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So, what do YOU do in this case..
Hmmm, mighty quiet out there.
TOO quiet, I don't like it.
Had me one of them late-night down-at-the-mall ordeals last night -- this
one was one of those turns-to-dung-right-before-your-eyes jobs.
The job: remove a channel-letter sign; one week later reinstall it. I priced
it at $375 given that there were no materials (price goes down) and that it
was late-night work (price goes back up). Sign says "Jamie's Hallmark Shop"
with "allmark" one script unit, the rest individual letters, about 12" high.
A from-the-floor glance showed the letters to be "channellume" type (yuck).
I wasn't even to haul the sign home or store it; could just leave it at the
site while they remodelled.
Problem #1: There's at least 40!!! people at the site -- a new one on me.
Everyone and their uncle pitched in to help ol' Jamie clear the store out
(this is a one-week remodel remember). So just getting from the front of the
store to the back is a traffic ordeal. Moving stacks of ripped-out cabinets
just to set up a ladder for the drop ceiling...
Problem #2: Didn't previously go and scope out what's up in the ceiling.
Being skinny little letters they ran the electrodes straight back through
the wall, with no sockets or housings of any kind. where the hit wooden
studs (five different places!) they drilled out the stud with barely enough
room to slide the electrode by -- In most cases they angled the 'trode past
the stud to one side; in one case it was dead-center with the electrode
ending in the middle of the stud, so they ran a hole one way through the
stud for the 'trode, and another 1" hole running ninety-degrees to the first
for access for wiring! So I'm looking at all this wondering, do I reinstall
it the same way? Aren't I liable for it once I touch it? How would you-all
handle such a mess?
Problem #3: General contractor points out that the new wall will be slate,
and I have diamond-tip drills, right? Well, one, he didn't tell me that
before (and I didn't price it accordingly), and two, I only have 1-1/2"
diamond drills, for PK housings -- so I have to go and buy the small ones
for these straight-back 'trodes...In past jobs that's where I STOP and give
my new bid; in this case it's someone who has more work coming up, and who I
otherwise like working with, so I absorb it...
Problem #4: See problem #1 above; One neon unit is broken when it comes time
to store the sign -- of course it's one of the long tight-fit script units,
with no one taking credit for the crunch. (Why would they? They're just
helping Uncle out, clearing out the store...)
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>Does anyone know of a circuit using semiconductor devices to
> control neon lights?
>
> Thanks!
>
> jim thompson
Why YES as a matter of fact -- Neon News #16 had as its cover story using an
IBM clone to control solid state relays, using the 5-volt output from the
printer port and programmed in BASIC. The relays in turn controlled the neon
transformers.
I also remember reading somewhere (Signs of the Times?) that Joe Upton (East
Coast) builds his own controllers using similar solid-state relay technology.
-Ted Pirsig
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