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Rocco

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Everything posted by Rocco

  1. So far, we are still working daily though we are a tiny operation compared to some. I'm having some issues getting materials (i.e. normal steel supplier in Philadelphia closed for at least two weeks) but can find other sources on this side of the state border. I'm seriously considering not going over into Philly but don't know if I can pull that off. The suits in the corporations don't care about people. There is a driver non-cooercion law, see below for an excerpt. "The Coercion Rule explicitly prohibits motor carriers, shippers, receivers and transportation intermediaries from coercing drivers to operate in violation of certain FMCSA regulations, including the drivers' hours-of-service limits, the commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations, the associated drug and alcohol ..." I'm hoping we can get something similar about not coercing contractors to finish jobs if we have issues due to Corona. In Phila. and NJ they have closed restaurants, bars, etc. Schools are closed for at least another week. Restaurants can only sell take out. They even closed the casino's in Atlantic City and that's a big revenue stream. My daughters college is doing the rest of the semester with online classes. i have several very large projects that are now on hold, if only because the township offices are closed and we can't start permitting on them. We just finished a couple of restaurant jobs and they are not going to be able to open. Both are good customers (one paid already) and I will get paid by the other though I may have to be patient to get the balance due. We're making sure that everyone washes up regularly. My hands are dry and raw from all the hand washing. We are running low on iso alcohol because we are using to wipe things down. I'v eeven considered buying a still to make my own alcohol - for cleaning only of course. TBH, I think it will get worse before it gets better but am keeping my hopes up. P.S. (and I hope this doesn't double post) but I was about to buy a 5x10 router and have put that on hold. Plus there were other upgrades that I've been considering but am holding tight for now. Eventually things will go back to normal, or something close, and we can get back on track.
  2. Another good book (out of print so you will have to search for a copy) is Sign Structures and Foundations "A guide for designers and estimators". it was a Signs of the Times book and the author is Peter B Horsley. The copyright date on mine is from 1984. I did a quick google and there are some copies out there. It's a great book to help you to get basic footing, wind load, etc. calculations using basic math - no calculus required. Way back when we road dinosaurs to work, I made a spreadsheet using it and have been using that to get me pretty darn close for freestanding signs for many moons. Of course no engineer I've ever asked about my spreadsheet will even respond. After all, I don't have that piece of paper and so can't possibly be able to do math. ? It also goes into lighting design but of course doesn't have any info on LED's.
  3. When I bought my ATR-41 it didn't have the jib but I bought one and it's on the truck. I'm having my hydraulic guy come later this week to make the connections. And no, I don't want to do it myself. I'd rather have someone who knows how do it properly. I'm wondering if anyone else has done this and where is the best place to put the valve to operate the hoist. I was considering making a bracket similar to the control box of a scissor lift. That way we can hang it from the platform where it would be out of the way. Or I could permanently mount it, but the only decent spot is on the steel platform support next to the harness ring. I'd like to put it in the main control area, but there really isn't enough space unless I have the whole thing redone. Any thoughts? Thanks!
  4. I use the Vector Doctor. Vectordoctor.com. The last logo I had done by him cost $24 but it's usually under $20 if it's fairly simple. He has pricing examples on the site. Send him the art and he shortly gives a price quote. And the finished work has minimal points, smooth curves, etc. I'm never converting a logo myself again.
  5. The only recent time I was asked to sign an NDA was for a company that was doing work for a huge international food chain. The NDA required me to not solicit work directly for said customer for the particular item they were selling (digital menus in the drive thru lanes) so I had no issue that. I don't make that and any big company wouldn't be interested in dealing with me because I couldn't deliver said product. It had an expiration of two years, over by now. I've had other companies ask me to sign NDA's before even looking at their bid package, but declined those. These asked me to not do work for their client even if I were approached by another company that had landed the account. Sorry Charlie. This thread reminded me of an episode from long ago. Many many moon ago, I was asked by the local Coke bottling company to come in and give them a price on some neon signs. It was for the Bicentennial. Within fifteen minutes I was there. Dang, I'm giving away my advanced age. I was let into the office of one of the assistant managers who showed me some very detailed drawings and asked for a price for 500 window neon signs. I told him I'd have to sit down and make a bunch of phone call because the amount then wanted was so big. It would have entailed getting most the tube benders in the Phila area to drop what they were doing to get this done by their deadline. A hard task for certain, but I wanted to try. I asked for a copy of the plans and got the stink eye. No, I couldn't have a set. Can they make a copy of just the small scale drawing? Again, the cold shoulder. At most i was allowed to make a rough sketch of it to work from. Needless to say, without a decent of plans I couldn't get anyone to give me costs on multiple units. AFAIK, they never had the signs made, at least around Philly. IIRC it was a cool design. Oh well, they lost out on all that advertising because of being too scared of competition, possibly Pepsi. However, no NDA was asked for.
  6. Last summer I bought a used Stamm ATR-41 and I LOVE it. It's one of the few in this area and everyone who see it in action asks how much it cost and where can they get a used one. Mine was a city of Tampa FL truck (no road salt) and it was pretty well taken care of. It did not come with the jib, but I just took delivery of one from Stamm. Once my hydraulic company comes by to add in the control valve and "stuff" I'll have a 1000 lb capacity small "crane". I won't ever try to max it out, but even at half capacity it will still be very handy. No it doesn't have the side reach of an actual crane, but it will handle probably 95% of my small lift needs. Plus it's got a larger platform than most Elliot's I've been in.
  7. I agree 100% that clear red glass is the way to go. However given the cost of neon in my area anymore, plus two transformers plus making an enclosure etc. it's way more than this guy will spend. it would last the longest by far, but if he won't spend the $ I have to find another alternative. I am going to inform him that any LED solution I come up with will only last so long. Hmm, maybe I'll have him buy them from Amazon and so when it dies he won't blame me. Thanks all!
  8. It's a nice idea, but are even more expensive than neon. I'll give my customer the option of doing neon (the longest lasting option) or of my buying a ready made LED "sign" that I'll put in a box.
  9. Hi all, A customer wants to add a vacancy / no vacancy sign to his pole sign. I quoted him on neon. When he got up off the floor (four units, two transformers, enclosure, etc.) he asked about something LED. I've done a bit of searching online but keep finding either indoor items, single sided units or things that look to be a POS. Does anyone have a good source for this sort of thing? Thanks! Rocco
  10. I used to have an OLD skyhook crane and it occasionally had that issue. There are brass bearing sleeves in the tubes and ours were very worn. It was a 1960 crane so it was to be expected I suppose. There are also guide rails (actually just lengths of round steel stock IIRC) and these were sloppy as well. The best way I found to get the tubes to come in easily would be to boom nearly straight up and the tubes would then slide back, though that doesn't help if you need to retract in the middle of a lift. Also, Carolina Crane repair also has a large supply of parts for Skyhook cranes (and I'm assuming Skyhoist) and can probably talk you through the problem. I don't miss that old truck of ours TBH.
  11. Hi all, Does anyone have any info on Ritelite of Concord NC? I just got a rfq for several supermarket locations and am wondering if they are good to deal with. Thanks and happy holidays to all. Rocco
  12. I saw your post. Accent Graphics out of TX used to be a large customer of ours, but we had problems getting paid for an extra that the PM didn't include on the drawings (the PM is no longer with them) and so they wouldn't pay.  Just my 2 cents.

  13. Hmm, isn't that company from the OP located on Long Island? IIRC quite a few of these national maint. companies started out on L.I. Just an observation, though I guess I don't have enough statistical data to draw a meaningful conclusion. And I just popped onto google maps and that address is the first bank of long island. Hmm, curiouser and curiouser. Wasn't there another thread with a national maint. company with a questionable address? I'm glad that, at 59, I only have to deal with this sort of people for another 30 or 35 years before I can afford to retire. ?
  14. What I need is a plain 1 3/8" round punch without "wings". The one shown in the photo is the one I have with "wings" for an older style snap-in socket. While it does the job, it leaves a pair of burs after punching the hole.
  15. I checked and yes, it's a true 1 3/8" punch. The one on the left is the 1 3/8" and the one on the right is 1 5/16" (which I forgot that I had). The blue tape in the photo is holding the "wings" for the punch. IIRC the 1 5/16" was for small glass housings. Anyway, still looking. Will trade a good D punchor cash or other sign "stuff".
  16. No, this isn't a for sale post, but I figured it should go here. I'm in the market for a 1- 3/8" round punch for chasing light sockets. I have the one with "wings" and these are removable and so do the job, but not well. It leaves a rough edge where the wings used to be. I have an extra "D" socket punch to trade and or can do cash. I've been getting more requests for reworking theater marquees and would like a good punch. I used to have one but it must have gotten lost somewhere along the line. Thanks all!
  17. Ah, the old "you can't get good help these days" song. I sing it, my father sang it, Moses (no relation though my kids think that he apprenticed under me) probably sang it too. Yes, good installers are hard to find. The good ones have steady jobs and aren't interested in talking to you. The bad ones will tell you that they have worked for this shop (but got laid off), for that shop (which closed down), that other place (fired this time for using the company CC*), cut trees for a few years, spent time in jail (or rehab or on the lam from a wife or..). Hmm, but can you give a guy a 2nd chance? Don't you mean 22nd? It's an uphill battle. Paul - I love that comment. However, at times I think half is being generous. UFB - LOVE LOVE LOVE that graphic. * - relative of my wife really did get fired for running up "ONLY $2500.00" on the company CC for personal expenses and seriously couldn't understand why he got canned, and why he ended up in court. He would have paid it back eventually. SIGH.
  18. Now let's not be too hasty to pass judgement. I mean, after all they DID use wire nuts to make the electrical connections. And that electrical tape was probably UL listed as well. The mold, well they intentionally must have made the drain holes smaller because those bulbs need the added warmth that only mold insulation can provide. You just interrupted the molds natural growth cycle! Mold is a natural, renewable resource whose manufacture has little or no carbon footprint. Plus they decided to save landfill space by leaving the neon posts in place as well.
  19. We recently were given the job to install a new sign for Lakeshore learning. They were moving from one space to another in the center. Corporate didn't like how the old sign looked so we serviced it and installed a transformer to the attached image. It would only have been for about ten days, but I guess I can see their point. I've seen sign people deliberately wire signs so that when one section goes out the resulting copy is "funny". Breaking words like "cocktails" down into two sections was always a popular one.
  20. The sign bracket store has some. At least one looks like your photo so you may have already looked there. Call you friendly neighborhood electrician (at least a good one) and ask him what he can do with his pipe bender.
  21. TBH, I think that it is possible that my agent misunderstood what was requested. My ins agency was bought out by another company and we had "issues" with them for a while. Missing COI's, delays in getting COI's sent out, no call backs, etc. it's gotten much better but I'm still checking around for another ins agency. I'll run it by them again and see if I get a different answer. However, sometimes these ins companies have really weird policies.
  22. I'm only talking about company trucks, all completely covered by our insurance. IIRC it's a $1mil auto plus an $2mil umbrella. While I don't claim to be completely fluent in "insuranceeeese" I was told by my agent that their ins company wants us to insure ALL of the vehicles on a jobsite, not just our truck. I guess that they want us to cover everyone else in case they smash each other and blame us for being on the same continent. IDK. My agent told me it would double the auto component of my business policy. Chandler was a good customer but didn't give us THAT much work. I have an independent insurance agent who has yet to steer me wrong, though I guess those things happen to the best of them. While there have been a couple of times in the past few years where we had a long term project and guys would drive to the site instead of the shop, that is far from the norm. I really wish we did more of those because they are always quite profitable. Usually we drive to a site, install the signs and leave. We occasionally spend two/three days at a site, but almost never leave the truck(s) there overnight.
  23. We used to do a decent amount of work for Chandler. The reason I'm posting this today is a designer/permit expediter I know just told me that Chandler is doing all the signs for the renovation of a local mall. it's a pretty large one in Center City (aka "downtown" anywhere else) Philadelphia. We had to part ways with Chandler recently, not because of problems with jobs or payments, but due to their new insurance company and the demands made. They just went with Progressive insurance and now instead of the normal Auto insurance coverage (owner, hired, leased, etc.) they want us to insure ALL the vehicles on a site. I spoke with my ins agent, and to get that one box checked would have doubled our auto policy cost. Now I will be shopping around come June for a new agency, but I can see where insuring ALL vehicles on a site would be really expensive. Especially at a site like the one in Phila. Do I have to insure all of the cars that drive by the site too? Naming a company as "additional insured" and getting the "waiver of subrogation" is bad enough, but this is too much. How is someone supposed to insure all of the vehicles on a jobsite? I've heard that Progressive does their best to never pay out any money in claims. It all must go to pay for the commercials with FLO. I guess that this is a ploy on their part to pass the buck to someone else. Have any of you had similar experiences with Progressive or other insurance companies? I hated to turn away a good customer but was forced to do this. The PM even told me that they were losing subs by the truckload because of this new insurance coverage.
  24. I've been looking for such a truck myself but am probably going in a slightly different direction. On the equipment trader website they have a bunch (of varying priced and vintages) under "Aerial Platform Lift Trucks".
  25. a quick web search came up with https://www.watergallery.net/wall-fountains/ And they showed what looks to be your exact unit.
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