replaced two fuses in the cab, and the running lights were working again.

Sometimes the best tools are the ones you bought because something went wrong years earlier.

The Mystery of the Trailer Lights

Next on the maintenance list was the lighting system in our smaller cargo trailer.

The trailer has a solar panel and lead-acid batteries that power LED lights inside, which are especially useful when we're loading and unloading equipment at night.

Lately, though, the lights haven't been staying on very long.

My first assumption was that the batteries weren't charging properly.

So out came the multimeter again.

After checking the batteries, we discovered they were actually charged and appeared to be fine.

That meant the problem was somewhere else in the electronics controlling the lighting system.

We didn't manage to identify the root cause, but we did figure out a way to reset the electronics and get the lights working again when they shut off.

Not a permanent repair, but at least we now have a workaround.

We'll have to dig into that problem another day.

Between drilling holes, replacing fuses, and troubleshooting electrical systems, we managed to turn our contest downtime into a pretty productive maintenance session.

Packing It All Up

Unfortunately, the band didn't advance to finals.

That's always disappointing, especially after seeing how much work the students and staff have put into the show.

But it also meant our day was going to end a little earlier than it might have otherwise.

After the preliminary awards, we disassembled the props, loaded everything back into the trucks and trailers, and headed home.

Once we arrived at the high school, we still weren't quite finished.

The stair props and stages needed to be unloaded into the stadium so the band would have them available for Monday's rehearsal.

And one particular stair prop had another destination.

Prop #12 was coming home with me.

Tomorrow, it will be back in the Maker At Play props workshop so I can build and install the prototype handrail for Monday's rehearsal.

Bandtober Has Arrived Early

It was a long day, but overall, I was really pleased with how everything went.

The transportation plan worked. Everything fit in the trucks. The new media frame storage system made setup and teardown easier. We had a great group of volunteers, and the students handled their first full contest setup and field exit without any major problems.

We even managed to get some prop modifications and trailer maintenance done between performances.

And now we're heading into the busiest part of marching season, with contests, rehearsals, football games, and apparently a few more fabrication projects still on the schedule.

Bandtober has officially started, and it's still September!

September 25, 2026 – Do We Really Need Handrails?

I woke up Friday morning to more feedback about the handrails for our stair props.

After spending Thursday evening working through different railing designs in Fusion 360, I had sent the latest version to the band directors for feedback.

The response waiting in my inbox was short and to the point:

Not on the full top. Just on the side of the stairs.

I read that on my phone while still in bed, hopped up, and headed straight to my computer to open Fusion 360.

Apparently, we're still designing handrails.

Another Day, Another CAD Revision

The original concern was that our upcoming USBands contest had a safety requirement for participants standing more than four feet above the ground. Our stair props have top platforms approximately five feet high, so we thought we might need to add 42-inch safety railings.

My first design had railings around three sides of the top platform. Then the feedback was to extend the railing along the stairs while keeping it on only one side.

Now the request was to eliminate the railing around the top platform entirely and just have a handrail along the staircase side of the prop.

I wanted to make sure I understood exactly what was being requested, so I updated the Fusion 360 model again and sent out another image for confirmation.

That's one of the reasons I like working through these designs in CAD. It's much easier to make a few changes to a model and share an image than to build something and discover that everyone had a different idea of what it was supposed to look like.

But the latest design raised another question.

Would a railing along only one side of the stairs actually satisfy the contest rules?

The 50% Question

The USBands rules specified that safety railings must be at least 42 inches tall and surround participants by a minimum of 50%.

There was some debate about whether the latest design would meet that requirement.

If the railing only ran along the staircase, would it provide enough protection for a student standing on the top platform?

We could spend all day interpreting the language, but ultimately, our interpretation wasn't the one that mattered.

The contest organizers would be the ones enforcing the rules.

So rather than guessing, we decided to ask.

The band director emailed our USBands contact with an image of the proposed railing design and asked whether it would meet their requirements before we started modifying the props.

I added some background explaining why the props didn't already have railings.

We had intentionally designed the platforms to keep the students' feet below six feet, based on what we understood to be the applicable safety requirement. The USBands packet appeared to have a stricter four-foot threshold, which was why we were now considering modifications.

Then we waited.

An Unexpectedly Quick Answer

I was surprised by how quickly we received a response.

At 1:07 Friday afternoon, our USBands contact replied:

You're fine. If they meet UIL regulations then we will honor that as well.

Well, that certainly changed things.

After all the discussion about 42-inch railings, platform coverage, and drilling mounting holes into 12 finished props, it appeared we might not need to add safety railings at all.

The important part was that USBands had confirmed they would honor UIL regulations, and we no longer appeared to need the additional railings solely to satisfy the contest packet.

That was a relief.

Maybe We Still Want Handrails

But just because the contest wasn't requiring railings didn't mean the idea was completely off the table.

During our discussions, the directors had raised another reason for wanting them.

The students need to move up the stairs quickly during the show. A handrail along one side could give them something to hold while ascending, giving them more confidence to move faster on the stairs.

It might also help stabilize the props while students are climbing, reducing the need to lock the wheels during certain parts of the show.

That was a different problem from meeting a safety railing requirement.

Rather than surrounding the top platform with 42-inch railings, we could focus on a single handrail along the staircase.

After USBands' response, the director suggested:

Can we try using one in rehearsal next week before committing to them?

That sounded like a good plan.

One Prototype Before Twelve

I replied with a proposal to build and install one handrail for Monday's rehearsal.

That would let the students try it during actual drill and give the directors a chance to evaluate whether it helped.

If it worked well, we could build the remaining 11.

I also planned to go ahead and drill the mounting holes in all 12 props over the weekend. That would get one of the more time-consuming tasks out of the way while we still had some time available.

But I would hold off on purchasing the material for the other 11 handrails until we had feedback from Monday's test.

After all, we had already learned plenty of times this season that it's better to test an idea on one prop before repeating it across all 12.

If we were going to add handrails, I needed to make some progress this weekend.

From Required to Optional in Less Than 24 Hours

Thursday evening, we thought we had discovered a rule that might require significant modifications to every stair prop before our second contest.

By Friday afternoon, we had confirmation from USBands that the existing props were acceptable under the regulations they would honor.

And now we were considering a much smaller handrail project, not because the contest required it, but because it might help the students perform more confidently.

That's quite a change in direction in less than 24 hours.

The good news is that we didn't rush out and buy $400 worth of conduit or start drilling holes before getting clarification.

The even better news is that our first marching contest is tomorrow, and the props are ready.

For now, the plan is to enjoy Saturday's contest, then get back into the Maker At Play props workshop on Sunday to build a prototype handrail.

Apparently, even when the rules say we're finished, we can still find ways to improve the props.

September 24, 2026 – A Last-Minute Safety Challenge

Today should have been a quiet day for the Maker At Play props workshop.

All of the major prop work was complete. Our first marching contest was this Saturday, and after months of designing, cutting, welding, painting, and assembling, everything was finally ready to go.

Or so I thought.

Late in the evening, I received an email from the band director that changed those plans.

He had just received the information packet for our second marching contest, scheduled for a week from Saturday, and there was some concerning language in the rules about students standing on elevated props.

Four Feet, Not Six

The contest packet included the following safety requirement:

No participant may be placed on any portion of any prop or structure where the participant's lowest point of contact (i.e., feet, hands, etc.) is more than four feet (4') above the competition floor unless appropriate safety railing, safety harness, or protective padding is in place around the prop, structure, or podium to prevent injury.

The packet went on to define an acceptable safety railing:

Safety railing is a barrier at least forty-two inches (42") in height at all points and surrounding participant(s) a minimum of 50%.

That was a problem.

When we designed the stair props, I had been working from what I understood to be UIL safety requirements. Those rules used a six-foot threshold for requiring safety railings, so we had intentionally designed the top platforms to be below that height.

I later realized that the six-foot requirement I had been referencing actually came from BOA rules, not UIL.

Either way, our stair props have top platforms approximately five feet above the ground.

Five feet is comfortably below six feet.

But it's definitely above four feet.

And now, with our second contest just over a week away, we potentially needed to add safety railings to all 12 stair props.

So much for a quiet evening.

Time to Start Designing Again

My first thought was to focus on meeting the new contest requirement by adding a safety railing around the top platform.

The platform is where the students are standing at the greatest height, so that seemed like the logical place to start.

But as I exchanged emails with the band director, another concern came up.

The students also need to move up the stairs quickly during the show. Adding a handrail along the staircase could give them something to hold while ascending, giving them more confidence to move faster on the stairs.

That expanded the scope of the problem.

Instead of just building a protective railing around the platform, we were now considering handrails running the full length of the stairs as well.

Why EMT Conduit?

My first choice for material was 1/2-inch EMT electrical conduit.

We've used EMT on props in previous years, and it has several advantages for this application.

It's relatively inexpensive, easy to bend, and readily available at Home Depot. The galvanized zinc coating also helps protect it from rust, which means we wouldn't need to paint all of the new railings.

That last part was especially appealing considering how little time we had.

The bigger challenge was figuring out how to attach the conduit to the existing steel structures.

The contest requires a railing at least 42 inches tall. Adding that much height to the top platforms would make the props too tall to fit into the box trucks we use for transportation.

That meant the railings needed to be removable.

After considering a few options, I settled on bolting the EMT directly to the steel frame.

I wasn't particularly excited about drilling a bunch of new holes into 12 completed props, especially since all of those holes would have to be drilled by hand. But bolting seemed like the simplest way to create a secure attachment that could also be removed for transportation.

A Quick Workshop Experiment

Luckily, I happened to have some leftover 1/2-inch EMT conduit in the workshop.

Before getting too far into the design, I decided to bend a piece to get a better feel for how the railing might work and how much effort this project would actually require.

And we had another advantage: the original prototype stair prop was still in the workshop.

That meant Susie and I could hold the bent conduit against the actual prop and see what a 42-inch railing would look like in place.

It's one thing to look at a railing in a CAD model. It's another to stand next to a five-foot-tall platform and see just how much additional structure a 42-inch railing adds.

The experiment also helped us think through where the conduit could attach to the existing steel frame and what would be involved in installing and removing the railings.

Having the prototype still around was turning out to be pretty useful. Even after all 12 production props were finished, it was still serving as a test platform for new ideas.

Back to CAD

With a better feel for the material and how the railing might attach, it was time to open Fusion 360 again.

I started by modeling a railing around three sides of the top platform.

That would provide protection around the elevated standing area while leaving the staircase accessible.

I worked up an estimate and sent the director my initial proposal:

I can make handrails out of 1/2-inch EMT on three sides of the top platform for about $400. This still fits within the props budget. They will have to be detachable to fit in the box trucks.

I think we can get them made on Sunday, and if that goes fast enough, we can attach them to the props Sunday evening. Otherwise, we will get them installed before next Saturday.

I also asked about the height of the main drum major stand, since the same rule might apply to it if it exceeded four feet.

The first round of feedback came back pretty quickly:

Full length of the stairs plus the top but only on one railing side.

Okay, that was a different design.

Instead of three sides around the platform, the director wanted a continuous railing running along one side of the staircase and extending around the top.

So I went back into Fusion 360 and added the stair railing to the model.

Now we had another version to evaluate.

The Props Are Never Really Finished

I had spent months thinking through the dimensions, structure, transportation, assembly, and safety of these props. We had tested them with students, lowered the platforms after feedback, and made numerous improvements along the way.

And yet, here we were, two days before our first contest, discussing a significant new modification to all 12 props.

That's one of the challenges of building marching band props. Different competitions can have different rules, and sometimes you don't discover a requirement until the event packet arrives.

The good news is that this is exactly why I spend so much time modeling everything in Fusion 360 and testing ideas on the prototype. I can experiment with different railing configurations, visualize how they'll work with the existing structure, and share the designs with the directors before committing to all 12 props.

By the time I headed to bed, I had the first two railing concepts modeled and had sent them off for feedback.

Tomorrow, we'll pick this back up.

Apparently, the Maker At Play props workshop isn't quite finished with the 2026 marching season after all.

September 23, 2026 – Giving the Props Their Numbers

The 12 stair props have been built for a while now, but there has been one seemingly simple thing missing from them.

Numbers.

The students need to know which prop they're responsible for moving and where that prop belongs at each point in the show. But assigning numbers isn't as simple as lining up the props and labeling them 1 through 12.

We first needed to know exactly how all 12 props would move throughout the entire show.

Twelve Props, but Not Twelve Identical Props

Because the stair props are used throughout the show, we've been waiting for the show designer to finish enough of the drill to see the complete movement of every prop from beginning to end.

That matters because, although all 12 props look similar, they're not interchangeable.

Six are mirror images of the other six. Four have trombone shelves. All 12 have flag troughs, but four have the additional concrete form tubes for props that need to carry larger numbers of flags.

There is also the artwork to consider. The slide side is primarily red, while the stair side is primarily blue. The show designer has been intentionally working those colors into the visual design by controlling which side faces the audience at different points in the show.

So assigning a number to a prop is really a little logistics puzzle involving drill position, orientation, instruments, flags, and artwork.

Today, the show designer emailed the directors and me the details of how the props need to move throughout the show.

Now we could finally solve the puzzle.

LEGO Props to the Rescue

Susie decided the easiest way to understand all of those movements was to make miniature versions of the props out of LEGO.

Because, apparently, Fusion 360 isn't always the answer.

She mocked up little stair props and used them to work through the show movements, figuring out which physical prop should be assigned to each position. As she worked through it, we had to keep track of which direction each prop faced, where the trombone shelves were needed, and which positions required the additional flag storage.

The directors were doing the same exercise independently.

Comparing everything revealed a couple of changes we needed to make before the numbering could be finalized.

One of the trombone shelves needed to move to another prop that was the mirror image of the one where it was currently installed. We also needed to move two of the flag storage tubes to different props.

Fortunately, both of those features were designed so they could be changed without major modifications.

A Late-Night Prop Update

With the assignments figured out, Susie and I made another trip to the high school.

We moved the trombone shelf, relocated the two flag tubes, and then finally gave all 12 props their official numbers.

Now each physical prop matches its role in the drill, and the students can start learning not just how to move a stair prop, but how to move their stair prop throughout the show.

It should also ease the concerns of a few students who were beginning to wonder if these things were ever going to get numbered.

They are now.

After months of referring to them as left, right, mirrored, trombone shelf, extra flags, or simply "that one over there," the 12 stair props finally have identities.

September 22, 2026 – One More Wind Test

We were back at the high school tonight for another full-props rehearsal and another chance to test everything before our first marching contest this Saturday.

Once again, we unloaded the trailer and assembled all eight media frames. The new storage racks continue to make that process much faster and more organized, but yesterday's unexpected wind test had revealed one more thing we needed to address.

The Velcro wasn't quite enough.

Adding a Little Insurance

The bottom trough on each media frame carries the weight of the Coroplast, while Velcro along the top and middle rails keeps the panels against the steel frame. Under normal conditions, that system works well.

But yesterday's wind showed that a strong enough gust could pull a Coroplast panel away from the Velcro even when there wasn't enough wind to blow over the entire prop.

We were also seeing panels occasionally come loose while the props were being moved. Some of that may have been caused by students pushing against the Coroplast while reaching for the metal frame behind it.

Either way, the solution was simple.

Zip ties.

I drilled two 1/4-inch holes in each Coroplast panel. A zip tie could then pass through the panel and around the steel frame, giving us a mechanical connection in addition to the Velcro.

The Velcro still does most of the work and makes assembly easy. The zip ties are just a little extra insurance to make sure a panel can't completely separate from the frame.

Sometimes the best prop improvements aren't complicated.

Finishing the Stages

We also picked back up on the job that Monday's lightning detector interrupted: installing the Coroplast artwork on the two stages.

Each stage gets Coroplast on three sides. Unlike the stair props, where the graphics stay attached for transportation, the stage panels need to be removable.

For those, we're using Velcro.

The panels can be installed once the stages are rolled into position and then removed before everything goes back into the trailer.

With that work completed, we finally got something we didn't get yesterday: a full rehearsal with all of the props.

And Another Wind Test

Of course, the wind wasn't finished helping us test things.

At the end of rehearsal, a couple more media frames blew over.

Once again, everything survived without any significant problems. At this point, the frames have received more real-world wind testing than I would have voluntarily scheduled for them.

More importantly, everything else went smoothly tonight.

Assembly was fast. Disassembly was fast. The new trailer storage system worked well. The Coroplast stayed where it belonged, and the props worked through a complete rehearsal.

After months of designing, cutting, drilling, welding, grinding, painting, assembling, modifying, and testing, it feels like we're finally reaching the point where the props are becoming less of a fabrication project and more of a finished part of the marching show.

Our first marching contest is Saturday.

And after tonight, I'm feeling pretty good about the props being ready for it.

September 21, 2026 – The New Racks Get Their First Test

The Amazon delivery arrived with the bolts I needed, so before heading to rehearsal today, I was able to finish the last piece of the media frame storage project.

I mounted all four wheel racks in the trailer and finally got the 16 media frame wheel assemblies off the floor and into their dedicated spots on the walls.

Everything now has a home.

With that finished, we took the trailer to the high school for the first real test of the new storage system.

With help from other band parents and some students, we unloaded and fully assembled all eight media frames for rehearsal. I'm happy to report that the new racks worked exactly as I had hoped.

Even better, they received positive reviews from some of the parents who helped with props last year. They could immediately appreciate the difference between pulling clearly organized pieces from dedicated locations versus sorting through a pile of frame parts on the trailer floor.

That's really the whole reason I wanted to tackle this project. It isn't just about making the inside of the trailer look organized. It needs to make setup and teardown easier for everyone.

First test passed.

One More Coroplast Job

Once all eight media frames were assembled and out on the practice field, we moved on to another unfinished task: attaching the final Coroplast artwork to the two stages.

We started working on that while the band rehearsed, but Mother Nature had other plans.

The lightning detector went off.

The students headed inside for the remainder of rehearsal, leaving the parent prop volunteers outside to disassemble everything we had just assembled and put it back into the trailer.

But before we could start taking down the media frames, the wind arrived.

A few strong gusts came through ahead of the weather, and a couple of the media frames blew over.

Props Make Really Good Sails

Wind is something I stress about every marching season.

Large marching band props have an unfortunate tendency to also be very effective sails. These media frames are roughly 8 feet tall and 12 feet wide, with large Coroplast panels covering most of that area.

That's a lot of surface for the wind to grab.

There isn't much we can realistically do to completely prevent something that large from blowing over in a strong gust, short of having people physically standing on each prop.

The good news was that today's unexpected wind test also demonstrated something else.

The frames survived.

Despite a couple of them getting blown over, there wasn't any significant damage. The steel frames were fine, the Coroplast was fine, and we were able to stand everything back up and begin disassembly.

Then came the second test of the new trailer storage system.

All eight media frames came apart, and the pieces went back into their dedicated locations. Rails on the wall, wheels into their racks, and Coroplast onto the overhead shelf.

Exactly as planned.

So today's rehearsal didn't go quite as planned, but we still learned a few things. The new storage system works, the media frames can survive being blown over, and the wind remains one of my least favorite parts of building giant marching band props.

Tomorrow we'll be back at rehearsal.

And we'll unload everything and do it all over again.

September 20, 2026 – Everything Gets a Home

Today was a long day in the Maker At Play props workshop, picking up where I left off yesterday on the new storage system for the media frames.

I had the Coroplast shelf built and had figured out how I wanted to store the wheel assemblies, but I still hadn't landed on the best way to organize all of the other media frame pieces on the trailer wall.

There are eight media frames, and each one breaks down into several large pieces: a 10-foot bottom rail, an 8-foot top rail, two 8-foot side poles, and the new middle support rail we added this year.

That's a lot of long pieces of steel tubing that need a home.

Staying Inside the Wheel Wells

I had already figured out the wheel storage. Each media frame has two wheel assemblies, giving us 16 total. My plan was to build four racks that each hold four wheel assemblies, with two racks mounted on each side of the trailer toward the back.

That leaves the wall space underneath the new Coroplast shelf available for all of the long frame pieces.

There was another important design requirement for all of these racks: nothing should stick farther into the trailer than the wheel wells.

The trailer still needs to haul stages, sideline carts, and plenty of other equipment. I didn't want my new storage system to make the trailer less useful for everything else.

The wheel wells extend about 6 1/2 inches from the wall, so that became my maximum depth. The racks, including whatever is stored on them, needed to stay within that space.

Sometimes CAD Isn't the Best Tool

I started by clamping some material to the side of my welding table and experimenting with different ways to nest the frame pieces together.

I tried several arrangements, but nothing was really clicking.

Then I realized I was probably making this harder than it needed to be.

Instead of trying to visualize an entire trailer wall using a small mockup, why not just create a full-size version of the wall?

So I took all of the media frame pieces out to the driveway and started laying them on the ground.

That turned out to be exactly what I needed.

With everything laid out full-size, I could move pieces around and immediately see how the different rails nested together, how much space they occupied, and where the support points needed to be.

Sometimes Fusion 360 and welding fixtures are the right tools.

Sometimes the best design tool is the driveway.

Turning the Layout Into a Rack

Once I had a layout I liked, I could translate those positions into the actual rack.

I welded all of the cleats into their proper locations, creating dedicated spots for the different media frame components. Then I moved the completed rack into the trailer and bolted it to the wall using the existing E-track.

I also added blocks at the top of the rack that tie into the 2x4 structure supporting the Coroplast shelf. That gives the rack another support point and helps keep everything solid against the trailer wall.

For the first time, all of those long media frame pieces had dedicated places to go.

Exactly what I had wanted when I started this project.

Finishing the Wheel Racks

With the main frame storage figured out, I went back to the wheel racks and finished welding the remaining ones.

I test-fit them inside the trailer, and everything looks like it should work as planned. Unfortunately, I couldn't permanently mount them today for two reasons.

First, they still need paint.

Second, I didn't have enough of the hardware I needed to attach all of them to the E-track.

I ordered more bolts from Amazon and am hoping they arrive early enough tomorrow that I can get the racks mounted before we have to leave for band rehearsal.

For now, we loaded all of the Coroplast onto its new overhead shelf and put the media frame pieces into their new wall storage.

The wheel assemblies are still sitting on the trailer floor, but hopefully that's only for one more night.

Meanwhile, in Susie's Workshop...

While I was spending the day climbing in and out of a band trailer, welding racks, and occasionally calling for an extra set of hands, Susie had another marching season project underway.

She was making Paradox earrings.

Since getting her sublimation printer a few years ago, she's made a tradition of taking artwork inspired by the marching show and props and turning it into earrings for herself and some of the other band moms.

Marching season is definitely her peak arts-and-crafts season.

Between hundreds of drill spot shirts, senior parent shirts, and now earrings, her projects have been running right alongside all of the prop fabrication this year.

She enjoys making them, and it's another fun way for the parents to visually support the band when everyone shows up at marching contests wearing artwork from the show.

By the end of a very long Sunday, the Coroplast had a home, the frame pieces had a home, and the wheel racks were fabricated and waiting for paint and mounting hardware.

If Amazon cooperates tomorrow, even the wheels will finally have a home.

And then we'll get to find out whether all of this planning actually makes unloading and reloading eight media frames easier at rehearsal.

September 19, 2026 – Giving the Media Frames a Home

This is the third year we've used our media frames. I originally built them for the 2024 marching show, we reused them last year, and now they're back again for a third season.

And for three years, there's been something about them that has bothered me.

When we transport them, all of the individual frame pieces basically get piled on the floor of the trailer.

It works, but it's not organized. People have to sort through pieces when assembling the frames, and when everything goes back into the trailer, there isn't an obvious place where each part belongs.

I've wanted to fix that for a while, so I set a goal to finally tackle it this year.

Besides, this is my last year as a band parent. It's pretty much now or never.

And considering the media frames have already survived three different shows, I suspect they'll continue to get plenty of use after I'm gone. It seems worth spending some time making their storage and transportation better for whoever is dealing with them in future seasons.

Everything Needs a Home

For the past few weeks, I've been mocking up different storage ideas in Fusion 360.

My main requirement was simple: every media frame component should have a dedicated location in the trailer.

The pieces should be easy for volunteers and students to remove when setting up the props and, just as importantly, there should be an obvious place to put everything back when loading the trailer after a performance.

The Coroplast panels also needed a home.

My first thought was to store the Coroplast vertically against the trailer wall and secure it with straps. I had done something similar last year, and it certainly takes up less floor space.

But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of storing the panels flat. These are large sheets of Coroplast, and supporting them horizontally should reduce the chance of them developing a bow or warp over the course of the season.

That led to the idea of building a large 4-by-8-foot shelf high on the trailer wall.

The shelf would extend out from the upper section of E-track already installed in the trailer and be built primarily from 2x4 lumber. By keeping it high enough, the space underneath remains usable so larger equipment such as the stages and sideline cart can still roll underneath it.

The Coroplast gets a large, flat storage area without consuming valuable trailer floor space.

At least that's how it looked in CAD.

Today it was time to build it.

First, the Rest of Marching Season

Of course, I couldn't just wake up Saturday morning and start working on the trailer.

The day began with John's cross country meet. From there, he had to head to a drumline contest where he was performing as a soloist.

After all of that, I made a Home Depot run for the lumber I needed for the new shelf.

Then it was over to the high school to hook up the band's 20-foot trailer and bring it home.

Finally, it was shop time.

Building the New Storage System

The first major project was fabricating the Coroplast shelf inside the trailer.

This was one of those projects where having modeled the idea beforehand helped considerably. I already had a good idea of how I wanted the shelf positioned, how it would interact with the E-track, and how much clearance I needed underneath it for the other equipment.

Once the shelf was taking shape, I moved on to another part of the storage system: a dedicated rack for the media frame wheel assemblies.

Each media frame has its own rolling base components, and those are exactly the kind of pieces that previously ended up scattered around the trailer floor.

Today I completed the first rack designed to hold four wheel assemblies for two media frames.

It's a good start.

By the end of the day, the trailer was already looking more like an organized transportation system and less like a place where we simply throw prop pieces when we're finished with them.

But there's still plenty left to do.

The full props are scheduled to go to rehearsal Monday, which means this new storage system gets its first real-world test almost immediately.

So tomorrow is going to be another busy day.

Great progress today, but I have a lot more to finish if everything is going to have a home by Monday.

September 15, 2026 – More Flag Experiments

Tonight's prop task was another round of experimenting with the flag storage on the stair props.

Last week, we tried using 12-inch-diameter concrete form tubes to help contain the large number of flags stored underneath four of the props. The tubes worked well at keeping the flag silks contained and away from the wheels, but we thought there was still room for improvement.

The biggest issue was organization. One large tube holds plenty of flags, but the color guard needs to be able to quickly grab the correct flags for different parts of the show.

So tonight we tried the next idea: a tube inside a tube.

We started with a Home Depot run to pick up some 8-inch-diameter concrete form tubes. The idea was to nest an 8-inch tube inside each 12-inch tube, creating separate areas where flags could be grouped while still keeping everything contained.

We also needed enough tubes to outfit two additional stair props, bringing the total to four props with the new flag storage system.

With our collection of concrete tubes loaded up, we headed to the high school while the band was rehearsing and installed them in the props. Now the color guard can experiment with different ways of organizing the flags and, more importantly, test the system during actual rehearsals.

At this point, I've learned that the best way to solve these kinds of problems is to get something onto the prop, let the students use it, and then adjust from there.

Maybe More White Isn't the Answer

We also tried another visual experiment tonight.

One thing we've noticed about the stair props is that you can look straight through the open space between the steps. We wondered if filling those spaces might make the props look more solid and finished from the audience's perspective.

I cut three pieces of white Coroplast, each 11 by 22 inches, to fit between the steps on one prop.

The thought was that the white Coroplast might create a nice contrast with the black stair treads while tying into the white slide.

That was the theory.

Once we attached the pieces and stepped back to look at the prop, the answer was pretty clear.

Nope.

The white dominated the stairs instead of complementing them. Combined with the large white slide, there was simply too much white, and we lost the visual definition of the black steps.

That's why we test these things on one prop first.

The white panels will come back off, and we'll keep thinking about other ways to close the visual gaps without overpowering the staircase itself.

Two experiments tonight. One looks promising enough to keep testing. The other lasted just long enough to remind us why prototypes are useful.

That's still progress.

September 13, 2026 – 96 Feet of Props

Today's goal in the Maker At Play props workshop was pretty straightforward: finish the back media frame props.

Last Monday, we completed the first media frame with its Coroplast artwork and learned a few things in the process, particularly that my original plan didn't use nearly enough Velcro. After some experimentation, we settled on a system that uses the new bottom trough to carry the weight of the Coroplast, while plenty of Velcro along the middle and top rails keeps the panels securely against the frame.

Today it was time to repeat that process seven more times.

And that meant attaching a lot of Velcro.

With three Coroplast panels on each media frame, we worked our way through the remaining seven frames, attaching Velcro to the steel rails and matching pieces to the backs of the Coroplast. It wasn't particularly complicated work, but there was plenty of it.

We also installed the final set of wheels on our newly built eighth media frame.

Well, almost final.

I had ordered four locking casters from Amazon, but only two of the four they sent were locking. These media frames really need all four wheels to lock, so at some point I'll need to do a little wheel swapping with some of our older props to get four locking casters onto the new frame.

But that wasn't going to stop us from calling the media frames finished for today.

Time for a Photo Shoot

Once all eight frames had their artwork installed, I wanted photos.

The media frames are designed to work in pairs, so we rolled them out two at a time into the street to photograph each pair together. It was the first opportunity to really stand back and see all of the artwork at full size.

And since we already had all eight frames sitting outside, there was really only one logical thing left to do.

Line them all up down the street.

Each media frame is about 12 feet wide and 9 feet tall. Put eight of them together and you get a 96-foot-long, 9-foot-tall wall of props running down the street in front of our house.

I'm sure our neighbors are used to strange things appearing in front of the Maker At Play props workshop by now.

Still, seeing all eight frames lined up together was pretty impressive.

A few weeks ago, these were seven old media frames that I wanted to improve and a pile of new steel that would eventually become an eighth. Since then, we've added the bottom Coroplast troughs, new middle support rails, modified the lower frame assemblies, built an entirely new eighth frame, painted everything, experimented with the attachment system, and installed all of the artwork.

Now they're done.

Eight media frames. Ninety-six feet of artwork.

And one more big item checked off this year's prop list.

September 10, 2026 – Rethinking the Flag Troughs

Today's prop work was a smaller session focused on tweaking the color guard flag storage underneath the stair props.

All twelve stair props have flag troughs, but four of them need to hold a lot of flags.

The challenge isn't just fitting all of the flag poles into the trough. With that many flags together, the silks can spill over the sides and potentially get caught in the wheels or other parts of the prop as it moves.

And the color guard drill doesn't exactly provide time for everyone to carefully roll up their flags before putting them away. They need to be able to finish with a flag, quickly stick it into the prop, and move on to whatever comes next.

So we need something that contains the silks better while still being extremely fast and easy to use.

Maybe PVC?

Weeks ago, I considered using PVC pipe instead of the plywood troughs. At the time, though, I didn't really know how many flags we were talking about or how large the pipe would need to be.

Once you start going beyond 4-inch PVC, the price also climbs pretty quickly.

For some reason, it didn't occur to me until this week that there was another option: concrete form tubes.

You would think I would have thought of that sooner considering how many of them we used to build the giant organ pipes for our Pipe Dreams show back in 2023.

They're lightweight, inexpensive, available in much larger diameters, and basically already shaped like a giant flag holder.

So I made a quick Home Depot run and bought two 12-inch-diameter tubes to experiment with before committing to anything.

Then it was off to band rehearsal for the real test.

We put one of the tubes into a stair prop and let the color guard practice with it. The initial results were promising. The large tube does a much better job of containing the flag silks and keeping everything away from the wheels.

But I think we can do better.

A Tube Inside a Tube?

The problem with one large 12-inch tube is that all of the flags still end up together.

Ideally, the color guard would be able to group flags by different parts of the show. That would make it easier to quickly put one flag away or grab the next one without digging through a giant bundle.

My next idea is to try nesting a smaller-diameter concrete form tube inside the 12-inch tube. That could divide the available space into separate areas while still keeping everything contained within the larger tube.

But that's an experiment for another night.

After rehearsal, Susie and I had another commitment on the schedule. We loaded up John and headed for College Station so he could join the cross country team for their meet in the morning.

Props. Band rehearsal. Flag storage experiments. Then a late-night drive to College Station for cross country.

Just another Thursday night for the Hawkins family during the busy fall season.

September 7, 2026 – Velcro, Assembly, and a Little More Trial and Error

After finishing the painting yesterday, today's goal was to assemble all eight media frames, make sure all of the pin and bolt holes lined up, and start attaching the Coroplast artwork.

But first, there was one other project to finish.

The two sets of stage steps were painted and ready for their plywood treads, so I drilled the mounting holes and bolted the plywood into place.

Stage steps: done.

It's always nice to put a final check mark next to something on the prop list.

Assembling All Eight Media Frames

Next, we moved on to the media frames.

The big test was assembling all eight frames to make sure the various pieces still fit together after all of this year's modifications. Overall, assembly went well, although a few of the pin holes needed a little persuasion from the drill before the pins would pass cleanly through both sides of the square tubing.

Media Frame #8 is also still waiting on its wheels, so for now it's the only one sitting there wheelless.

One small finishing detail I added to the new middle rails was plastic end caps for the exposed 1-inch square tubing. They don't change how the frame functions, but they keep the ends of the tubing from being left open and give the new pieces a much more finished appearance.

It's a little detail, but those details matter to me more and more with each project.

Maybe One Inch of Velcro Isn't Enough

With the frames assembled, it was finally time to see how well my new Coroplast attachment plan would work.

The bottom angle-iron trough carries the weight of the Coroplast, so the Velcro only needs to keep the panels against the frame. My original idea was to put a 6-to-8-inch horizontal strip of Velcro on the new middle rail and another 6-inch strip vertically on the Coroplast.

Where the two strips crossed, there would be about a 1-inch-square contact point.

My thinking was that one square inch of Velcro would provide enough holding force since it wasn't actually supporting the weight of the panel. Meanwhile, the longer strips stuck to the steel and Coroplast would provide plenty of adhesive surface area, making it less likely that someone would accidentally rip the Velcro itself off when quickly disassembling the frames.

It made sense in my head.

Reality had a different opinion.

I completely underestimated how little holding force we would get from that 1-inch-square Velcro connection.

It wasn't nearly enough.

The media frames still have a little bit of rack when they're pushed from the side. That slight twisting motion was enough to pull apart those small Velcro contact points and allow the Coroplast to pop away from the frame.

Time for Plan B.

More Velcro

The solution was pretty simple: a lot more Velcro.

Instead of using small crossing contact points, we added Velcro across the full length of the new middle rail and also added Velcro along the top rail.

That made a huge difference.

With much larger contact areas, the Coroplast stayed firmly against the frame. Even better, having the Coroplast securely attached seems to help stiffen the entire assembly. The frame doesn't rack as much, which in turn puts less twisting force on the Velcro connections.

That's more like what I had hoped this year's media frame redesign would accomplish.

Between the bottom trough carrying the weight, the new center rail supporting the Coroplast through the middle, and the larger Velcro attachment areas keeping everything together, the new system is looking promising.

We finished installing all three Coroplast panels on one media frame before deciding we'd had enough.

It was simply getting too hot outside to keep going.

So we'll call it one media frame completely finished, with seven more to go.

Another Delivery to the School

Before wrapping up the prop work for the day, we loaded the two completed sets of stage steps and took them to the high school. Now the band has the steps available tomorrow if they decide to start incorporating the stages into rehearsal.

And while my prop work ended for the day, Susie's marching season work continued into the evening.

She finished out the day at the heat press, working her way through the senior parent shirts.

Stage steps complete and delivered. Eight media frames assembled. The Velcro experiment failed, got redesigned, and then worked. One media frame now has its artwork installed.

We're getting very close.

But apparently marching season still isn't ready to give Susie and me our house back.

September 6, 2026 – A Day of Paint

Today was all about painting.

The fabrication work on the stage steps and media frames is finally complete, which means we're getting very close to wrapping up this year's prop build. Before any of these pieces can head to the school and get their Coroplast artwork, though, all that bare steel needs paint.

I started the day with some final grinding on the stage steps, cleaning up the last of the welds and getting the frames ready for paint.

While I was grinding and prepping the steps, Susie was working on yet another marching season project: senior parent shirts.

Since she's been having good luck with DTF transfers, she offered to make shirts for the other senior parents. And rather than making every shirt say "Band Mom," she let everyone customize theirs. So we now have a mix of Band Mom, Band Dad, Band Aunt, and other variations.

Today she was getting everything organized, matching the correct design with the correct shirt size so that once she started pressing, everyone would end up with the shirt they actually ordered.

Once I had the stage steps ready, Susie shifted from shirts to props and took over most of the painting for the day.

She painted the two new sets of stage steps along with the plywood treads that will eventually be bolted onto them. Then it was on to the media frames and all of the new pieces we've added to them this year.

After spending the past couple of weeks cutting, drilling, fixturing, welding, and modifying these parts, paint is one of those steps that suddenly makes everything look much closer to finished.

And while I may get to do a lot of the cutting and welding on these projects, Susie has done a whole lot of painting this summer. Not to mention drilling holes, helping move props, making drill shirts, sorting show shirts, hanging senior banners, and now making senior parent shirts.

There's definitely more than one workshop running around our house during marching season.

By the end of the day, the stage steps, plywood treads, and media frames were painted and ready for the next step.

The steel is fabricated. The grinding is done. The paint is on.

We're getting very close to the end of this year's prop build.

September 5, 2026 – The Props Come Alive

Some people spend Labor Day weekend at the lake or take one last trip to mark the end of summer.

Nine years ago, over Labor Day weekend, Susie said, "Hey, the band is working on props today. We should go help."

My Labor Day weekends have never been the same.

Today, another great group of band parents, grandparents, and students decided to spend part of their Saturday helping with props. And today was a pretty big milestone for this year's project.

We finally got to see the props come alive with artwork.

The main goal for today's workday was to install the printed Coroplast on the front sideline screens and the twelve stair and slide props.

Before we could do that, we needed to make a trip to the band's prop storage container to pull out the ten sideline screen frames we're using this year, along with two of last year's stage sections that will become this year's two smaller stages.

This was one of those times when having students around was particularly helpful. We were more than happy to let the younger muscles handle much of the physical work of moving frames in and out of the container.

A Little Prop Fundraising

While we were in the container, we also pulled out eight additional sideline screen frames, but these weren't for our show.

The Booster Club from Forney High School recently reached out after finding my Maker At Play website and asked if I would build eight sideline screens for their band.

Over the years, I've had a lot of people find the website and contact me with questions about how we design or build our props, and I'm always happy to share what I've learned. But actually taking on a complete prop build for another band is more than I have time for.

Fortunately, there was another option.

TCHS owns 22 of these sideline frames. We only used six last year and need ten this year, so I felt pretty comfortable that we could sell eight and still leave our band with fourteen for future shows.

Forney gets the props they need, we clear a little space from our storage container, and the TCHS Band gets a quick $2,400 fundraiser.

Not a bad deal for everyone involved.

Installing the Flag Troughs

While one group was pulling everything out of storage, another group of parents started installing the eleven flag troughs I built last weekend.

All twelve stair props will have a trough underneath them where the color guard can store flags during the show. Since the Coroplast will eventually cover much of the frame, we needed to get those troughs installed before we started covering the props.

With that job underway, we split into teams and started on the artwork.

One group began attaching Coroplast to the sideline screen frames while another group worked on the stair props.

Fitting the Artwork to the Props

For the stair props, we intentionally had the side artwork printed slightly oversized.

Even though all twelve props were built from the same dimensions and fixtures, I didn't want to risk having the Coroplast pre-cut to an exact dimension only to discover that a panel was slightly too small and left part of the frame exposed.

It's much easier to remove material than add it back.

For each panel, we clamped the oversized Coroplast against the side of the actual prop and traced the steel frame directly onto it. We then removed the panel and cut along those lines with a box cutter.

That gave us a piece fitted to the actual finished prop rather than just the dimensions from CAD.

Once each panel was trimmed, another group attached it to the steel frame using Gorilla Tape. We plan to leave this Coroplast installed for the entire season, including during transportation, so there isn't a need to design it for quick removal between shows.

We're Leaving the Backs Open…For Now

We intentionally did not install the Coroplast backs today.

Before covering the backs, I want the students to rehearse with the props in this configuration for a while.

The students need to move these props during the show, and the color guard and musicians need access underneath them for the flag troughs and instrument shelves. Once we put a large sheet of Coroplast across the back, we're going to change how everyone interacts with the prop.

So rather than guessing, we'll let the students use them first.

We'll likely need to cut access hatches into the back panels for the flag troughs and instrument shelves. I also suspect we'll end up adding some kind of handholds so the students have good places to grab the props when moving them around the field.

It's another example of something I've learned repeatedly throughout this project: don't finalize a design decision until you understand how the people actually using the prop interact with it.

Twelve Props, Finally Looking Like the Show

By the end of the workday, the sideline screens had their artwork and all twelve stair and slide props had their side panels installed.

After months of looking at bare steel, black paint, and plywood, it was pretty satisfying to finally see the artwork transform them into something that looks like part of the show.

Of course, I couldn't resist lining up all twelve stair props for a photo.

And after spending months designing them, cutting hundreds of pieces of steel, building fixtures, welding, grinding, painting, installing plywood, and working through all of the little problems along the way, there was one more thing I needed to do.

I climbed up and walked across the entire line of twelve props.

I think I'd earned that one.

It was a great and productive workday, and a pretty significant milestone for this year's build.

But we're still not quite done.

Tomorrow, Susie and I will be back in the Maker At Play props workshop working on the media frames.

September 4, 2026 – Testing the New Media Frame Design

The morning started in Texarkana at a cross country meet.

Once the meet was over, we made the three-hour drive back to Dallas and headed pretty much straight into the Maker At Play props workshop. We're getting close enough to the end of this year's prop fabrication that I wanted to maximize whatever shop time I could get today.

I had originally hoped to have everything finished before Labor Day weekend.

Nope.

At this point, it looks like I probably have one more week of fabrication before I can finally call this year's prop build complete.

The first order of business today was continuing work on Media Frame #8. I worked on completing the remaining steel parts while Susie finished drilling all of the holes needed for the new frame.

But before I started welding the new angle-iron troughs onto the other seven media frames, there was one test I wanted to perform.

So far, I had only tested the new trough design using a small scrap of 10mm Coroplast. That was enough to work out the spacing, but I wasn't willing to modify all of the frames until I knew the idea worked with the actual full-size artwork.

We fully assembled the first media frame and installed all three printed Coroplast panels.

First, it was just fun to see another piece of this year's show artwork standing upright for the first time.

More importantly, the new media frame design showed real promise.

The bottom trough supported the weight of the Coroplast just as I had hoped, and the new middle rail provided additional support across the panels. Instead of relying on the Coroplast to hang from the top of the frame, the artwork now has a solid place to sit while the other attachment points simply need to keep it against the frame.

The full-size test gave me enough confidence to move forward.

The remainder of today's work session became another production run, welding the angle-iron troughs onto the bottoms of the remaining media frames.

It's always a good feeling when an idea that started in Fusion 360, moved to a small prototype, and then finally gets tested at full scale actually works well enough to repeat seven more times.

The final task of the day wasn't fabrication at all.

Tomorrow is another parent prop workday, but this one will be at the high school rather than our house. That means I can't simply walk into the garage whenever we need another tool, bolt, drill bit, or piece of material.

So I finished the day staging the tools and supplies we'll need to take with us.

Cross country meet. Three-hour drive home. Media frame fabrication. Full-size Coroplast test. Seven more troughs. And preparation for tomorrow's workday.

Labor Day weekend may not be the end of prop season after all, but we're getting very close.

September 3, 2026 – Definitely Not a Band-Free Night

No prop work tonight, but once again, that definitely didn't mean it was a band-free night.

We had a home football game tonight. On a Thursday.

I'm still not sure why. We don't share our stadium with another school, so I'm not sure why we couldn't play on Friday, but oh well. Marching season schedules don't always have to make sense.

And apparently building props isn't enough for us to do for the band, because Susie also took the lead on the senior banners this year.

Before the game, she helped with Chuckwagon to feed the band. Then we headed to the stadium early so we could hang all of the senior banners along the fence.

The stair and slide props were also out on the field tonight, so we got another chance to see them being used during the halftime show. It's still fun seeing something that occupied our garage for most of the summer rolling around the football field as part of the actual production.

Once halftime was over, our night took another turn.

We checked our son and two other students out of the game early. All three are doing double duty this fall as both marching band and cross country students, and they needed to be in Texarkana with the cross country team the next morning.

So instead of heading home after halftime, we started a three-hour drive to Texarkana.

Because apparently one extracurricular activity at a time would be too easy.

And somewhere in all of this, Susie's new DTF shirt operation continues to grow. Since making shirts with DTF has turned out to be so much easier than our previous sublimation process, she's now making senior band mom shirts for some of the other moms as well.

Props. Drill shirts. Show shirts. Senior banners. Senior mom shirts. Football games. Cross country road trips.

We're definitely making the most of marching season.

This is our tenth and final year as band parents, so I guess we're trying to go out with a bang.

September 2, 2026 – A Better Way the Second Time

Back in the Maker At Play props workshop tonight, and it was time to give the new welder a workout.

First up was the second set of stage steps.

Building the first set taught me a few things about the best order for assembling the frame. With seven spacer pieces connecting the two sides, I found myself moving and repositioning the first set quite a bit as I tried to get access to all four sides of every joint.

Since these steps will have people standing on them, I want every joint fully welded, so there's a lot more welding involved than the finished steps might suggest.

Tonight, I changed the assembly sequence based on what I learned from the first set. By being more deliberate about which spacers I welded and when I repositioned the frame, I was able to reduce how much I had to move the entire assembly around.

It's one of my favorite parts of building multiples of something. The first one is as much about figuring out how to build it as it is about actually building it. By the second one, you already have a process to improve.

With Stage Step #2 complete, I moved on to the eighth media frame.

The next pieces on the list were the wheel bars that form part of the rolling base. I had already cut and drilled the pieces, so tonight I started welding those parts together into the finished wheel bar assemblies.

Two stage step frames are now complete, and Media Frame #8 is starting to move from a pile of parts toward an actual frame.

Another productive night of turning steel into props.

September 1, 2026 – Band Props Division

No prop fabrication tonight, but marching band season never really stops.

Tonight was a Band Booster Board meeting, so the Maker At Play props workshop stayed quiet for the evening. But that doesn't mean we weren't still doing something band related.

Now that Susie has started using DTF transfers for shirts, we've been having some fun experimenting with other shirt ideas beyond all the drill spot shirts she made for the band.

Of course, I immediately started thinking about prop shirts.

A while back, I had ChatGPT brainstorm some shirt designs based on all the fabrication work that goes into building marching band props. It came back with several that fit pretty well, including:

"Measure. Cut. Weld. Grind. Repeat."

"Someone has to build the impossible."

And one that felt particularly appropriate after building twelve staircase props this year:

Expected: "Can you build one?"
Reality: Quantity: 12.

But the design we decided to make was a little more official looking: Maker At Play, Band Props Division, Est. 2017.

Since Susie now has the DTF setup and heat press ready to go, it was pretty easy to turn the idea into an actual shirt.

And with a Band Booster Board meeting tonight, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give the new shirt its first outing.

After ten years of building marching band props, I suppose the Maker At Play Band Props Division deserves its own uniform.

August 31, 2026 – From 2D to 3D

With the new welder up and running, tonight's goal was to complete the first of the two new stage step frames.

That meant more fixturing on the Fireball welding table.

I started by finishing the individual side frames, using the table and fixtures to keep everything square while welding. Since the step frames are taller than my welding table is wide, I also experimented with a new technique for creating a reference plane off the side of the table. It gave me a way to accurately position parts beyond the normal working surface of the table.

Once all four side frames for the two sets of steps were complete, it was time to take the first set from a collection of flat, 2D assemblies and turn it into a 3D structure.

Seven spacer pieces connect the two sides together.

I almost made a mistake when I started setting up the first of those welds. Initially, I used the plane of the second step as my reference against the welding table. It seemed logical at first, but fortunately I caught myself before getting too far.

What really matters is how the finished steps sit on the ground.

Instead of starting with the second step as my reference, I repositioned everything so the feet and front edges of the step frames established the starting reference plane. That gave me a much better chance of ending up with a finished assembly that actually sits flat on the ground instead of rocking from one corner to another.

Once the two sides were connected and the overall structure established, I could use the welding table itself as a reference surface for each individual step as I worked my way through the remaining spacers.

These stage steps look relatively simple, but there are 23 individual pieces of steel in each set.

That's a lot of joints and a lot of welding.

Since students will actually be standing and moving on these steps, I wasn't interested in taking shortcuts. I welded all four sides of each joint to make sure there weren't any weak points hiding in the structure.

Eventually, all 23 pieces became one completed steel frame.

Of course, there's only one proper way to finish a project like this.

I dropped the three plywood treads into place and gave the steps a test climb.

Everything felt solid, the steps sat flat, and there was no rocking.

Success.

Now I just need to do the whole thing one more time for the second stage.

But that's a job for another night.

August 30, 2026 – Switching from Steel to Plywood

With the welder still out of action, I switched my focus from metal to wood today.

There are always plenty of other tasks waiting on a project like this, so today's goal was to build the remaining eleven flag troughs for the stair and slide props. I already had one completed prototype, and after settling on the 12-inch-wide design, it was time to build the rest.

First, though, I needed plywood.

After a Home Depot run for supplies, I set up my Bora Centipede work table with a 4-by-8-foot sheet of 2-inch foam on top. The foam makes a great sacrificial surface for the track saw. I can lay an entire sheet of plywood on it, support the material everywhere, and let the saw blade cut slightly into the foam underneath.

Then it was time for another little production run.

Eleven flag troughs meant cutting 11 bottoms and 22 sides. I used the track saw to rip all 33 pieces to width, then carried everything over to the miter saw to cut them to their final lengths.

In hindsight, it probably would have made more sense to cut the full plywood sheets to length first and then rip the smaller pieces to width.

Apparently, I wasn't thinking quite that far ahead today.

It still worked. I just created a little more material handling for myself than necessary.

While I had the plywood and saws out, I also cut the six pieces needed for the steps on the two new sets of stage stairs.

Once all of the flag trough pieces were cut to their final dimensions, assembly went pretty quickly. A combination of wood glue and the nail gun turned the pile of plywood strips into eleven completed troughs.

Add the prototype I already built, and we now have all twelve flag troughs for the stair props.

Not too long after I finished, Amazon showed up with a package I was particularly interested in seeing.

My new welder had arrived.

I spent some time unpacking it, getting everything set up, and running a few test welds to make sure it was ready to go. After yesterday's unexpected welder failure, it was good to have a working machine in the shop again.

So despite starting the day without a welder, it turned out to be a pretty productive Sunday. Eleven flag troughs built, the plywood for the stage steps cut, and a new welder sitting in the Maker At Play props workshop ready for the next work session.

Tomorrow, I can get back to welding.

August 29, 2026 – When the Welder Has Other Plans

It was a full Saturday, although prop progress didn't go quite as far as I had hoped.

Susie spent more time at the drill press, drilling all of the holes needed for the eighth media frame. Meanwhile, I started welding together the stage steps.

I began with the small 1-inch by 1-inch flat-bar feet I cut yesterday. After welding those onto the ends of the legs, I attached the legs to the crossbars to create the bases for the four sides of the two sets of steps.

Then I started working my way up the steps.

That's when my welder decided it had other plans for my day.

The welder started staying energized even after I released the trigger. It had done this once before and seemed to fix itself, so at the time I didn't think too much about it. Unfortunately, I learned during that previous episode that it wasn't just keeping the welding circuit energized. It was also keeping the shielding gas valve open.

That probably explained why I unexpectedly emptied a bottle of shielding gas a few weeks ago.

This time, I knew better than to keep using it and dump another bottle of gas into the garage.

My first thought was that the problem might be with the trigger contacts in the MIG gun, but after some troubleshooting I was able to rule that out. A little internet research pointed toward a problem with the welder's control board.

I could have spent more time trying to diagnose and repair it, but marching season doesn't leave a lot of room for downtime.

So I bought another welder.

Not exactly the purchase I had planned to make today, and probably not the ideal circumstances for shopping for a new piece of equipment, but I tried to at least use the opportunity to make an upgrade.

My existing welder runs on 110 volts, and I've pushed it pretty hard on some of these projects. At times I've been right at its limits and occasionally tripping breakers. If I was replacing it, I wanted something that could run on 220 volts and give me more capacity.

There was one other important requirement: it needed to arrive tomorrow.

I can't afford to lose a week of prop fabrication waiting for a welder.

After some quick research, I ordered a YESWELDER 250A 6-in-1 MIG welder that supports both 110V and 220V. It's certainly a less expensive brand than the name-brand machine I've been using, but for the price I was willing to take the risk, even if it doesn't end up lasting me a lot of years.

With welding officially shut down for the day, I switched to tasks that didn't require a functioning welder and spent some time grinding parts instead.

But props weren't the only thing on today's schedule.

Tonight was Parent Preview for the band, when parents get to see the current progress on the show and even head onto the field with their student to get a small taste of what marching band is actually like.

Our two older sons joined us for Parent Preview this year, so we planned to meet for dinner beforehand.

That's when we discovered that one of their cars had a flat tire.

What could have just been another frustrating interruption instead turned into one of those proud parent moments.

We got to watch our sons immediately jump in and help each other change the tire. It was great to see that they've learned practical life skills like how to change a tire, but I think what made me even prouder was how they handled the situation. Nobody got overly frustrated about the flat. They just dealt with it. And one brother jumped in to help the other without needing to be asked.

Every once in a while, you get one of those little moments that makes you think Susie and I must have done something right raising our three sons.

With the tire changed, we made it to Parent Preview. Since this is Susie and my 10th Parent Preview, we were more than happy to let the brothers head onto the field in our place and experience marching with their younger brother.

And then we got to see our son starting the show standing on top of the props we've been working on all summer.

So, all things considered, not a bad day.

Yes, my welder crapped out.

Yes, we had a flat tire to deal with.

And no, I didn't make as much progress on the props as I had planned.

But we got to watch our sons help each other handle one of life's little problems, and we got to spend the evening together with all three of our kids.

Any day we get to do that is a pretty good day.

August 28, 2026 – More Metal Cutting

Tonight in the Maker At Play props workshop, it was back to cutting metal.

With the stage steps underway and the media frame redesign coming together, I still need to build our eighth media frame. I started by clearing everything off the Fireball welding table so I could clamp the chop saw back into place and set up for another round of production cutting.

After spending so much of the summer cutting hundreds of pieces for twelve staircase props, the amount of steel needed for one media frame feels pretty manageable.

I also cut some 1-inch by 1-inch flat bar for the bottoms of the new stage steps. These small pieces will be welded over the open ends of the square tubing that form the legs.

They serve two purposes. First, they close off the exposed ends of the tubing and give the finished steps a cleaner appearance. Second, they provide a little more surface area where the legs contact the ground, essentially creating small feet for the steps.

It's a minor detail, but those are the kinds of details I've found myself paying more attention to as I've done more fabrication.

Nothing particularly complicated tonight. Just clearing the table, setting up the saw, cutting more steel, and getting the next batch of parts ready for welding.

Another short but productive night in the workshop.

August 27, 2026 – Trust, but Verify

Tonight is our first football game of the season, and it's an away game. That means instead of spending the evening in the Maker At Play props workshop, we'll be loading band trucks and heading to the game.

But we still managed to make some prop progress today.

After yesterday's road trip to Tulsa, we had a truckload of printed Coroplast that needed to be sorted and checked.

We started by separating everything by its destination: sideline screens, stair and slide props, back media frames, and stages. From there, we sorted the individual images for the sideline screens and media frames into their proper groups and made sure every image we expected was actually there.

We've learned over the past few years that simply counting the sheets isn't enough.

In previous seasons, we've made it home with the correct number of Coroplast pieces, only to discover that we didn't have the correct artwork. A duplicate image had been printed in place of another, so the total count looked right even though one of the designs was missing.

Those discoveries usually resulted in a phone call followed by replacement pieces being shipped to us.

So now our process is to verify both the quantity and the content before we start installing anything.

I'm happy to report that, after yesterday's issue with the missing staircase back panels was corrected in Tulsa, everything else in this year's order was exactly what it was supposed to be.

All the artwork is accounted for, sorted by prop, and ready for installation.

Not every day of prop season involves welding or building something. Sometimes progress is simply making sure you actually have all the pieces you think you have.

Now it's time to trade the workshop for the football field and officially kick off the season.

August 26, 2026 – The Annual Coroplast Road Trip

The Coroplast is ready!

For the third year in a row, that meant Susie and I were headed north for our annual road trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to pick up the printed artwork for the props.

It's about an eight-hour round trip, but making the drive ourselves saved the band around $800 in freight costs this year. Plus, Susie and I don't mind spending the day together in the truck, so it's become a bit of a marching season tradition.

When we arrived, I went through the order before loading everything into the truck. With this many different pieces and sizes, I definitely didn't want to discover something was missing after driving four hours back home.

Good thing I checked.

We were six pieces short.

There had been some confusion around the Coroplast panels for the backs of the stair props. To reduce material and printing costs, we designed the artwork so two backs could be printed on a single 5-by-10-foot sheet instead of using an entire sheet for each prop.

We needed six sheets containing two copies of the back artwork on each sheet, enough for all twelve props. Instead, only six copies of the image had been printed.

Fortunately, we caught the mistake while we were still there, and they were able to print the missing six images while we waited.

We used a similar strategy for the side panels, printing two pieces on each 5-by-10-foot sheet. Before heading home, we took some time to cut those sheets apart. Besides getting some of the work done before we left, it meant we didn't have 10-foot-long sheets of Coroplast hanging out the back of the truck for the four-hour drive home.

With everything counted, cut down enough for transportation, and loaded into the truck, we headed back to Texas.

All of the artwork made it safely back to the house, which means another large pile of marching band materials has officially taken over our home.

The steel fabrication may be winding down, but now it's time for the part that will completely transform these frames.

We finally get to add the artwork.

August 25, 2026 – From CAD to the Real Frame

Tonight was a shorter session in the Maker At Play props workshop, but it was an important checkpoint before I started fabricating more parts.

We began by assembling one of the media frames so I could double-check the measurements for the new middle support rail.

I already had all of the dimensions worked out in Fusion 360, but before cutting and welding a bunch of identical pieces, I wanted to verify those measurements against the actual frame. After everything I've learned building twelve staircase props this summer, I've become a big believer in checking the physical assembly before moving into production.

Fortunately, the real frame matched the CAD model.

With the measurements confirmed, I could start fabricating the main middle rail.

This was similar to the job I finished with last night. I had already welded 5-inch flat bars onto the ends of the sixteen 12-inch side pieces. Tonight, I used the same process on the main 93-inch center rail, except this piece needed a 5-inch flat bar welded onto both ends.

Once the center rail was finished, I bolted it into the frame along with the two 12-inch side extensions.

For the first time, I could see the complete new middle-support design on an actual media frame rather than just in Fusion 360.

The new rail gives the Coroplast support across the middle of the frame while still allowing the frame to be disassembled for transportation. Combined with the new trough along the bottom, I'm hoping this will make installing the Coroplast simpler while also keeping the artwork flatter and better supported.

That was enough progress for tonight.

Sometimes a productive evening in the workshop isn't about making a big pile of parts. It's simply confirming that the design works in the real world before making seven more of them.

August 24, 2026 – Media Frame Production

After yesterday's work figuring out the new media frame design, tonight was about moving more of those ideas into production.

I started with the lower sections of the frames. Yesterday I modified the original corner pieces by notching them to make room for the new angle-iron trough. Tonight I welded the bottom rails directly to those newly modified corner pieces.

I also made a change from my original plan for the trough itself.

Initially, I planned to use two 4-foot pieces of angle iron along the bottom rail. Each piece would be positioned to span the seam where two Coroplast panels meet, allowing the trough to support both panels.

The more I thought about it, though, the simpler solution seemed to be one continuous 10-foot piece of angle iron across the bottom.

There was just one problem.

I hadn't ordered any 10-foot pieces.

I had ordered the material based on my original design, so I had plenty of 8-foot pieces. Rather than make another metal run, I cut 2-foot sections and splice welded them to the 8-foot pieces to create the 10-foot lengths I now needed.

A little extra fabrication, but I like the continuous trough design better.

The other task tonight was working on the new middle support rails.

The main center rail spans between the sides of the media frame, but I also needed short sections on each side to extend that support all the way across the Coroplast. That meant fabricating sixteen 1-foot-long pieces, two for each of the eight media frames.

Each piece gets a 5-inch flat bar welded to one end. The flat bar has two holes that accept the bolts used to connect the middle rail assembly to the sides of the media frame.

Sixteen identical parts means another opportunity for a fixture.

I set up the Fireball welding table to consistently position the 5-inch flat bar on the end of each 1-foot piece of square tubing. Once the fixture was dialed in, it was the familiar production process I've used throughout this project: place the parts, clamp, weld, remove, and repeat.

After spending some time in the Maker At Play props workshop, Susie and I traded fabrication for a trip to the high school to watch the band rehearse.

And we got to see something I've been waiting months to see.

The stair and slide props were out on the field and being used in the show.

After spending so many evenings looking at those props as Fusion 360 models, piles of steel, welding fixtures, half-finished assemblies, and crowded rows in the garage, it's pretty rewarding to finally see them where they were designed to be.

On the field, as part of the show.

August 23, 2026 – Rethinking the Media Frames

With the parts for the stage steps cut, today I shifted my attention to the media frames.

We've used these frames for the past couple of seasons, but attaching the Coroplast artwork has always been more complicated than I think it should be. This year, I'm trying a different approach.

In the past, I've been pretty opposed to using Velcro. We've had bad experiences with it coming loose and needing to be replaced between shows. Because of that, most of my previous designs focused on making the Coroplast hang from the top rail. Last year, that meant attaching pieces of conduit to the Coroplast to create hooks that hung over the top of the frame.

This year, I'm flipping that idea around.

Instead of hanging the Coroplast from the top, I'm adding an angle-iron trough along the bottom of the frame. The 10mm Coroplast panels will sit in that trough, allowing the steel frame to carry their weight.

I'm even going to give Velcro another chance.

The big difference is that the Velcro won't be supporting the weight of the Coroplast. Its only job will be to hold the panels against the frame and keep them from leaning forward. Ideally, the only thing we'll need to permanently attach to the Coroplast this year is the Velcro itself.

Before modifying all eight frames, though, I wanted to experiment with one.

The first question was how wide to make the bottom trough. It needs enough clearance that a 10mm Coroplast panel can easily slide into it, but I don't want it so loose that the panel moves around excessively. I clamped the angle iron into position and used a small scrap of 10mm Coroplast to experiment with the spacing.

Adding the angle iron also required modifying the original lower corner pieces of the media frame. The angle iron needs to extend beyond the sides of the frame, and I didn't want to notch the angle iron because that would create a weak point exactly where I wanted it to remain strong.

Instead, I decided to notch the existing corner pieces.

At first, I wasn't sure of the best way to make those notches, so I machined the first two on my milling machine. It worked and produced nice cuts, but it was painfully slow for something I needed to repeat many times.

So I switched to a cutoff wheel on the grinder.

Much faster.

Not nearly as pretty.

Sometimes production efficiency wins over pretty cuts, especially when those cuts aren't going to be visible anyway.

While I was redesigning the bottom of the frame, I decided to make another change. Previously, the bottom rail was pinned into the lower corner assemblies so the media frame could be broken down. Now that I'm welding the angle-iron trough to that rail, keeping the bottom rail removable didn't make much sense.

I cut apart the original lower corner assemblies so I could weld the bottom rail directly to the pieces that receive the vertical sides of the frame. Besides simplifying the new trough design, this should make the assembled media frames a little more rigid.

We're also adding another horizontal crossbar about four feet up the frame.

Previously, the Coroplast was supported primarily at the bottom and at the 8-foot-high top rail. With a large sheet of Coroplast spanning that distance, it could bow through the middle and create gaps between the artwork and the frame.

The new center bar gives the Coroplast support halfway up the frame and provides another attachment point for the Velcro.

Unlike the lower corners, which slide together and are pinned, the new center bars will bolt into place so the frames can still be disassembled for transportation. While I worked on cutting and modifying parts, Susie worked on drilling all of the matching bolt holes in the frames and new crossbars.

By the end of the day, I had the angle-iron trough welded into place on the first media frame.

The initial test with the small piece of 10mm Coroplast looks promising, but I'm not ready to start welding the other seven frames just yet. A small scrap and a full 4-by-8-foot panel can behave very differently.

Before committing to this design eight times, I want to put a full sheet of Coroplast into the prototype frame and make sure the idea actually works.

I've learned that lesson a few times already this season.

August 22, 2026 – Back to Cutting Steel

Now that the new steel is in the Maker At Play props workshop, the first task is breaking down the pieces for the two sets of stage steps.

Over the years, I've started taking more pride in the little details of my fabrication work. One of my goals when building with square tubing is to avoid leaving open ends of tubing exposed whenever possible. That usually means using 45-degree miters at corners or carefully planning butt joints so one piece of tubing covers the open end of another.

It takes a little more planning and cutting, but I think the finished product looks much cleaner.

All of those repeated cuts also give me more opportunities to experiment with jigs and stops on my Fireball welding table.

For production cutting, I'll clamp my metal-cutting saw directly to the welding table and then use the holes and fixtures in the table to create stops for the tubing going into the saw. Once everything is set correctly, I can make multiple identical parts without measuring every piece individually.

I had some particularly nice setups today for the pieces with 45-degree ends, including stops that provided full support and made the cuts very repeatable.

There is one important trick when the stop is on the cutoff side of the saw.

I don't want the freshly cut piece trapped between the stop and a spinning saw blade. That's a good way to have a piece of steel bind and potentially get launched across the shop, or toward my head.

Instead, I put one of my 1-inch spacers between the tubing and the stop while positioning the material. Once the tubing is in place, I remove the spacer before making the cut. That leaves a 1-inch gap for the cutoff piece to move freely after the blade passes through it.

For longer pieces, I still need something to support the far end of the tubing while cutting. Building a set of adjustable material supports remains on my project list. For now, a scrap piece of wood clamped to a sawhorse works just fine.

Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

The actual stage steps will be plywood bolted to the steel frames, so once those pieces were cut to length, Susie started drilling the mounting holes while I continued cutting the remaining steel.

Having two people working through different parts of the process makes everything move much faster. While I'm cutting the next batch of parts, she's already preparing the previous batch for assembly.

After building twelve sets of stairs earlier this summer, two sets of stage steps should be pretty straightforward.

At least that's the plan.

August 21, 2026 – Restocking the Workshop

My latest metal order was ready for pickup today, which means I'm all set for another weekend of prop fabrication.

Compared to many of the recent work sessions, today was an easy one in the Maker At Play props workshop. No welding, grinding, drilling, or complicated fixtures to figure out. Just a nice little drive over to Metal Supermarkets in Lewisville to pick up the steel I ordered earlier this week.

This batch of metal will become the two new sets of steps for our stages, the eighth media frame, and the modifications I'm planning for the seven existing media frames.

After weeks of working on twelve large staircase props, this pile of steel looks refreshingly small.

I brought everything home, unloaded it into the garage, and got it ready for tomorrow.

Sometimes progress on a project is simply making sure the materials are sitting in the shop when you're ready to work.

Tomorrow, it's back to fabrication.

August 18, 2026 – On to the Next Props

Now that all twelve stair and slide props are built, it's time to move on to the next items on this year's prop list.

First up are the stages.

We're reusing the stages we built last year, but this year they'll be used in a different configuration. Last season, three 4-by-8-foot sections were combined to create a single 12-by-8-foot stage. This year, we're using two of those sections independently as two separate 4-by-8-foot stages.

That means each stage needs its own set of steps.

After building twelve sets of stairs for the stair and slide props, I'm thinking two little sets of stage steps should feel like a much smaller project.

I'm also taking another crack at improving our media frames. We've used the same seven frames for the past two seasons, and attaching the printed coroplast has always been more difficult than I think it needs to be. I have some ideas for modifying the frames to make installing the artwork easier this year.

And while I'm at it, I need to build one more.

The artwork order includes enough panels for eight media frames, but we currently only have seven. Since we decided not to build the additional stage piece originally discussed for the show, I don't mind putting that fabrication time toward adding an eighth media frame instead.

But before any of that work can begin, I need more steel.

Tonight's job was figuring out exactly what material I'll need and putting together another order for Metal Supermarkets in Lewisville. They've been my go-to source for steel for many years now, including the more than 200 pieces of tubing that started this year's staircase build.

This order will be considerably smaller.

I need 1-inch square tubing for the two sets of stage steps, additional pieces for the modifications I'm making to the existing media frames, and enough material to fabricate Media Frame #8.

The twelve staircase props may be built, but the fabrication work for this year's show isn't quite finished yet.

Time for another steel order and the next round of projects in the Maker At Play props workshop.

August 17, 2026 – The Other Marching Season Workshop

Marching season in the Maker At Play workshop doesn't only mean building props.

For the past few years, Susie has also taken on the job of making the band's drill spot shirts, and this year was no different. So while I've been filling the garage with steel, plywood, welding sparks, and paint, Susie has spent the past few weeks turning our front living room into a shirt factory.

For those unfamiliar with marching band, every student is assigned a "spot number" that identifies them in the marching drill. Each instrument section is assigned a letter, and each student within that section gets a number. Together, those become the student's unique spot number that is printed on their drill shirt.

Once all of the spot numbers are assigned, the band director sends the information to Susie. She then does a data merge between the spreadsheet containing the students and their shirt sizes and the spreadsheet containing their assigned spot numbers. The result is a master list telling her exactly which number needs to be pressed onto each shirt.

In previous years, Susie printed all of the spot numbers herself using our sublimation printer. This year, she decided to try DTF, or Direct-to-Film, transfers instead.

Rather than printing hundreds of individual numbers at home, she ordered all of the transfers from a local DTF shop on what is called a "gang sheet." The transfers arrive together on large sheets, ready to be cut apart and heat pressed onto the individual shirts.

The DTF process turned out to be significantly easier than sublimation.

With sublimation, every shirt required multiple sheets of protective paper to keep the ink from bleeding through the shirt onto the back and to prevent ink from transferring onto the heat press itself. DTF doesn't have the same ink-bleeding issue, eliminating much of that extra preparation and cleanup.

Once all of the spot shirts were pressed and sorted into their instrument sections, the living room shirt factory immediately switched to its next job: show shirts.

Susie didn't make the show shirts, but someone still had to take the full order and sort everything for distribution. That means separating shirts not only by band section, but also sorting all of the orders placed by family and friends. To make sure everyone receives exactly what they ordered, she prints an individual label for each shirt and attaches it before everything is distributed.

For weeks, our front room has been filled with stacks and stacks of shirts.

But just as quickly as all of those shirts leave the house, something else is about to take their place.

The printed coroplast for this year's props should be arriving soon, and when it does, we'll need a large space to unpack it, sort through all of the panels, verify the artwork, and organize everything for installation.

So the shirt factory will soon become the coroplast sorting facility.

There's always something taking over part of our house during marching season.

August 16, 2026 – Finishing Touches, Delivery, and What's Next

There was one final detail to take care of before loading the props and taking them to the high school.

The instrument shelves needed a little more finishing work.

We decided the raw plywood shouldn't be left exposed, both for aesthetics in case the shelves can be seen through the stairs and, more importantly, to protect the instruments. We also wanted the shelves to have a little friction so instruments wouldn't easily slide around as the props move.

Our high-tech solution? Cheap black towels from Walmart.

Susie and John worked on covering the shelves with the towels. They used John's trombone to determine exactly where the bell rests on the shelf and added some extra padding in that area. This gives the trombone a natural "registration" spot where the bell settles into place while also providing a little additional protection.

While they worked on the shelves, I turned my attention to another project.

Since our 20-foot trailer was already at the house for transporting the props, it seemed like a good opportunity to tackle some overdue trailer maintenance.

Earlier this year, we had a bit of a mishap while hauling some large carts. Despite being secured, the carts worked themselves loose and crashed into the inside of the trailer's side door with enough force to damage it. Part of the aluminum siding was knocked out of the edge framing that normally holds it in place.

Today I removed the entire door from the trailer so I could take apart the edge framing, flatten the aluminum siding, and work it back into the frame.

Success...mostly.

The siding is securely back where it belongs, and the door looks much better. I'm no longer concerned about the aluminum continuing to pull away from the frame. Unfortunately, the door and surrounding frame are still slightly misaligned, so the door sticks and takes a little more effort to open than it should. It's not perfect, but it's a significant improvement.

With the shelves finished and the trailer door reinstalled, it was finally time to load props.

Four staircase props are about all we can fit into the trailer at once, so we loaded the first four and hauled them to the high school. The final two will require another trip.

While we were at the school, we also covered the instrument shelf on the prop that was already there, which means all four instrument shelves are now complete.

And because apparently delivering props means I need to bring more props home...

We loaded all seven of our existing media frame props onto the smaller trailer and brought them back to the Maker At Play workshop.

With all twelve staircase props now built, my attention can shift to the next phase of this year's prop project. The artwork package includes enough panels for eight media frames, but we currently only have seven. That means my next fabrication project is building Media Frame #8, followed by making some improvements to the existing seven frames.

The staircase build may be wrapping up, but prop season isn't over quite yet.

August 15, 2026 – The Final Six Come Together

Today was another parent prop workday, and once again we had a great group of band parents show up ready to help.

Getting four of the six props painted earlier in the week paid off immediately. Instead of waiting for everything to move through our single paint sprayer, volunteers could start working on those four props while we finished painting the last two.

From there, the focus was getting all six props across the finish line.

We attached the plywood stair treads and top platforms, followed by the plywood for the slides. Then the Polywall went over each slide to create the smooth, durable surface the students will actually slide on during the show.

With plenty of extra hands, we were able to keep multiple jobs moving at the same time. By the end of the official workday, all six props had their plywood and slide surfaces installed.

That means all twelve staircase props are now built!

After lunch, I still had a few additional pieces I wanted to fabricate.

Four of the twelve props need instrument shelves underneath the stairs so soloists and ensemble members have somewhere to stow their instruments during portions of the show. I had already built one prototype shelf, so I spent the afternoon fabricating and installing the remaining three.

I also continued experimenting with the flag troughs that will eventually be installed underneath all twelve props for the color guard.

The first prototype I built was only four inches wide. After getting feedback from the color guard, it sounds like something in the 12-to-15-inch range would work better. For this next version, I went with 12 inches.

There was also a practical reason for choosing that dimension: material efficiency. A 12-inch-wide trough divides nicely into a standard 48-inch-wide sheet of plywood, allowing me to get four widths from each sheet with very little waste.

So the flag trough design is getting closer, but I still want to get feedback on this larger version before fabricating all twelve.

Another very productive volunteer workday is complete. All twelve staircase props are built, four now have their instrument shelves, and we're narrowing in on the last piece of fabrication with the flag troughs.

After months of cutting, welding, grinding, painting, and assembling, the staircase prop build is very close to being completely finished.

August 12, 2026 – Getting Ahead on Paint

One of the lessons learned from our previous parent prop workdays was that painting can quickly become a bottleneck.

We only have one paint sprayer, and several of the assembly tasks can't begin until the steel frame has been painted. At the last workday, that meant volunteers were sometimes waiting for a prop to make its way through the paint station before they could move on to attaching plywood.

With our next parent workday coming up on Saturday, Susie and I decided to get a head start.

Tonight's goal was to paint four of the remaining six props.

Painting these large frames also presents another challenge: figuring out whether you actually painted everything. With all of the tubing, stairs, supports, and different angles, lighting and shadows can make bare spots surprisingly difficult to see. You can look at a prop from one direction and think it's completely covered, then move a few feet and suddenly spot an area you missed.

Tonight we experimented with painting inside the garage and partially closing the garage door to change the lighting. It helped reduce some of the shadows and made it easier to spot areas that still needed paint.

By the end of the evening, four of the six props were painted and ready for Saturday.

That leaves only two props to spray during the volunteer workday. Instead of everyone waiting for the first prop to come out of paint, we'll start Saturday with four frames already ready for plywood.

Hopefully, a little work tonight will keep a lot more hands busy on Saturday.

August 8, 2026 – The Metalwork Is Done

Today was a milestone I've been working toward for almost two months.

The goal for this Saturday in the Maker At Play props workshop was to finish the remaining welding on the final six props. All six were already standing on their own wheels, but the tops of the stair and slide assemblies still needed to be fully welded to the platforms.

Before I could start welding, though, I needed to make a few more parts.

Earlier in the week, I had borrowed some of the 12-inch pieces intended for the tops of the props and used them as mounting brackets for the instrument shelves. That meant a quick trip back to the saw to cut replacement pieces before I could finish the props.

With those pieces cut, it was time to weld.

I worked my way through the six props, finishing the upper connections between the stairs, slides, and platforms. One prop after another moved into the completed column until there were none left.

And that's it.

The metal fabrication for all twelve staircase props is officially complete.

I started cutting steel for the production run back on June 13. Nearly 40 work sessions later, hundreds of individual pieces of steel have been cut, drilled, ground, fixtured, and welded into twelve rolling staircase and slide props.

There were prototypes, design changes, fixtures to invent, mistakes to correct, hundreds of holes to drill, a few empty bottles of welding gas, and a whole lot of welding along the way.

But the steel fabrication phase is finally finished.

Next up: paint, plywood, and getting these final six props ready to join the first six at the school.

August 7, 2026 – The Subassembly Piles Disappear

Tonight was more of the same in the Maker At Play props workshop, and that's a good thing.

The goal was to keep working through the assembly process I started earlier this week and get Props #4, #5, and #6 through the welding-table stage. Platform, stairs, slide, wheels, then off the table and on to the next one.

At this point, the process is pretty well dialed in.

The coolest part of tonight wasn't necessarily completing another three props. It was watching the piles of subassemblies disappear.

For weeks, the shop floor has been filled with stacks of bases, stair assemblies, platforms, and slides waiting for their turn. Every time another prop comes together, several of those piles get a little smaller. Tonight, the last of the base assemblies disappeared completely.

That actually created enough floor space to park one of the newly assembled props where the stack of bases had been sitting.

There's something satisfying about that transformation. A few weeks ago, the shop was filled with hundreds of individual pieces of steel. Then those became piles of subassemblies. Now even the subassembly piles are disappearing as everything comes together into finished props.

By the end of the night, all six of the remaining props were standing on their own wheels.

They aren't quite finished with fabrication yet. I still need to go back through all six and complete the upper welds where the stairs and slides attach to the platforms, but that's a job for the next work session.

For now, it's nice to look around the shop and see six more rolling staircase props instead of piles of parts.

Twelve props are standing.

Just a little more welding to go.

August 5, 2026 – Starting the Second Six

The first six props are complete and at the school, which means it's time to start all over again with the remaining six.

Fortunately, this time I have a much better assembly process.

My goal for tonight's session in the Maker At Play props workshop was to get three more props assembled with their platforms, stairs, slides, and wheels.

After working through the first six, I've learned which parts of the assembly really need to happen while the prop is on the welding table and which can wait until later. For this batch, I'm focusing only on welding the platform to the base, welding the bottoms of the stairs and slide, and attaching the wheels while each prop is on the table.

Once those steps are complete, the prop comes off the table and the next base goes on.

That's a change from how I built the first six. Previously, after a prop came off the table, I would stop to finish welding the tops of the stairs and slide to the platform before moving on. It worked, but it meant constantly switching between different tasks.

This time I'm treating the build more like an assembly line. I'll get all six props through the welding-table stage first, then come back and complete all of the upper welds as a batch.

It's another small improvement that comes from building twelve of the same thing. By the time you reach the second half, you've had plenty of opportunities to figure out what works and what slows you down.

By the end of tonight's session, three more staircase props were standing on their own wheels, and Base #4 was already sitting on the welding table waiting for the next work session.

The second six are officially underway.

August 2, 2026 – The First Six Delivered

Today was all about making room for the next six props.

Before the first batch could leave the workshop, though, there was one final fabrication task to complete.

The band director had requested that four of the props include a shelf underneath the stairs where soloists could temporarily place their instruments during the performance. Just like the flag trough, I wanted to build one prototype shelf and send it to the school with the first batch of props. That way, the band staff could see it in person, try it out, and provide feedback before I built the remaining three shelves.

With the shelf completed and attached, it was finally time to clear out the workshop.

The first stop was the high school to pick up our 20-foot trailer. After bringing it home, we loaded the first four props. That turned out to be the trailer's limit, so it would take two trips to deliver all six.

Back at the high school, we unloaded the props and tucked them underneath the home stands in the football stadium where they'll stay until rehearsals begin.

Then it was back home for one final trip.

We loaded the remaining two props, made the drive back to the school, and added them to the growing collection underneath the stands.

Seeing all six props lined up together at the stadium was a rewarding moment. Just a few months ago they existed only as a sketch, then a Fusion 360 model, then a prototype, and finally hundreds of pieces of steel spread across the workshop floor. Now they're sitting at the school, ready for the students to start using.

Even better...

The workshop is empty again.

Well...empty enough.

There's now just enough room to start building the second set of six props. Fortunately, thanks to all the lessons learned from building the first batch, the remaining six should come together much faster.

Six down.

Six to go.

August 1, 2026 – Six Props Completed

Today's second volunteer prop workday was a huge success.

We had a great turnout of band parents, and with so many helping hands we were able to tackle multiple jobs at the same time. Within the first 90 minutes we were already checking tasks off the list, and before long the workshop was running like a small assembly line.

The only things slowing us down were having a single paint sprayer and a single track saw. We had to wait for each prop to be painted before plywood could be installed, and much of the plywood still needed a little final trimming to fit each prop perfectly.

Even with those bottlenecks, we accomplished far more than I expected.

By the end of the day, all six props were fully assembled.

That included fabricating and installing the first prototype flag trough on one of the props. I'm happy with how it turned out, and it should make building the remaining eleven much more straightforward.

One nice side effect of today's work was how much we accomplished for the next six props.

While one group assembled the first six, another group kept working ahead. We trimmed all of the remaining plywood, cut the Polywall for all twelve slides, and drilled the mounting holes for the flag troughs on every base. That means when it's time to build the second set of six, much of the prep work is already finished.

We also made one small design improvement during assembly.

After installing the platform plywood, we noticed a few sheets had a slight warp. The original design used two carriage bolts on each side of the platform, but we decided to add one bolt at the front and one at the back as well. Those two additional fasteners pulled the plywood down nicely and made the platform feel even more solid.

Looking back at the task list we started with that morning, it's impressive how much was accomplished in a single day:

• Ground the remaining welds on all six props
• Cleaned the steel in preparation for paint
• Painted all six props
• Drilled the mounting holes for the flag troughs
• Trimmed and installed all stair plywood
• Trimmed and installed all platform plywood
• Cut, drilled, and installed the slide plywood and Polywall slide surfaces
• Built and installed the first flag trough prototype

By the end of the day, what had started as six welded steel frames had become six finished staircase props, complete with stairs, platforms, slides, and ready for their trip to the high school.

Days like today are why these volunteer work sessions are so valuable. What would have taken me the better part of a week to accomplish happened in a single Saturday thanks to an incredible group of band parents willing to give up their weekend to help.

Six props are complete.

Now it's time to clear the workshop and start building the next six.

July 31, 2026 – Ready for the Workday

Today's prop session actually started with a trip to Home Depot.

With another parent workday scheduled for Saturday, I needed to make one last supply run before everyone arrived. The shopping list included plywood to build a prototype of the flag trough that will be mounted under each prop, six sheets of Polywall to cover the slide surfaces, and a box full of carriage bolts and nuts to attach all of the plywood during the workday.

The Polywall is a key part of making the props functional. Each 4×8 sheet is cut in half, providing two slide surfaces. Once attached over the plywood, it creates a durable, slick surface that allows the students to actually slide down the props during the performance.

With supplies loaded into the truck, it was back to the workshop.

The first task was finishing the remaining top welds on Prop #6, officially completing the major welding on the first six props.

Then I moved on to welding the final piece of steel for each prop. This is the small square tube that bridges the top of the slide to the top rail, giving the illusion that the slide extends all the way to the top of the structure.

That's when I discovered...

...another mistake.

The pieces I cut earlier in the week were all about a quarter inch too long.

Fortunately, this turned out to be one of those mistakes that's much easier to fix than it is to prevent. A piece that's too long can always be trimmed.

After a little investigating, I realized the problem wasn't actually the pieces I had cut. The mating cross member on the slide assembly had been welded about three-quarters of an inch too low. It should line up flush with the top surface of the platform plywood and the steel that supports it.

Thankfully, I had only welded one of those cross members into place before catching the error.

I trimmed the new pieces to fit correctly and continued welding them onto the remaining props, leaving the incorrectly positioned cross member on the first prop alone for the moment. By that point in the evening, I wasn't in the mood to cut it back out and relocate it. Sometimes it's better to recognize when it's time to stop and tackle a repair with fresh eyes the next day.

Even with that small setback, the timing couldn't have been much better. The first six props are now welded together and ready for Saturday's volunteer workday, where the focus shifts from fabrication to attaching plywood, painting, and bringing these first six props another big step closer to completion.

July 30, 2026 – Six Props Take Shape

Another evening in the Maker At Play workshop, and the finish line for the first six props is finally coming into view.

The night started by rolling Prop #5 off the welding table and onto the floor, making room for Base #6. Once the base was fixtured up, I went back and completed the remaining top welds on Prop #5.

With that finished, all my attention shifted to Prop #6.

The now-familiar assembly sequence continued. The platform was aligned and welded to the base, followed by the stair assembly, then the slide. After that, I attached the wheels so the prop could roll as soon as it came off the table.

I intentionally left the upper welds on Prop #6 for tomorrow.

Not because I was finished for the night, but because I needed to reclaim some shop space.

The table extension that has been attached to my Fireball welding table for weeks had to come off, and the welding table itself needed to be pushed back into its normal position. With six nearly complete props now occupying the workshop, every square foot of floor space matters.

That goal of six props wasn't picked at random.

When I planned this project months ago, I estimated that six fully assembled props would be about the maximum my workshop could comfortably hold. Once these six have their plywood attached, receive their final paint, and are delivered to the high school, I'll finally have enough room to start assembling the second set of six.

It's another milestone that reminds me how much this project is driven by logistics as much as fabrication. Building twelve props isn't just about welding steel. It's also about managing space, organizing materials, and keeping the workflow moving from one phase to the next.

By the end of the evening, six props were standing in the shop, with only a few finishing welds left before Saturday's parent workday.

The first half of the production run is almost complete.

July 29, 2026 – An Unexpected Interruption

Another evening in the Maker At Play workshop, with one goal in mind: keep the production line moving.

The night started by attaching the wheels to Prop #4 so it could finally roll off the welding table. Once it was mobile, Susie helped me move it out of the way and lift Base #5 onto the table so work could continue.

With the next prop fixtured up, I went back and finished welding the top of the stair assembly and the slide on Prop #4. Then it was back to Prop #5. I aligned and welded the platform to the base, attached the stair assembly, and even took a little time to grind two slide assemblies so Prop #6 would be ready when its turn came.

Everything was moving right on schedule.

Then dinner happened.

Or, more accurately...

A golfer happened.

In the middle of our dinner break, we heard the unmistakable sound of a golf ball striking something it definitely wasn't supposed to strike. Living on a golf course, we knew exactly what that sound meant.

Sure enough, another golf ball had found its way into our yard and shattered the back window of my truck.

Unfortunately, this isn't our first experience with golf ball damage. Over the years we've had broken house windows, broken car windows, and even a golf cart take out part of our fence. It's become one of the less enjoyable realities of living on a golf course.

So the evening took an unexpected detour.

Instead of welding props, we spent the next while cleaning shattered glass out of the truck and off the driveway.

Once the cleanup was finished, it was back into the workshop.

I finished welding the slide onto Prop #5, attached the wheels, and called it a night.

Even with an unexpected broken truck window slowing things down, I wasn't about to lose momentum. The goal is still to have six props welded together before Saturday's parent workday, and that's the pace I'm determined to keep.

July 28, 2026 – Finding the Rhythm

Another productive evening in the Maker At Play workshop.

The first task was getting Prop #1 back onto the welding table so I could finish attaching the slide. Susie gave me a hand lifting it onto the table, and I immediately confirmed my theory from last night. Welding the bottom of the slide while the prop was on the table was much easier than trying to do it while the prop was sitting on the floor.

Once the bottom welds were complete, I was ready to finish the top of the slide. Rather than asking Susie to help lift the prop back off the table, I grabbed my ladder, climbed onto the welding table, and finished the welds from above.

It worked...

...but it definitely isn't the process I want to repeat for the remaining eleven props.

That's one of the benefits of building multiple copies of the same project. Every prop teaches me something that makes the next one a little easier.

With Prop #1 complete, Base #3 went onto the welding table.

By this point, I was really starting to get into a rhythm. The platform was aligned and welded into place, the stair assembly followed, and before installing the slide I took a few minutes to grind the welds on the slide assembly so everything would be ready for paint later. With the slide clamped into position, I welded the bottom of both the stairs and the slide while everything was still securely fixtured to the table.

Before removing the prop, I installed the wheels. That way, as soon as it came off the welding table it could roll out of the way under its own power instead of having to be carried around the shop.

As soon as Prop #3 rolled off the table, Base #4 rolled on.

While Prop #4 was fixtured, I went back and completed the remaining top welds on Prop #3. Then it was right back to assembling Prop #4, welding on the platform, attaching the stair assembly, and fitting the slide.

By the time I called it a night, Prop #4 was still sitting on the welding table, well on its way to completion.

Three props are now fully welded together, and the fourth isn't far behind.

It's rewarding to feel the assembly process becoming more refined with each prop. The time spent building prototypes, designing fixtures, and working through the first few assemblies is finally paying off. The production line is finding its rhythm, and that's exactly what I was hoping for before this weekend's volunteer workday.

July 27, 2026 – Back to Welding

After running out of shielding gas over the weekend, the first stop today wasn't the workshop.

During my lunch break, I made another quick trip to Airgas for a bottle swap so I could get back to welding after work. With a fresh cylinder loaded into the welder, it was time to get production moving again.

Another evening in the Maker At Play workshop.

I picked up where I left off on Prop #2 by finishing the top welds on the stair assembly. After building the first prop, I'm already learning better ways to assemble the remaining eleven. On Prop #1, I climbed onto the welding table to reach the upper welds on the stairs. It worked, but it wasn't exactly comfortable. This time, I only welded the lower portions of the stairs while the prop was still on the table, then finished the upper welds after the prop was off the table. It proved to be a much easier approach.

With the stair assembly fully welded to the base and platform, I attached the first slide assembly to Prop #2.

That gave me another opportunity to evaluate the assembly sequence.

Before calling it a night, I clamped a slide assembly onto Prop #1, but intentionally held off on welding it. After wrestling with the slide on Prop #2, I realized I'm not happy with my current process. Welding the bottom of the slide while the prop is sitting on the floor isn't very comfortable or accessible.

I'm now thinking it makes more sense to weld the lower portion of the slide while the prop is still fixtured on the welding table, then finish the remaining welds after it's removed. That's one of the advantages of building twelve identical props. The first few become learning experiences, and every improvement to the process saves time over the remaining builds.

That's the constant balancing act of production work. You're not just building the product, you're also refining the process.

We have another parent prop workday scheduled for this Saturday, and my goal is to have six props fully welded by then. If I can hit that milestone, we'll be able to spend the volunteer day painting the remaining steel and attaching the plywood instead of waiting on fabrication.

One prop at a time, the workshop is beginning to fill with actual staircase props instead of stacks of parts.

July 26, 2026 – A Day of Drilling

With the shielding gas bottle still empty, welding was off the schedule today.

That didn't mean there wasn't plenty to accomplish.

The first priority was fixing the wheel mounting issue that surfaced while assembling the first prop. After thinking through a few options, I decided the simplest solution was also the best one: enlarge the mounting holes in the wheel plates. The bolts are large enough that the slightly oversized holes won't affect the strength of the joint, but they provide just enough extra tolerance to eliminate the frustrating alignment issues during assembly.

So today's work became a drilling marathon.

Susie helped me lift the remaining eleven base assemblies onto the welding table one at a time so I could redrill the mounting holes. Each base has four wheel plates, and each wheel plate has four mounting holes, meaning sixteen holes per base.

That's 176 holes.

It wasn't the most exciting shop day, but by the end of it every base had been updated, and we stacked them back out of the way, ready for final assembly.

Since welding wasn't an option, I shifted my attention to the last remaining piece of the slide assembly.

This square tube bridges the gap between the top of the slide and the top rail of the prop, creating the appearance that the slide extends all the way to the top of the structure. It's a small detail, but one that helps tie the whole design together visually.

It also turned out to be one of the more interesting parts to fabricate.

This tube required angled cuts on both ends and since the rise and run of the piece aren't equal, neither end could be cut with a simple 45-degree miter. Instead, I had to calculate the correct angles before making the cuts so each piece would fit cleanly between the slide and the top rail.

With the day's fabrication work wrapped up, my attention shifted to another design problem that still needed solving: the flag holders.

Each prop needs a flag holder that spans between the wheel supports, which means each one needs to be at least six feet long. My first thought was to use 4-inch PVC pipe, but PVC is sold in 10-foot lengths. That would only yield one full-length flag holder per pipe, and buying twelve 10-foot sections starts getting expensive.

That got me thinking.

What if I cut the PVC in half and used something else to bridge the final foot? That idea eventually led me to mounting the PVC onto a six-foot strip of plywood. Then another thought occurred: if the plywood is already providing the structure, why use PVC at all? Maybe the simplest solution is to build the flag holders entirely out of plywood using three strips: one for the bottom and two for the sides.

Nothing has been decided yet, but that's often how these projects evolve. One idea leads to another until eventually the simplest solution reveals itself.

By the end of the day, the wheel mounting issue had been resolved, the final slide components had been cut, and I had another design problem well on its way to being solved.

Not exactly the day I had planned, but sometimes solving the little problems is what keeps the big project moving forward.

July 25, 2026 – Back in the Shop

After a great family vacation, it was time to get back to work in the Maker At Play props workshop.

The first order of business was finishing the slide assemblies. Before we left on vacation, I had drilled most of the carriage bolt holes in the slide rails. This morning, Susie finished drilling the remaining holes while I focused on the next challenge: figuring out how to fixture the slide assemblies for welding.

The slide turned out to be one of the more interesting fixturing challenges of the project.

Since the slide sits at a 45-degree angle, both the top and bottom cross members have to be welded to the angle iron at that same angle. It took a little experimenting to come up with a setup that was both accurate and repeatable. In the end, my Fireball Monster Square turned out to be the perfect solution. By clamping the angle iron against the square, I could reliably hold every piece at exactly 45 degrees while welding.

Once the fixture was worked out, the rest became another production run. It was simply a matter of rinse and repeat until all twelve slide assemblies were welded.

After lunch, I walked back into the garage to find an unexpected surprise.

While I'd stepped inside for a few minutes, FedEx had quietly dropped a very large box in the middle of the shop. It turned out to be Susie's new heat press that she purchased to upgrade her setup before making this year's spot shirts for the band.

The funny part?

The shipment was marked "signature required."

Apparently, the driver interpreted that as "set a 100-plus-pound box in an open garage and quietly drive away." Thankfully, everything worked out, but it did make us laugh.

With the slide assemblies complete, I reconfigured the welding table, reinstalling the extension so I could begin welding the slides, platforms, and stair assemblies onto the prop bases. At this point, the project is transitioning from building subassemblies to building complete props.

The day ended with another attempt at mounting the wheels on the second prop. Unfortunately, I was still fighting the slight bolt hole alignment issue that showed up on the first prop. Rather than forcing every wheel into place, I'm leaning toward redrilling the mounting holes so the remaining eleven props go together much more smoothly.

Then, just to put an exclamation point on the day...

I ran out of shielding gas.

For the past few work sessions, I'd noticed the trigger on my MIG torch occasionally sticking. Even though it wasn't feeding wire, it apparently was still opening the gas valve. Somewhere along the way, it quietly emptied the bottle.

That means no welding tomorrow since I won't be able to swap the cylinder until Monday.

Instead, tomorrow's shop time will probably be spent redrilling the wheel mounting holes. It's not what I had planned, but solving problems like this is all part of building twelve custom props.

July 18, 2026 – One More Shop Day Before Vacation

Another Saturday in the Maker At Play workshop.

Today's goal was to squeeze in one more day of prop building before the family heads out on our summer road trip tomorrow. There are always a hundred little things that can be knocked out in a day, so I wanted to keep the momentum going before taking a short break.

The first task was finishing the wheels on the first prop we assembled earlier in the week. After correcting the mounting hole issue, I was finally able to get all four casters installed. With the prop now sitting on its own wheels, it was easy to move around the shop, which is becoming more important as these assemblies continue to grow in size.

Having the first base, platform, and staircase fully assembled also allowed me to confirm the final dimensions for the slide. While Fusion 360 got me very close, I always prefer taking the final measurements from the real assembly before fabricating the last major subassembly.

Before starting on the slides, though, there was another project to tackle.

Organization.

As the props continue to come together, the workshop is getting tighter by the day. Individual parts that once stacked neatly on shelves have become seven-foot-long assemblies that consume a lot of floor space. Before making anything larger, I spent some time reorganizing the shop so we'd have room to work when we return from vacation.

With that done, it was finally time to begin the slide assemblies.

The first step was cutting all of the angle iron to length, so I once again set up my chop saw with a stop fence to make the repeated cuts quick and consistent. Anytime you have to make two dozen identical cuts, spending a few minutes building a setup saves a lot of time and improves accuracy.

Of course, this is Texas in July, so I also made sure to take plenty of water breaks throughout the day. Metalworking in a hot garage is a good reminder that staying hydrated is just as important as having sharp tools.

Each side of the slide uses three carriage bolts to attach the plywood slide surface. Rather than drilling those holes by hand later, I decided to drill them now on the milling machine while the angle iron was still easy to handle. That meant drilling 72 holes across all 24 slide rails.

Fortunately, this wasn't as tedious as it sounds.

Months ago, I made a simple jig from a piece of 1½-inch square tubing, and it continues to earn its keep. The angle iron clamps against the jig with a stop locating the first hole. After drilling it, I simply drop a locating pin through the new hole into a matching hole in the jig. That automatically positions the second hole. Repeat the process again for the third hole, then move on to the next piece.

It's a simple fixture, but it makes the job both fast and repeatable.

I didn't quite finish drilling all of the holes before calling it a day, so there will still be a little work waiting when we get back from vacation.

Not a bad place to pause the project. The first prop is standing on its own wheels, the slide fabrication has officially begun, and after a week away, it'll be time to make another big push toward getting all twelve props finished.

July 14, 2026 – The Artwork Arrives

Yesterday I received the artwork package from our show coordinator so we could place the coroplast order with Flash Visual Media.

This is always one of the more exciting milestones because it transforms the props from steel and plywood into something that starts looking like this year's show. The engineering may have been happening in the workshop for months, but the artwork is what gives the props their personality.

One of the first things I did was pull all of the graphics for each prop element, including the staircases, stages, media frames, and front slide screens, and import them into my Fusion 360 models. Not only does this create a great visualization of what the finished props will look like, but it's also an excellent way to perform quality control on the order itself. Do we have every coroplast panel we need? Are all of the pieces sized correctly? Is everything laid out in a way that optimizes material usage and keeps costs down?

One design decision we finalized was the backs of the staircase props. Earlier in the design process, we considered using black fabric so performers could easily access the flags stored underneath the stairs. In the end, I preferred using coroplast because it creates a much cleaner finished appearance. Instead, we'll add a hinged access flap at the bottom of each prop so students can still reach the flags. Four of the props will also include a shelf underneath for soloists to temporarily store their instruments during the performance.

The two front stage props are designed to resemble a pair of docks, which is a fun visual play on the show's theme of paradoxes.

While reviewing the media frame artwork, I noticed there are twenty-four images. Since each media frame uses three panels, that means we're ordering enough coroplast for eight media frames. We currently only have seven, but since we decided not to build the additional stage piece, I have time to fabricate an eighth frame if we decide we want to use all of the artwork.

The front sideline screens are made up of ten panels, with five panels for each side of the field. Each side uses its own color gradient, which should create a nice visual balance across the front ensemble.

It's always fun to zoom in on the artwork and start imagining what the finished props will look like on the field. We're getting closer to placing the coroplast order, and before long the steel frames in the workshop will begin transforming into the colorful scenery that audiences will see at marching contests.

July 13, 2026 – The First Complete Prop

Another band dad joined me in the workshop today, and our goal was simple: bring Prop #1 to life.

Up until now, we'd been building individual subassemblies. Today was the first time we would weld a base, platform, and stair assembly together to create something that actually looked like a staircase prop.

The first challenge was simply getting the base onto the welding table. At nearly seven feet long, it was far too large to fit on the table by itself, so I installed the table extension that I built a few weeks ago specifically for this project. It provided the extra support needed to safely fixture the base while we worked.

Next, we positioned the platform assembly onto the base. To align the four platform legs, I reached for one of my favorite Fireball tools: the 3-Axis Square. It's designed specifically for positioning posts and legs perfectly square to a base, and it made quick work of getting each leg aligned before welding. Good fixturing removes the guesswork, and when you're building twelve identical props, accuracy and repeatability matter.

With the platform welded to the base, it was finally time to add the stair assembly. Because of its size, this took both of us along with my Fireball Monster Square and several large C-clamps to hold everything securely in position while it was welded together.

For the first time, we could step back and see a nearly complete staircase prop standing in the shop.

Then we got to the wheels.

As soon as we started installing them, we discovered a problem.

When I fabricated the wheel mounting plates several weeks ago, I reused the same bolt pattern I'd successfully used on previous prop builds. Since I was using slightly larger bolts this year, I had already increased the hole diameters to account for the larger hardware. Unfortunately, while the holes were larger, the bolt pattern itself was just slightly off. The wheels would bolt on, but they didn't sit quite right.

Rather than forcing the issue, we decided to stop and think through the best way to correct the alignment before permanently mounting all forty-eight casters. It's a disappointing setback, but catching it now on the first prop is far better than discovering the problem after all twelve were assembled.

Even with that hiccup, today was a huge milestone. For the first time, the hundreds of individual parts we've been fabricating over the past several weeks came together to resemble the staircase prop that started as a sketch and a Fusion 360 model months ago. There's still work to do, but seeing the first prop standing in the shop made all those evenings of cutting, welding, grinding, and painting feel worth it.

July 12, 2026 – Making Room for the Next Step

After yesterday's volunteer workday, it was back to a quieter day in the workshop.

Today's focus was welding the platform assemblies. With all of the parts prepped and ready, I welded together all twelve platforms while Susie painted the stair step assemblies that had been ground and prepared the day before.

The Fireball welding table really earned its keep today. Each platform has to sit at a precise height relative to the 58.5-inch support legs, and consistency across all twelve assemblies is critical. I flipped each platform upside down on the table and used my 16-inch Fireball extension blocks to support it at the correct working height. With the platform securely fixtured, I could position each leg so the top extended exactly 10.5 inches above the platform before clamping and welding everything in place. It's another great example of how good fixturing makes repetitive fabrication both faster and more accurate.

One thing that's becoming very apparent is just how much space these props require.

A single base frame takes up a good portion of the shop floor. Now add twelve completed bases, twelve stair assemblies, twelve platform assemblies, stacks of plywood, and all of the remaining parts waiting their turn, and the workshop is starting to feel a little crowded. Every completed subassembly is progress, but it also means finding somewhere to store it while the next pieces are built.

Finishing the platform assemblies marks another important milestone. With the bases, stairs, and platforms complete, I can finally weld the three major subassemblies together and verify the exact dimensions for the slide. Although the slide was designed in Fusion 360, I always like to confirm critical measurements on the real assembly before cutting and welding the final subassembly.

Once those measurements are verified, the slide assemblies will be the last major pieces to fabricate before everything starts coming together into complete staircase props.

It's exciting to be reaching the point where individual parts are about to become finished props.

July 11, 2026 – The First Volunteer Workday

Today was our first official volunteer workday, and what a difference a team can make.

We had a great group of band parents spend the day in the Maker At Play workshop, tackling all of the jobs that would have taken me days to complete on my own. Having so many extra hands meant we could work on several tasks at once, and by the end of the day the project had taken a huge leap forward.

One of the biggest accomplishments was processing all twelve sheets of plywood. We cut every sheet into the individual stair treads, platforms, and slide panels needed for the twelve staircase props.

As soon as the plywood started coming off the saw, everyone spread out to different jobs. One dad began routing the edges of all the stair treads to remove the sharp corners and give them a finished appearance. Another started grinding the welds on the stair step subassemblies so they would be ready for primer and paint. After lunch, a third dad joined him, and together they worked through the growing stack of metal parts.

Meanwhile, the base assemblies were being sprayed black. Painting all twelve large steel frames was a project in itself and kept one team busy for most of the day.

Once all of the plywood had been cut, another group rolled black paint onto the stair treads and platform panels. The slide panels were left unfinished because they'll eventually be covered with a plastic wall covering that provides a smooth, durable surface so students can actually use them as slides.

At one point, we had four different projects happening in parallel: plywood cutting, edge routing, metal grinding, and painting. Watching the shop operate almost like an assembly line was incredibly rewarding, and it showed just how much can be accomplished when everyone pitches in.

By the end of the day, stacks of painted plywood filled one side of the shop while freshly painted base frames and cleaned-up stair assemblies filled the other. The transformation from raw materials into actual prop components was impossible to miss.

Days like this remind me how much of a community effort these projects really are. What would have taken me the better part of a week was accomplished in a single Saturday thanks to an incredible group of volunteers. The staircase props are finally starting to look like real props instead of a collection of raw materials.

July 9, 2026 – A Plywood Run

Today's work session took place outside the Maker At Play workshop.

With Saturday's volunteer workday quickly approaching, one of the major tasks will be cutting all of the plywood for the props. The plan is to cut the twelve sheets into the required parts, drill the mounting holes, and get everything painted. Before any of that could happen, though, I needed to go pick up the plywood.

The easiest option would have been to make a quick trip to the local Home Depot and load twelve sheets into the truck.

But I've learned over the years that convenience isn't always the best choice when it comes to plywood.

The plywood at the big box stores tends to be more expensive and the quality can be hit or miss. Last year, while building my miter saw station, I discovered The Plywood Company of Fort Worth. They carry a much larger selection of plywood and hardwoods, and I've found both the quality and the pricing to be considerably better.

The only downside is the drive.

So today became a road trip to Fort Worth instead of a quick run across town.

By the end of the day, the truck was loaded with all twelve sheets of plywood, and another important item was checked off the project list.

Now we're ready for Saturday.

With the steel prepped, the paint ready, and the plywood stacked in the workshop, everything is in place for our first volunteer workday. I'm looking forward to seeing how much progress we can make with a full crew helping build the props.

July 8, 2026 – Many Hands Make Light Work

Tonight the Maker At Play workshop welcomed another band dad to help with the prop build.

With our first parent prop workday coming up on Saturday, the goal was to get as many parts as possible ready for painting and final assembly.

Our primary task was grinding the welds on all twelve base assemblies so they'd be ready for paint this weekend. At the same time, we also cleaned up the platform assembly parts, preparing them for welding in the next phase of production.

Having an extra set of hands made a huge difference.

Each base assembly is large and awkward to handle by yourself. Our workflow quickly settled into a rhythm: lift a base onto the sawhorses, grind all of the welds on the top side, flip it over, grind the bottom side, then stack the finished base on the shop floor before moving on to the next one.

It's one of those jobs that's hard to appreciate until you've done it. Grinding isn't particularly exciting, but it's what transforms a rough fabrication into something that's ready for primer and paint. Taking the time now also makes the finished props look much cleaner.

By the end of the evening, all of the base assemblies had been prepped for Saturday's painting session, and the platform parts were ready for welding.

With the first volunteer workday just around the corner, everything is coming together for the next big push.

July 7, 2026 – A Major Milestone

Tonight's goal was to finish the remaining six stair assemblies.

After spending the past few evenings developing the fixture and refining the welding sequence, these six came together surprisingly fast. Once you have a good system, making six of something really isn't much more work than making one. The time is in figuring out the process. Once that's solved, production becomes almost routine.

By the end of the evening, all twelve three-step stair assemblies were complete.

That makes this one of the biggest milestones of the project so far.

Each stair assembly is made up of 20 individual pieces of steel. Completing all twelve means 240 of the roughly 600 total metal pieces that make up these props have now been transformed into finished assemblies.

Standing back and looking around the workshop, it's amazing how much has changed over the past few weeks. The pile of stock steel that covered the shop floor when it was delivered has almost completely disappeared. In its place are neatly stacked subassemblies waiting for final assembly.

It's rewarding to reach a point where the project starts feeling less like cutting and welding random pieces of metal and more like building actual props.

There's still plenty of work ahead, but another major building block is complete, and the finish line is beginning to feel a little closer.

July 6, 2026 – Halfway Through the Stair Assemblies

Another productive evening in the Maker At Play workshop.

Tonight's goal was simple: keep building stair assemblies.

Before I could start welding, I spent some time grinding several of the individual step assemblies to prepare the joints. It's one of those jobs that's easy to overlook, but clean joints make for better welds and less cleanup later.

Once everything was prepped, I welded together five more three-step stair assemblies.

After completing the first assembly, I settled into a good rhythm. Each stair assembly requires welding four vertical support pieces, with welds on all four sides and both ends of every support. That's a lot of welding for each assembly, but once I established the sequence, I could work efficiently without constantly repositioning the assembly or second-guessing what weld came next.

About three assemblies into the evening, production came to a temporary stop.

I ran out of welding wire.

Changing the spool isn't normally a big deal, but my welder lives underneath my welding table, which isn't exactly the most convenient place to access it. Swapping wire while crouched under the table wasn't the highlight of the evening, but after a few minutes I was back in business.

By the end of the night, five more stair assemblies were complete. Combined with the one I finished yesterday, that brings the total to six completed stair assemblies, leaving just six more to build.

Halfway there.

Tomorrow's goal is to finish the remaining six and check another major assembly off the list.

July 5, 2026 – Building the Stairs

Another productive day in the Maker At Play workshop.

The first bit of good news arrived before I even struck an arc. The shipment of 12 sets of 8-inch casters showed up today. One thing I've learned on projects like this is to stay ahead of the material schedule. The last thing I want is to finish a portion of the build only to have everyone standing around waiting for parts to arrive.

I also finished welding the last six top step subassemblies, which cleared the way for the next major phase of the project: assembling the full three-step stair sections.

This was the point where the project literally started going vertical.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a pair of 13-inch Extension Blocks for my Fireball welding table, knowing they would eventually be needed for this stage. They allow me to fixture one step exactly 12 inches above another while keeping everything square and repeatable.

After building the prototype, I knew I wanted to approach this assembly differently. The new fixture is a significant improvement over the method I used on the prototype, giving me much better control over the alignment of the steps during welding.

Even though I had already worked out the fixture design in CAD, getting everything set up on the welding table still took some time. There was a fair amount of adjusting before I had the extension blocks, fixtures, and clamps positioned so the two vertical supports between the steps could be securely held for welding.

Once the fixture was dialed in, I ground the welds on several of the individual step assemblies to prepare them for final assembly, then welded together the first three-step staircase.

It's always satisfying when a fixture goes from being an idea in CAD to something that actually works as intended.

By the end of the day, the first three-step subassembly was complete. With the process now proven, I expect it will take a few more evenings this week to work through the remaining eleven stair assemblies.

Slowly but surely, twelve staircase props are starting to emerge from what was just a pile of steel a few weeks ago.

July 2, 2026 – Back to Welding

After experimenting with paint last night, it was back to welding this evening.

Tonight's goal was to continue building the top step assemblies. After spending some time grinding the welds on the previously completed pieces, I fixtured up another support for the top step and welded together six more assemblies.

At this point, the process is becoming nicely repeatable. That's one of the rewards of spending time designing good fixtures. Once everything is dialed in, the focus shifts from figuring out how to build the part to simply building it accurately over and over again.

Before calling it a night, I assembled the final fixture needed for the remaining top step welds. That should make Sunday's shop session much more productive. Rather than spending time setting up, I can jump right into welding the last of the top step assemblies.

Once those are complete, it will finally be time to move on to assembling the full three-step staircase sections.

It's exciting to be approaching that milestone. Up until now, most of the work has been producing individual subassemblies. Over the next several shop sessions, those parts will begin coming together into recognizable sections of the finished props.

One evening at a time, the pile of parts continues to become a set of staircase props.

July 1, 2026 – Preparing for Paint

The first parent prop workday is coming up on Saturday, July 11, and one of the biggest jobs will be painting.

Rather than waiting until the props are fully assembled, I'm planning to paint many of the subassemblies first. My hope is that this will make it much easier to get complete paint coverage, especially in all the tight corners that become difficult to reach once everything is welded together.

In past years, we've painted the metal frames using rattle cans. They work well enough, but when you're painting twelve large props, spray cans become both expensive and time consuming.

This year, I wanted to try something different.

I picked up a gallon of paint and spent the evening testing it with my HVLP paint sprayer. Fortunately, the results were encouraging. The paint sprayed well, gave good coverage, and should be much more economical than using dozens of spray cans.

Of course, every test uncovers the next problem to solve.

My first attempt at hanging the parts from a single hook wasn't ideal. The pieces swung around too much while spraying, making it harder to get an even coat.

So before the parent workday, I'll be building some kind of paint rack that allows multiple parts to hang securely while keeping them from moving around too much. A little preparation now should make painting day go much smoother for everyone.

Just another example of how building the props isn't the only project. Sometimes you have to build the tools that help you build the props.

June 30, 2026 – Every Project Has a Mistake

Mistakes were made.

One thing I've learned over the years is that every project has at least one "well...that wasn't supposed to happen" moment. Today was that day.

Friday night I got into a good rhythm welding the lower step assemblies and finished all twelve of them. There was just one problem.

They weren't all supposed to be the same.

Because these props are built as six mirrored pairs, half of the stair assemblies need to be left-handed and the other half right-handed. Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that and happily built all twelve identically.

The interesting part is that the original Fusion 360 design didn't have this problem.

Originally, the support in question was going to be welded directly to the base frame. That meant the only mirrored assemblies were the base frames themselves. But during the production planning, I called an audible and decided it would make final assembly easier if I welded that support onto the lower step first instead.

It was a good manufacturing decision.

Unfortunately, I forgot that changing the assembly sequence also changed which parts needed to be mirrored.

So the first task of today's shop session wasn't building props.

It was fixing yesterday's mistake.

Out came the cutoff wheel.

I removed the misplaced support from six of the lower step assemblies. Since cutting them off shortened the supports, I also had to fabricate six replacement pieces before welding everything back together in the correct orientation.

Thankfully, it was a mistake that cost me only time.

With those assemblies corrected, I was able to move on and weld the support onto the top step assemblies. This time, I made absolutely sure to keep the left-hand and right-hand versions separated throughout the entire process.

As frustrating as mistakes can be, they're part of building things.

I'd much rather discover an error like this now, while working on subassemblies in the shop, than after the props are fully assembled or, even worse, during rehearsals.

By the end of the evening, the mistake had been corrected, the project was back on track, and the production line was moving again.

Sometimes progress means building something new.

Sometimes progress means admitting you built something wrong and taking the time to make it right.

June 27, 2026 – Twelve Base Frames Complete

Today was a very productive Saturday in the Maker At Play props workshop and a major milestone in the project.

The goal for today was to complete all twelve base frames, the largest subassembly that will be built on the welding table. Every prop starts with this foundation, so getting all twelve completed represents a significant step toward full production.

After building the prototype, I realized my Fireball welding table needed a little help. A 4-by-7-foot base frame is much larger than the table itself, so I built an extension from 1-inch square tubing that bolts onto the back of the table. The extension reaches about four feet behind the table and includes a 4½-foot support that slides along the rails while staying perfectly flush with the tabletop. It turned out to be a simple addition that made handling these large assemblies much easier.

Each base frame is constructed from four pieces of 1½-inch square tubing along with two wheel plate subassemblies. Once welded together, they become the rolling foundation for the entire prop.

One interesting challenge is that not all twelve bases are identical.

The show design calls for mirrored pairs of staircase props. Six props have the stairs on the left side, while the other six have the stairs on the right. That means the wheel plate locations and mounting points have to be mirrored as well so the stair assemblies can be attached correctly later.

To ensure every frame stayed square, I used the fixtures on the welding table. Because of that setup, I could only weld one end of a frame at a time. Rather than completing one frame from start to finish, I worked in batches. First, I welded one end and one wheel plate assembly on all twelve frames. Then I went back through the entire stack to weld the opposite end.

Once a frame had both ends assembled, it was time to flip it...and flip it again...and then stand it on edge...and flip it once more so every joint could be fully welded for strength.

There was a lot of lifting today.

By the end of the day, though, all twelve base frames were complete.

Standing back and looking around the shop, it was rewarding to see how far the project has come in just two weeks since the steel was delivered. The pile of raw stock that covered the shop floor is steadily disappearing, replaced by organized subassemblies. Even better, those subassemblies are now beginning to come together into larger assemblies that actually resemble parts of the finished props.

Today felt like one of those milestones that reminds you the finish line is getting closer. There's still plenty of welding ahead, but for the first time it feels like we're building props instead of just cutting steel.

June 26, 2026 – A Fixture for the First Step

Tonight was a shorter shop session, but it was another opportunity to check an important subassembly off the list.

The focus for the evening was building all twelve lower step assemblies. While they aren't the largest components of the prop, they presented an interesting fixturing challenge.

Most of the subassemblies I've built so far have been relatively flat. The pieces simply lay on the Fireball welding table while the fixtures hold everything square during welding.

The lower step assembly was different.

Each assembly includes an 11-inch vertical support welded at a 90-degree angle beneath the first step. To fixture that correctly, I needed to stand the step on its edge so the support could lay flat on the welding table.

That may sound like a small detail, but it made a big difference.

By having the support resting on the table, I could use my fixtures to control all three critical dimensions at once. The fixture kept the support perfectly square to the step in both the X and Y directions, while a stop block established the exact length of the support. Even if there were tiny variations in the cut lengths, every finished assembly would end up identical.

That's one of the things I enjoy most about production work. Sometimes the real challenge isn't the welding itself, it's figuring out how to build a fixture that makes every part come out the same.

Once the fixture was dialed in, the rest of the evening went quickly. One after another, all twelve lower step assemblies were welded together with confidence that each one matched the last.

Another stack of completed subassemblies.

Another step toward twelve finished props.

June 25, 2026 – More Progress and Material Planning

Tonight was a shorter session in the Maker At Play workshop, but every evening in the shop moves the project one step closer to the finish line.

The welding task for the night was straightforward. I combined two smaller components into a single subassembly that will eventually become part of the staircase assembly. It wasn't a particularly flashy milestone, but building props like this is all about completing dozens of these smaller assemblies before they come together into something much larger.

While the welder was cooling down, I also finalized another important piece of the project: figuring out exactly how much plywood we'd need for all twelve props.

Each prop requires six plywood pieces:

• Four stair treads measuring 22" × 12"
• One top platform measuring 44" × 36"
• One slide measuring 68" × 23.5"

After laying everything out, I found an efficient cutting plan. Two platform tops can be cut from one sheet of plywood, while two slides can be cut from a second sheet. The remaining material from those two sheets provides enough space to cut all eight stair treads needed for those same two props.

That means every pair of props can be built from just two sheets of plywood.

With twelve props to build, we'll need a total of 12 sheets of plywood.

One of the things I enjoy about projects like this is that they require both fabrication and planning. Every efficient cut saves material, reduces waste, and makes construction go a little smoother. Spending time optimizing the layout now means less money spent and fewer surprises once the full production run is underway.

Not the biggest milestone of the project, but another productive evening and another item checked off the list.

June 24, 2026 – Wheel Plate Sub-Assemblies

Tonight's goal was to finish building the wheel plate subassemblies.

These assemblies are an important part of the prop because they tie together the wheel mounting structure with the first step of the staircase. By combining these into a single subassembly now, the final assembly of each prop will be much faster and more repeatable.

The first step was welding together the 11.5-inch and 12-inch pieces that form the side of the first step and the vertical support for the second step. Once all twelve of those assemblies were complete, I welded the 19.5-inch and 22.5-inch wheel plate bars to each side, completing the full wheel plate subassembly.

One detail that required extra attention is that these subassemblies are not all identical. Since the final props are built as mirrored pairs, six props have the staircase on the left side while the other six have it on the right. That meant the 19.5-inch and 22.5-inch wheel plate supports had to be swapped on half of the assemblies to create left-hand and right-hand versions. It was a small detail, but one that would become very important when these subassemblies were eventually welded to the base frames.

As the project progresses, the fixturing challenges continue to evolve.

Most of the early subassemblies were essentially flat, with every piece resting in the X-Y plane of the welding table. This assembly introduced another dimension. Part of the subassembly extends vertically above the table, so I needed a fixture that controlled not only its position on the table but also its height and angle.

This turned into another fun fixturing project using the Fireball Tool Tooth Block fixture, a 6-inch Extension Block, and a Stepped Fence Block to support the vertical member. Fence blocks at the three mounting points established positive reference surfaces that match where this subassembly will eventually attach to the base frame.

That was the real goal of the fixture.

Rather than simply holding the pieces while welding, it ensured every finished subassembly would be positioned identically. When it comes time to weld these onto the base frames, everything should line up exactly as intended without having to adjust or force parts into place.

The more I work through this production run, the more I appreciate the time spent designing good fixtures. The welding itself is often the easy part. The real challenge is creating a process that allows twelve identical assemblies to come off the table with the same dimensions every time.

Another twelve subassemblies completed.

One more step toward a full set of staircase props.

June 23, 2026 – Wheel Plates

Tonight was all about wheel plate production.

Before any welding could begin, there was one errand to take care of. During my lunch break at work, I made a quick trip to Airgas to swap out my shielding gas cylinder. Running out of gas in the middle of a production run is the last thing I wanted, so it was one less thing to worry about once I got home and headed into the shop.

While I was at work, Susie spent part of the day cleaning up the wheel plate pieces that had been cut earlier. Having another set of hands taking care of prep work makes a huge difference when you're building twelve of everything.

I began the evening by sorting the large pile of 12-inch tubing pieces that had been cut several days earlier. Multiple subassemblies use these parts, so I wanted to separate them into the correct groups before welding. It was a simple organizational task, but one that helps avoid mistakes later when dozens of nearly identical parts are spread across the workshop.

With everything organized, it was time to weld.

The focus for the night was attaching all 48 wheel plates to their square tube supports. These were divided into three different assemblies:

• The 43-inch wheel support, which receives two wheel plates
• The 19.5-inch support, which receives one wheel plate
• The 22.5-inch support, which also receives one wheel plate

Each assembly required its own dedicated fixture. Once the fixture was dialed in, I could repeatedly position each part in exactly the same location, making every assembly consistent while also speeding up production.

This is one of the benefits of spending time building fixtures. The first part always takes the longest. The next eleven come together much more quickly because the setup work has already been done.

By the end of the evening, all 48 wheel plates had been welded to their supports and were ready for the next phase of assembly.

Another stack of completed parts.

Another productive night in the Maker At Play workshop.

June 22, 2026 – Platform Legs

Another productive evening in the Maker At Play workshop.

While I was at work during the day, Susie tackled another batch of prep work by cleaning all of the platform legs and the long wheel plate bars. It's one of those jobs that isn't particularly glamorous, but it saves me valuable shop time in the evenings and keeps production moving.

Tonight's focus was welding the platform leg assemblies.

Each leg assembly consists of three pieces: a 24-inch cross member and two 58.5-inch vertical legs. Together, these assemblies will support the platform that sits at the top of each staircase.

One challenge with these parts is their size. The 58.5-inch legs are longer than my Fireball welding table, so I had to get a little creative with the fixturing. I used a set of support legs beyond the end of the table to establish a consistent reference point for the bottoms of the vertical members. Combined with the fixtures on the table itself, this allowed every assembly to be held square and at the correct dimensions despite extending well past the edge of the table.

Once the fixture was dialed in, the rest became a matter of repetition. One assembly after another came together, and by the end of the evening all 24 platform leg assemblies were welded.

It's another one of those production nights where the progress doesn't immediately look dramatic, but every completed subassembly brings the project one step closer to final assembly.

The stack of finished parts continues to grow, and the pile of raw steel continues to shrink. That's exactly the kind of progress I like to see.

June 20, 2026 – Steps and Platform Tops

Another full day dedicated to band props.

Production continued at a steady pace, with both Susie and me working on different parts of the build to keep the assembly line moving.

While I was in the workshop welding, Susie spent the day drilling mounting holes in the remaining 84-inch pieces and cleaning another batch of steel. Every hole drilled and every piece cleaned means less work later when the larger assemblies start coming together.

My focus for the day was finishing the stair subassemblies. I welded the remaining 18 steps, completing all 36 stair assemblies needed for the twelve props.

With the steps finished, I moved on to the platform tops, welding all twelve of those assemblies as well.

One thing I've learned building multiple props is that efficiency comes from batching similar work together. Instead of constantly changing tools, fixtures, and setups, I try to complete an entire type of assembly before moving on to the next. Once a fixture is dialed in and the welder settings are just right, it's much faster to build all twelve than it is to keep switching back and forth between different parts.

By the end of the day, two major groups of subassemblies were complete. The finished stacks of stair assemblies and platform tops were beginning to fill the workshop, replacing the piles of loose steel that had occupied the floor just a week earlier.

The transformation from raw material to finished parts was becoming more noticeable with every work session.

June 19, 2026 – Welding Begins

Today marked a major turning point in the project.

For the past week, the workshop has been filled with measuring, cutting, organizing, and drilling parts. While all of that work was necessary, today was the day those individual pieces finally started becoming props.

The morning was spent finishing more of the production prep. While Susie continued drilling mounting holes, I cut the remaining 84-inch tubing and worked through the last of the stock material. Once the cutting was complete, I switched to the grinder to clean the steel pieces, removing mill scale and preparing the joints for welding. It also has the added benefit of giving the paint a much better surface to adhere to later.

At this point, every piece of steel had been cut to its final dimensions except for the slide supports. I'm intentionally leaving those until the end so I can take final measurements directly from the completed stair assemblies before cutting them.

With the fabrication prep nearly complete, it was finally time to fire up the welder.

I started with the stair subassemblies, welding together the first 18 of the 36 stair steps that will be needed for all twelve props. Each prop has three welded stair assemblies, so by the end of the day I was halfway through one of the most repetitive welding tasks of the project.

There's something satisfying about reaching this stage. After days of cutting steel into hundreds of individual pieces, those parts finally begin disappearing into completed assemblies. The workshop starts looking less like a metal supply warehouse and more like a fabrication shop.

Production has officially shifted from preparing parts to building props.

There's still a long road ahead, but today felt like the beginning of the assembly line.

June 17, 2026 – Production Cutting Marathon

Another Wednesday night in the Maker At Play workshop.

The metal arrived last Friday, and tonight marked my fifth straight day of cutting material. At this stage of the project, it isn't the glamorous part of prop building. There aren't many visible results yet. Instead, it's about transforming long sticks of steel into a mountain of accurately sized parts that will eventually become twelve staircase props.

Tonight's cutting list included:

• 12 pieces of 24-inch angle iron for the slide supports, cut from four 73-inch stock pieces
• 12 pieces of 22-inch 1.5-inch flat bar, cut from three 89-inch stock pieces
• 12 pieces of 24-inch 1.5-inch flat bar, cut from three 97-inch stock pieces
• 40 wheel mounting plates measuring 4.5 inches each, cut from ten 47-inch lengths of 4-inch flat bar stock

Once those were complete, I moved on to a larger batch operation. Since the saw was already configured for 90-degree cuts, I cut 48 pieces to 24.5 inches long. Then I reconfigured the saw for 45-degree cuts and split those pieces in half, producing 96 parts that measured approximately 12 inches long with one square end and one mitered end.

When all was said and done, 172 pieces were cut during the evening.

One of the realities of building multiple props is that fabrication becomes a manufacturing exercise. The challenge shifts from figuring out how to build one prop to figuring out how to efficiently build twelve identical props. That means spending nights like this one standing at the saw, working through stock material, organizing parts, and preparing for the welding phase that comes next.

It's not the most exciting stage of the project, but every finished part is one less cut that has to be made later.

The growing stacks of labeled steel may not look like much yet, but they represent steady progress. Every piece cut tonight is one step closer to transforming a pile of raw metal into a field full of staircase props.

June 16, 2026 – Day 4 of Production

Day 4 of turning a pile of stock metal into the 600 individual pieces needed to build 12 rolling stair props.

At this stage, the workshop doesn't look much different than it did when the steel was delivered. Instead of finished props, there are stacks of cut tubing, flat bar, and angle iron slowly replacing stacks of full-length stock.

It's not the most exciting part of the project, but it's one of the most important.

Every piece has to be measured, cut, and organized before the first production weld can happen. A mistake now doesn't just affect one prop—it gets repeated twelve times.

The prototype taught me what needed to be built. Now it's time to manufacture the parts that will become the full set.

This phase reminds me a lot of manufacturing. The focus shifts from creativity to consistency. Every cut needs to be accurate. Every matching part needs to be identical. The goal isn't just to build one good prop; it's to build twelve props that all fit together exactly the same.

It's repetitive work, but I actually enjoy it. There's something satisfying about watching a pile of raw material slowly transform into organized stacks of parts, knowing that each one brings the project another step closer to taking the field.

Still a long way to go, but progress is being made one cut at a time.

June 15, 2026 – Cutting and Drilling

Continued cutting metal stock into final pieces and drilling holes.

June 14, 2026 – Cutting and Drilling

Continued cutting metal stock into final pieces and drilling holes.

June 13, 2026 – Cutting and Drilling

With the metal unloaded into the workshop, it was time to start turning full-length stock into actual prop components.

Today marked the beginning of what will probably be the longest phase of the project: cutting hundreds of pieces to their final dimensions and drilling the holes needed for assembly.

I started by setting up my chop saw with a fence for making repeatable 45-degree miter cuts. I knew there were hundreds of pieces ahead of me, so taking the time to properly set up the saw would pay dividends over the next several days. When you're making the same cut dozens of times, repeatability becomes just as important as accuracy.

Once the saw was dialed in, I started working my way through the cut lists one stock length at a time.

When building a single prototype, you can often cut a part when you need it. Building twelve identical props is a completely different process. Before any serious welding can begin, every matching part needs to be cut, drilled, and organized.

It's a bit like preparing ingredients before cooking a big meal. The more prep work that's done up front, the smoother the assembly process becomes later.

The goal over the next several days is to work through the pile of steel one stock length at a time, transforming it into hundreds of accurately sized parts. It's repetitive work, but it's also where consistency is established. If every part matches, the final assembly becomes much easier.

There's not a lot of glamour in standing at a saw or drill press for hours, but every finished piece is another step toward seeing twelve staircase props take shape.

The manufacturing phase has officially begun.

June 12, 2026 – Metal Has Arrived

The metal has arrived.

Now comes the easy part: turning a $3,300 pile of steel into 12 rolling stair props.

I've been purchasing metal from Metal Supermarkets in Lewisville since building my first metal props back in 2021. They delivered this year's order, consisting of 215 pieces of steel tubing, flat bar, and angle iron. Well, almost all of it. A few pieces weren't in stock and would be delivered the following Monday.

I'm certainly glad I opted for delivery. Looking at the stack of material that showed up, I'm not convinced my truck could have safely hauled all of it in a single trip.

Even with the material delivered to the house, getting it into the workshop was no small task. It took John, Susie, the delivery driver, and me about twenty minutes to unload everything.

Once the truck pulled away, I stood back and looked at what had arrived.

More than 200 pieces of steel.

Over $3,300 worth of material.

And not a single prop in sight.

At this stage, all I could see was raw material. But hidden inside that pile were twelve staircase props waiting to be built.

The next challenge would be transforming those 215 pieces into more than 600 individual parts through a seemingly endless process of measuring, cutting, drilling, and welding.

One of the interesting things about projects like this is how different the beginning and the end look. Right now, it's just a pile of steel sitting on the shop floor. A few months from now, that same steel will be rolling across a football field as part of a marching band show.

But first, there are hundreds of cuts to make.

Time to get to work.

June 11, 2026 – Metal Order Placed

Placed metal order for the 12 stair props.

June 10, 2026 – Design Updates and Decision

Discussed changing the dock stages. The band director was thinking we might be okay with half the size of what they are currently — so just one 4 × 8 section for each dock.

We are also going to 10 front screens.

June 6, 2026

Now that we have finalized the prop designs, I have completed the CAD drawings and begun planning for the build phase. Using those drawings, I have also mapped out the coroplast sheet layouts to optimize material usage and minimize costs.

Stair/Slide Props

The stair/slide props consist of six mirrored pairs (12 total). For each pair, we can produce all six side panels from three 5' × 10' sheets of 4 mm coroplast.

The artwork layout must follow the attached pattern so we can obtain the required panels while still printing on only one side of the coroplast. I have labeled each piece and take note on text orientation, as some pieces must be rotated to maximize material efficiency and ensure the artwork appears correctly once installed.

We will order these sheets uncut and perform the cutting ourselves. It would be helpful to include bleed along all cut lines to provide tolerance during cutting and to account for minor dimensional variations during assembly. I have also included measurements for all cut pieces.

One question: How many stair props need to accommodate a trombone? I plan to include flag troughs in all 12 props, but I assume not all of them require trombone holders.

Stages

I assume we want to cover three sides of each stage with coroplast. Based on that assumption, I have mocked up the stages using 4' × 8' sheets of 4 mm coroplast. The two stages would require a total of six sheets.

I have also included a design for a set of three-step stairs to provide access to the stages. These steps are 30 inches wide, with each step 12 inches tall. The final step onto the stage is 10.5 inches. The stair unit would sit on the ground during use and could be lifted and placed on the stage for transport on and off the field.

Back Media Frames

For the back media frames, I would like to limit the design to no more than three sheets of 4' × 8' 10 mm coroplast per frame. This results in a total requirement of 21 sheets. I have included a mockup showing how three sheets will fit on each media frame.

Current Field Layout

With the prop designs locked in, the current field setup is:

• 12 stair/slide props — six mirrored pairs staged throughout the center of the show
• 7 media frames
• 2 stages
• 6 front screens — exactly how many front screens would we like to have?

Coroplast Order Summary

• 18 sheets — 5' × 10', 4 mm (stair/slide props)
• 6 sheets — 4' × 8', 4 mm (stages)
• 21 sheets — 4' × 8', 10 mm (media frames)
• 6+ sheets — 4' × 8', 4 mm (front screens; final count TBD)

Please review the attached layouts and let me know if you see any issues before we move forward with artwork and material ordering. I plan to order the metal and start building these in a week.

And, for reference, here is how I am planning to load the 12 stair/slide props into the two 26-foot box trucks. The four stages and media frames will fit on our 20-foot trailer. I am still working on where we can fit a single cart of front screens.

May 26, 2026 – From Prototype to Production

With the prototype updated based on our first round of feedback, it was time to take it back for another evaluation.

I loaded the revised prototype into my truck and headed to the band's audition camp. This year's camp was being held at Griffin Middle School while renovations were underway at The Colony High School. It gave the band director an opportunity to see the updated prototype in person and evaluate whether the design changes addressed the concerns from our first test.

The changes we made after the first round of feedback immediately paid off.

Lowering the platform and increasing its size made a noticeable difference. While the prop itself wasn't dramatically different, it felt much more stable. Lowering the platform by about a foot reduced the center of gravity, making the entire structure feel more secure. At the same time, the sides of the prop still extended roughly ten inches above the platform, giving performers the feeling that they weren't standing right on the edge. Sometimes the perception of safety is just as important as the actual engineering.

Another major improvement was replacing the expanded metal platform with plywood. The plywood flexed much less underfoot, creating a more solid and confidence-inspiring surface.

Based on that success, we also decided to replace the expanded metal stair treads with plywood. Besides providing a more stable walking surface, plywood greatly reduces the chance of costumes snagging if performers sit on the steps during the show.

As an added bonus, switching to plywood simplified the build. Cutting and fitting plywood is significantly faster than cutting expanded metal and then grinding every edge smooth.

By the end of the review, we had what every prototype hopes to achieve: confidence that the design was ready.

The prototype had answered the questions it was built to answer, and we received the go-ahead to move forward with production.

With the design now finalized, my attention shifted back to Fusion 360. The next step was updating the model one final time, designing each of the subassemblies, and producing the drawings that would guide the construction of all twelve props.

The prototype had done its job.

Now it was time to build the real thing.

May 25, 2026

I completed the latest changes to the prop, and I do think these updates make a big difference in the stability and overall feeling of standing on the platform and getting onto the slide.

I can bring it to Griffin anytime tomorrow. Just let me know what works best with the schedule.

Here is a video and some photos of the changes.

May 24, 2026 – Prototype Slide Changes

Continued to work on changes to prototype slide.

May 23, 2026 – New Platform Welded

Welded together new platform for the prototype to apply feedback.

May 22, 2026 – Platform Redo

The feedback from our first round of testing was clear. The platform needed to be lower and larger.

Now came the part every fabricator dreads: cutting apart something you just finished building.

The first challenge was figuring out where to make the cuts. I wanted to preserve as much of the prototype as possible while removing only the pieces that needed to change. Every cut made now would save time rebuilding later.

Armed with a metal-cutting blade in my jigsaw and a cutoff wheel on the angle grinder, I started carefully removing the original platform.

I'll admit, I wasn't looking forward to this part of the project. I expected it to take most of the day just to free the platform from the rest of the structure.

Fortunately, it went much smoother than I expected.

It was still a fair amount of work, but once the first few cuts were made, the process became much more manageable. Before long, the original platform had been removed and the prototype was ready for its next evolution.

That was my goal for today's shop session.

I was also juggling a few personal shop projects, so rather than rushing into rebuilding the new platform, I focused on getting the old one removed cleanly and leaving the prototype ready for the next work session.

Sometimes progress doesn't mean adding new parts.

Sometimes the biggest step forward is having the confidence to cut apart something you already built because you know the next version will be better.

May 17, 2026

Here is a mockup of the changes we discussed Thursday morning. After drawing this out, though, I do not think it would work as expected, so I drew another version that combines more of the feedback.

The thought is that increasing the size of the top platform and lowering it by one step would make it more stable and easier for the students to stand on and transition onto the slide.

This newer version below has the top platform at 4 × 3 ft without increasing the overall length of the prop, so it will still fit in the box trucks. It still has the sides extending upward to act as handles, and keeps the same side profile for coroplast. The angle of the slide is the same. I have also modeled a flag trough in the bottom.

Unless there are any objections to this design, I will modify the current prop's top platform to match it and bring the prop to Audition Camp on Tuesday, 5/26, so the students can test it again. Hopefully, that will finalize the design so I can start building in June.

Here are some mockups with coroplast to give an idea of what the sides might look like. Once we settle on the final prop design, I will provide measurements and guidance for the coroplast layout.

May 14, 2026 – Putting Prototype to the Feedback Test

Today was an important milestone for the prototype. It was time to stop evaluating it in the workshop and see how it performed with the people who would actually be using it.

We loaded the prototype into my truck and took it to the high school for the band director to evaluate. During first period, he brought his class outside and invited students to climb the stairs and slide down so we could observe how the prop performed in a real-world setting.

This was exactly why I wanted to build a prototype before committing to twelve copies.

Almost immediately, one thing became obvious. While the students had no problem climbing the stairs or sliding down, many of them were noticeably uneasy standing on the top platform before making the transition to the slide.

Interestingly, the concern wasn't with the slide itself. Although it looks fairly steep, the students were comfortable once they committed to the slide. The slide angle worked just as we had hoped, which meant there was no need to redesign that portion of the prop.

The platform, however, was telling us a different story.

Our first thought was simply to make the platform larger, but increasing the overall footprint of the prop wasn't really an option. The dimensions had already been carefully planned so twelve props could fit into the school's two box trucks for transportation. Making every prop wider or deeper would create an entirely new logistics problem.

Instead, we decided the next prototype revision would focus on lowering the platform while increasing the amount of standing room available. The hope was that a lower center of gravity and additional space would make students feel more comfortable and confident when they reached the top.

This test reinforced exactly why prototypes are so valuable. CAD models can tell you whether something fits together. Structural calculations can tell you whether something is strong enough. But neither can tell you how a student will feel standing six feet in the air preparing to slide down.

Now that we had real feedback instead of assumptions, it was time to head back to the Maker At Play workshop and see if those platform changes would solve the problem before production began.

May 8, 2026 – Ready for the First User Test

The prototype has reached an important milestone.

After weeks of designing, welding, and making adjustments in the workshop, it's finally ready to leave the shop and be evaluated by the people it was built for.

In the next few days, I'll be taking the prototype to the high school so the band director and a group of students can put it through its first real-world test. Up until now, every decision has been based on engineering, experience, and educated guesses. It's time to replace those guesses with actual feedback.

There are several questions I'm hoping this testing session will answer:

• Does the slide angle feel comfortable, or is it too steep?
• Can students move naturally from the stairs onto the platform and then onto the slide?
• Should the slide extend slightly above the platform to make getting seated easier?
• Would a handle or grab bar help students transition onto the slide?
• Does the top platform feel stable and comfortable to stand on?
• Would removing a step and lowering the platform improve confidence?
• Are there any unexpected interactions with uniforms or costumes, such as students catching clothing while sitting on the steps?

These are the kinds of questions that are difficult, if not impossible, to answer in a CAD model or workshop. The whole purpose of building a prototype is to discover what works, what doesn't, and what needs to change before investing the time and materials to build eleven more.

I'm looking forward to seeing students interact with the prop for the first time. No amount of planning can replace watching real users use something you've built.

We'll soon find out how close we are.

April 13, 2026 – Show Reveal Parent/Student Meeting

Write-up coming soon.

April 12, 2026

I've built one prop based on the design we discussed and attached photos along with a video link for your review. I estimate the cost at approximately $700 per prop, which includes the metal, 5 × 10 4 mm coroplast, slide material, and wheels.

With the current budget, we could build 12 of these, along with the additional stage piece and coroplast for up to 10 front screens. This would not leave room in the budget for coroplast for the back screens. I also plan to reuse the wheels from the back screens on the stair props to help offset some costs.

A few observations:

• I'm still evaluating whether the current wheel placement provides enough stability. The wheels are set 6 in. in from each corner to prevent them from protruding when they swivel, to avoid interference when props are placed side by side.
• I'm still determining the best material to cover the plywood to create the slide.
• The current slide angle may be too steep.
• Still need to add the handles for moving the prop.
• Still need to add additional bracing.
• All four wheels will be locking; I just only had 2 locking pair today when I finished the prop.
• The final height from ground to top of platform is 69 inches.

April 11, 2026 – It Finally Looks Like a Staircase

This was one of those shop days where the project seemed to leap forward.

Up until now, I'd been building individual subassemblies: the base, platform, stair sides, and wheel assemblies. Today was the day many of those pieces finally came together into something that actually looked like the prop we'd been designing for the past two months.

I started by finishing the stair frames, completing the structural framework that would support the expanded metal treads.

Next came cutting the expanded metal for the platform and each stair tread. This is one of those jobs that always takes longer than expected. Not only does each piece have to be cut to size, but every edge needs to be cleaned up afterward. Freshly cut expanded metal is incredibly sharp, and the last thing I want is students or volunteers getting cut on an unfinished edge.

With those pieces prepared, it was time for the exciting part.

The platform was welded onto the base frame, and the completed stair assembly was welded between the base and platform. For the first time, the prototype stood upright as a single structure.

After weeks of cutting, fitting, grinding, and welding individual parts, I could finally climb the stairs and stand on top of the platform.

There's always something satisfying about reaching this stage of a prototype. The CAD model has become reality, and all of the dimensions, proportions, and design decisions that existed only on a computer screen can finally be experienced in full scale.

The prototype was still far from finished. The slide hadn't been installed yet, and there were still details to work through before it would be ready for testing. But for the first time, it actually felt like a staircase instead of a collection of metal parts.

Days like this make all the repetitive cutting and fabrication worthwhile.

April 9, 2026 – Making Progress One Evening at a Time

Another evening in the Maker At Play workshop.

Not every shop session is an all-day marathon. Sometimes it's just a couple of hours after work, but those shorter sessions still move the project forward.

Tonight's focus was on the wheel assemblies. I welded the wheel mounting plates to their support brackets and then welded those assemblies into the base frame. While they may not be the most noticeable parts of the finished prop, the wheels are one of its most important features. These props will be pushed all over the football field during rehearsals and performances, so the mounting points need to be strong enough to withstand constant movement and the occasional less-than-gentle handling.

One of the nice things about this stage of the project is that the individual subassemblies are finally starting to come together. Pieces that had been sitting separately on the welding table are now becoming part of the actual structure.

There wasn't a dramatic before-and-after transformation by the end of the night, but that's often how these weekday shop sessions go. A few more welds completed. A few more pieces checked off the list. A little less work left to do.

Slow, steady progress continues on the prototype.

April 8, 2026 – Seeing the Shape of the Prop

A Wednesday night in the Maker At Play workshop.

I decided to spend a few hours after work making more progress on the prototype. Sometimes the weekday shop sessions are short, but they can still move a project forward in meaningful ways.

I started by adding an additional brace to the top platform to improve its rigidity. With that complete, I turned my attention back to the stair assemblies. Before I could continue building them, I needed to grind down the welds on the stair sides to prepare them for the cross supports that would eventually tie everything together.

Once the weld cleanup was complete, I joined the two stair sides together with the first pair of cross pieces. This was the moment when the individual stair components began transforming into an actual staircase.

As usual, the Fireball welding table played an important role. I used it to fixture the stair assemblies and keep everything square while welding the cross supports into place.

This step also revealed one of the lessons that prototypes are supposed to teach.

My original approach had been to fully weld the stair sides first and then connect them together later. While that looked reasonable in CAD, reality had other plans. As the welds cooled, the stair sides moved just enough that not every angle remained perfectly square. The differences were small, but when it came time to connect the two sides together, those little deviations started to add up.

Nothing was dramatically wrong, but it became clear that this probably wasn't the manufacturing approach I would want to use for the full production run. Fortunately, with a little persuasion, clamps, and adjustment, everything came together.

Before wrapping up for the evening, I performed another dry fit of the base, platform, and stair assembly. This gave me my best look yet at how the major pieces would relate to one another.

I also laid out a piece of angle iron that will eventually form the side support for the slide. For the first time, I could start visualizing the actual slide angle and get a feel for how the descent might look and function.

Overall, it was a relatively short weekday session, but a productive one. The prototype continued doing exactly what it was supposed to do: revealing small issues, validating design decisions, and slowly turning a collection of metal parts into a prop.

April 4, 2026 – Wheels, Platforms, and Practical Problems

Another Saturday in the Maker At Play props workshop.

Band props provide me with one large maker project every year, and each season brings its own unique challenges. I am still focused on building and validating the prototype for what will become the show's primary prop.

Today's work centered on the platform that forms the top of the staircase. This platform sits approximately five feet above the ground and serves as the transition point between climbing the stairs and sliding back down.

I started by cutting the four vertical legs to length, prepping the ends for welding, and attaching them to the rectangular top frame that was built during the previous work session. With that assembly taking shape, my attention shifted to another important design challenge: wheel placement.

At first glance, mounting the wheels directly at the corners seems like the obvious solution. It would maximize stability and make the wheel locks easy to access. However, these props are expected to move frequently during the performance and will often be positioned close together on the field.

Because of that, I didn't want the wheels extending beyond the footprint of the prop where they could interfere with neighboring props. The same concern applies during transportation. These props will travel side-by-side in a box truck, and protruding wheels could make loading, unloading, and packing far more difficult.

In fact, this transportation requirement influenced the overall dimensions of the prop. Rather than making the base a full 48 inches wide, I reduced it to 46 inches. That small change provides a little extra clearance when placing two props side-by-side in an 8-foot-wide box truck while having virtually no impact on the usability of the prop itself.

Once I settled on a preliminary wheel layout, I moved over to the milling machine and fabricated four wheel mounting plates, complete with mounting holes. These plates will be ready to weld onto the frame during the next work session once the final wheel locations are confirmed.

To wrap up the day, I set one of the completed stair runners next to the platform assembly. For the first time, I could begin to see the actual proportions of the staircase taking shape outside of Fusion 360. It wasn't assembled yet, but it was enough to get a feel for how the finished prop might look and function.

Progress on a prototype can sometimes feel slow. There are lots of small decisions, measurements, and fabrication steps that don't immediately produce something recognizable. But each one helps reduce risk and improve the design before committing to the full production run later this summer.

Slow and steady progress.

March 29, 2026 – Building the Foundation

Another good day in the Maker At Play props workshop.

Today's focus was continuing work on the prototype. While the stairs tend to get most of the attention, every prop needs a solid foundation. I spent the day cutting and welding the 1.5-inch square tubing that would form the base frame. This structure will eventually support the entire prop and provide mounting points for the casters that allow it to move around the field.

For the base frame, I selected Steel Square Tube A500/A513 (Welded) 1.500" x 1.500" x 0.083". The larger tubing adds rigidity to the structure and was a material choice I felt confident about because it is the same tubing I used for last year's stages. Those stages spanned eight feet with very little noticeable flex, so I knew it would provide a solid foundation for these props.

The remainder of the prop uses Steel Square Tube A500/A513 (Welded) 1.000" x 1.000" x 0.083", which offers a good balance of strength and weight. For the slide supports, I chose Mild Steel Hot Rolled Angle 1.000" x 1.000" x 0.250", which should provide a sturdy attachment point for the slide surface while keeping the overall design relatively simple.

I also cut and welded the top platform, which measures 46 inches by 24 inches and is built from 1-inch square tubing. Like many of the assemblies so far, the Fireball welding table played a major role in keeping everything square and making assembly go much faster.

One fabrication detail I've become increasingly particular about over the years is how I finish the ends of tubing. Rather than leaving open tube ends, I cut 45-degree miters on the corners so the joints close cleanly. Structurally, leaving the ends open is perfectly acceptable for many applications, and that's how I built some of my earlier props.

Visually, however, open tube ends always bothered me.

As I've gained more fabrication experience, I've learned that the small details often make the biggest difference. Most people watching a marching band performance will never notice whether a piece of tubing has an open end or a mitered corner. But collectively, those little details contribute to the overall quality of the finished prop.

A prototype isn't just about testing dimensions and functionality. It's also an opportunity to refine construction techniques before committing to a dozen copies of the same structure.

By the end of the day, there wasn't much that looked like a staircase yet. Instead, there was a growing collection of accurately cut and welded components that would eventually become one.

While the visual progress was modest, the lessons learned were significant. Every cut and weld was helping answer an important question: could this design be built efficiently not just once, but a dozen times?

March 21, 2026 – Time to Build a Prototype

Up to this point, the staircase props had only existed as ideas, sketches, and Fusion 360 models. With the metal now acquired, it was time to build a physical prototype and find out how well those ideas translated into reality.

While Fusion 360 is an incredible tool, there are some questions that can only be answered by building something and putting hands on it. Before committing to a full set of props, I wanted to validate several assumptions:

• Are there any challenges cutting and welding the parts as designed?
• How strong is the structure, and does the frame flex under weight?
• How does the stair spacing feel when walking up and down?
• Is the slide angle comfortable, or is it too steep?
• How does it feel to stand on the top platform?
• How natural is the transition from standing to sitting and sliding?
• Is the wheel spacing wide enough to feel stable without the casters extending beyond the frame and interfering with adjacent props?

In many ways, this prototype wasn't about proving the design would work. It was about discovering everything I got wrong.

The first day's work focused on cutting and welding the pieces that would make up the stair structure. One of the best investments I've made in my workshop is my Fireball welding table. Within minutes I was able to set up fixtures that held the tubing square, making it easy to repeatedly weld the 90-degree joints needed for each step.

My initial plan was to build the two stair "runners" first and then weld the cross members between them later. On paper, that seemed like the fastest approach.

As I started assembling the pieces, however, I began to realize that what looked good in CAD wasn't necessarily the best way to manufacture twelve of these things.

That's one of the hidden benefits of a prototype. Sometimes you're testing the design. Sometimes you're testing the build process. And occasionally you discover that the real problem isn't the prop at all, it's how you planned to put it together.

By the end of the day, I had parts coming together and a much better understanding of what the fabrication process would look like. More importantly, I was already rethinking how I would approach building the full set.

The prototype was doing exactly what it was supposed to do.

February 24, 2026 – First Design Review

Just two days after sending the initial drawings, I received the first round of feedback from the band director and show designer.

The response was encouraging. The overall concept was on the right track, and the feedback focused on refining the design rather than rethinking it. That's always a good sign during the early stages of a project.

The biggest suggestion was to make the top platform larger so students would have more room to safely turn around before descending the stairs or slide. There was also discussion about adding handles to make the props easier to maneuver around the field during performances and rehearsals.

One of the things I enjoy most about designing in Fusion 360 is how quickly ideas can be tested and updated. Instead of trying to explain changes with sketches or descriptions, I was able to make the modifications directly in the model and generate updated renderings the same day.

The revisions included:

• Expanding the top platform to 2 feet deep
• Extending the overall base width from 6 feet to 7 feet
• Adding 12-inch handles on each side approximately 4 feet above the ground
• Confirming the platform height would remain below the 6-foot limit once the caster height was accounted for

Within a few hours of receiving the feedback, I had an updated model ready for review.

This is one of the reasons I like creating 3D models early in the process. A drawing turns abstract ideas into something concrete, and once everyone can see the same thing, improvements happen quickly. Each round of feedback builds on the last, gradually transforming an idea into a practical design.

At this point, the concept was beginning to feel real. We had moved beyond discussing "stair props" and were starting to define the actual structure that performers would eventually use on the field.

February 22, 2026 – First Staircase Mockup

I spent most of the weekend in Fusion 360 sketching out what the staircase/slide props might look like based on our kickoff meeting.

One of the biggest challenges with marching band props is translating an artistic vision into something that can actually be built, transported, moved around a football field, and safely used by students. This first design was my attempt at turning the "Escher-inspired staircase" concept into something tangible.

Based on my understanding from our initial discussions, I modeled a prop that was:

• 6 feet wide
• 4 feet deep
• 6 feet tall
• Six steps from the ground to the top platform
• A staircase on one side and a slide on the other
• Designed as matching mirrored pairs so multiple props could be positioned back-to-back across the field, creating continuous pathways for performers to march across the structures
• Mounted on casters so it could be moved during the show

The stairs were designed with 1-foot-deep treads and 1-foot rises. At this stage, I was still assuming full-height steps and a fairly traditional staircase layout.

The slide surface would eventually be covered with a material that would allow performers to slide safely during the performance.

Once the first renderings were complete, I sent them to the band director and show designer for feedback. One thing I've learned over the years is that a visual model is worth far more than a verbal description. Everyone can hear the same idea and imagine something completely different. A 3D model gives everyone a common starting point, making it much easier to discuss what is working, what isn't, and where the design should go next.

At this point, we still didn't know exactly how many props would be needed or what refinements might be required. The goal wasn't to have the final answer. The goal was to turn an idea into something people could see, react to, and build upon.

This was the first real glimpse of what would eventually become this season's signature prop.

February 17, 2026 – Props Kickoff

Today we had our first props kickoff meeting with the band director and show designer. What's unusual about that? It's only February, almost two full months before show reveal.

Every marching season people ask if I get an early look at the show and props before everyone else. Up until this year, the answer was always no. I found out about the show and the prop concepts at show reveal just like everyone else.

For some reason, in my final year as a band parent with a student in the program, I got invited into the conversation much earlier. My guess is that this year's props are much more integrated into the drill and visual design, which meant we needed a longer runway for planning and construction.

One important note for anyone reading this: while this post is dated February 17, it wasn't actually published until June, nearly two months after show reveal. No secrets were leaked in the making of this blog.

The inspiration for this year's show, and therefore the props, comes from M. C. Escher's famous lithograph Relativity (often referred to as the "crazy stairs" artwork). The early concept calls for 8 to 12 staircase props spread across the field, built as mirrored pairs.

The initial design ideas discussed included:

• Staircase structures approximately 4 feet wide and 6 feet tall
• A combination of stairs and slides
• Slides that performers can actually use during the show
• Custom-cut 4mm coroplast skins shaped to match the stair geometry
• Potential backfield props if the stair structures alone don't create enough visual impact
• A small number of sideline screens, though that was still undecided
• Two dock-themed stages flanking the front ensemble

The good news is that we'll be able to reuse the stages we built last season, which should save both time and budget.

At this point, nothing is finalized, but it looks like we'll be building somewhere between 8 and 12 staircase/slide props. Even in this early meeting, it was clear that this year's project would be larger and more integrated into the show design than anything we've tackled before.

Time to start sketching.