garettc

Good lord. If I were a dues paying member I would not be happy that my money is being spent on high-class architects and fancy offices.... One more reason I will never join ISA. as if I needed one. Garett

Congrats, Erik and Kirstie! Having three of my own, I can say that the key to happiness is to accept now that you will never, ever have another good night's sleep again. Once that ridiculous expectation is out of the way, bliss will follow! You two definitely make good-looking kids! Garett

As a wholesaler I have not applied fora sign permit for about 10 years. Last time I had to endure that I swore if I ever had to come back to that place there would be an Uzi in my briefcase! Kidding, of course, but that's how I felt. If I were in retail signage once again, I think I would do anything and everything to make my signs exempt from UL regs. Since it's been some time, can some of you pros help out with the list? by memory,... -transformers under 3kV to ground are exempt -transformers under 15mA are exempt Could you be exempt with a 15kV, 15mA transformer? I guess industry is trying to get a long with UL, but it seems to me that the small sign shop would be better off paying for more numerous, smaller transformers. The smaller secondary current could be worked around with smaller diameter tubing. which is also cheaper and easier to bend.... What say you all? Garett

Like many unions, with the force of law behind them they ARE a de facto government agency! Garett

Kenny, Thank you for taking the time to compose that reply. I can tell that you care, as do I. Which is why I hate to see anyone engaged in Sisyphean efforts. Government expansion grows like a Hydra--cut off one head and two grow back in its place. I would prefer that Industry groups like ISA challenge the philosophical and constitutional assumptions that permit the Hydra to grow. For example, why should it ever have been legal for cities to require UL certification in the first place? But dig deeper. Why do we need sign permits, i.e., permission from the government to build and install a sign? But dig deeper. why do we need a permit office for anything? The usual objections come creeping in, usually advocated by those who would benefit by restricting competition. Safety, aesthetics, and cries that without government the whole world would look like a boulevard in Hong Kong (well, the old HK anyway). In reality the safety issues could be addressed between the property owner and insurance company. Maybe the property owner would require a listing of some sort, or maybe the insurance company would refuse coverage or make it prohibitive without such a listing. But nowhere is the ugly head of a bureaucrat handing down heavy-handed and expensive requirements. It's probably a world view that some have and others abhor, and maybe they can never be reconciled. Some think that free men and women can resolve their differences by appealing to reason and their common interests. Some think that a heavy-handed government is needed to keep men from tearing themselves to pieces. But I think it's undeniable that without such a goal or philosophical backbone, ISA and other industry groups will continue to expend great efforts to hack off the ever-increasing heads of the Hydra. To me, those who will permit "a little government regulation" are the ones who gave it the sanction to do whatever it wants. We must, as Hercules did, cauterize the stumps of the severed heads so they cannot grow back! If anyone is interested, a book called "In Defense of Advertising" by Jerry Kirkpatrick fleshes out the points I have tried to make here. Kenny, please don't take this as an attack on you. It is increasingly rare in the age of the Internet to have a civil and principled discussion and I do hope we can continue. Garett Churchill Elite Lamp Technologies

Buckeye, The reason I don't belong to ISA is because they seem to want to please the people who get in the way of making signs, instead of helping to get them out of the way! Don't you think that ISA would better serve its membership by telling UL to lower their prices and cut the BS, or they will sever ties and form a relationship with one of their competitors?! Seems to me ISA would rather play golf. Garett Churchill Elite Lamp Technologies

Here's our little update: As some of you know I have been working on an automated neon processing system. It will be a true fire-and-forget system, right down to the filling of the tubes. We have a long way to go, but we are nearing completion of the most essential piece: the induction heater. We have a heater that is designed from the ground up, using the latest in digital programmable processors. The circuitry can auto-detect the resonant frequency of the electrode, and also adjust that once the Curie point is passed and the shell loses it's magnetism. At present the heater puts out about 1100 watts, and can fire an electrode to bright red in 3 seconds--with an open "C" coil! The final version will be more powerful and efficient, probably 1800 watts. All air-cooled. Looking to be available in Q1 of 2010. The other project we are developing is an electronic bombarder. Small like a neon power supply, but equivalent to a 5kVa bombarder. Will include all the safety features that 2161 transformers enjoy, most importantly, detection of ground fault. We are hoping to make the horror stories of bombarder electrocutions a thing of the past. Together with the induction heaters, and PC-based programmable logic controller, we will have a fully automated neon processing system that can plug into a 20A 240V outlet. Gone will be: electrocutions, burned electrodes, under-heated electrodes, one electrode hot while the other cold, tubes under-filled, and over-filed, or filled too quickly or not quickly enough. In other words, the neon tube will be perfectly processed every time, and one less employee will be needed. Even you electric bill will be much lower! Stay tuned. The full version will be available Q1 of 2011. Garett Churchill Elite Lamp technologies

Donco, do a Google search for "broken window fallacy". I'm not sure this is anything but a way for the government to boost sales in its new car business! Garett

As I understand it from an old family friend who was in industrial real estate for 40 years, there is a major commercial RE bubble that is about to pop. A whole new round of foreclosures is on its way. And Manuel, Ouzo is what my sister brought me as a souvenir years ago after her visit to Greece. Man, I would rather eat my own arm than drink that again! Garett

As if I needed another reason to eat at BK! But if I owned that franchise, I would not have done that. My wife worked at a classical radio station, and several times a year they have a PBS-style campaign for asking for money to support the station. As you might guess some of the folks who work in that field tend to be Democrat. Well, some of them started letting that be known over the air, with Bush jokes and comments supportive of Obama. My wife reminded them that potentially half of their listeners might be changing the station when they hear that kind of tripe. She was met with blank stares. And no, they have not reached their goals lately.... there's a time and a place for everything (it's called college!).

I hate to shoot the idea down right out of the gate. I think they are well-intentioned people, and they have an ambitious agenda, especially taking on the mercury issue. But on the other hand I see a 'good 'ol boys' club who has made it very expensive to join. American Scientific Glassblowers Society, for example, has an associate membership for only $75 a year, and that includes a journal and access to a whole website of goodies. I am going to give them a chance, and make my disagreements and agreements known to them, and when I see something worthy I will plunk down the money and join. (but if the membership was $75 I would join today....) just my 2c.

Hey, I was waiting 'til the last minute to see if there are better deals to be had. Glad I booked a room just in case--Hotels.com has nothing good under $100. Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks, Garett

My wife and I will be there. Looking forward to meeting all of you-

Unfortunately these pumps are everywhere. I doubt you could get more than $100 for it. Plus they are heavy so shipping could easily cost more than that. I had a couple sitting on the shelf. One I sold to a friend, the other, I threw in the trash. That one needed a rebuild, and A-Vac will no longer take 1402 cores that have been in service in neon shops due to mercury contamination. I don't mean to piss on your parade, but those are the facts as I see it. Garett

Veep green and green are basically the same. VEEP green has a ceramic filter that blocks the blue mercury lines, making it look more saturated. The zinc silicate phosphor is renowned for its terrible lumen maintenance. It is a fragile crystal and very susceptible to ion bombardment. A simple barrier coating greatly enhances the maintenance and performance of this phosphor. I did a test of some Voltarc Green, and coated half of a full stick with the protective coating and left the other half as-is. Huge difference. I think I still have that lamp in a stash somewhere. Maybe I'll dig it out and fire ti up for some numbers. Meanwhile, the rare earth green is a variant of the blue BAM (barium magnesium aluminate, europium activated). By changing the molar ratios of the ingredients a wide range of colors can be made with this phosphor. there is also a popular dual-peak version that has a turquoise appearance, in addition to the green. This green differs from the standard zinc silicate green in that the half-width of the emission curve is shorter. So it is naturally more saturated. By the way, Tecnolux has a lot of great spectral info on the spectral output of their coated tubes. I wish others would do this, and maybe even get together with the plastic and vinyl people and design phosphor blends that match the transmission curves of the plastic. It's on my list, but not very close to the top at the moment.... Best, Garett

True that red LEDs are the best tech that LEDs have to offer. I think that the test might be worthwhile nonetheless. Neon filled tubes can at best get about 40 lumens per watt. Although neon has the nice feature of having a positive lumen maintenance curve due to no phosphors to degrade and efficiency increasing as the gas is cleaned up, I think there are mercury phosphors that can give it a run for the money. Strontium magnesium phosphate emits a broad spectrum red and yields about 55 lumens per watt, and gadolinium pentaborate (e.g., EGL Flamingo) makes a narrower emission and is quite bright (I don't have lumen numbers on this one but I suspect it is in the same range. Technolux has a "special red" for plex faces but it was just not bright next to neon-filled tubes. What could be gained is a longer life tube as Hg lamps last longer because the failure mode is different. And just maybe a brighter sign, but that depends on the plex choice as well. I do not have the gadolinium phosphor in stock, as it is made only in Germany and is very expensive due to the dollar weakness and skyroceting demand for gadolinium. But I do have the strontium magnesium phosphate. I would be willing to mix up a batch and submit a sample. Nichia is no longer making the other red phosphor calcium silicate because it is lead-activated and they are going ROHS. Same for the powder blue, which is also lead-co-activated. Green is where neon really shines, if the rare-earth green is used. Raw efficiency is about 135 lumens per watt and maintenance is very good. One technique that can be used is adding a phosphor (sometimes a PDP phosphor) to the blend (pre-coating is best but a simple blend works fairly well) that absorbs the blue and green mercury lines and re-emits in a longer wavelength. (Masonlite was considering this before things went bad for them.) Years ago we used this technique developing a yellow lamp for traffic signals. Again it is an example of what can be done and is not. Manuel and YYZ's obervations on blue light is true. The BAM blue we use has a raw efficacy of about 55 lumens per watt, though I do not know how that compares to LED blues. The technique that works the best is to use white neon, with blue vinyl over a white face. The outer edge is left white and helps define the letter and get rid of the bluryness. I wonder what other colors neon could do better than LED? Garett

To be sure I am not a large volume shop. but that smells like BS to me to say that the program will crash. It has a terrible user interface but I have never had any problems with crashing. Sometimes accountants have hidden agendas with their recommendations. For example, my accountant did not want me to upgrade to the Manufacturing edition, when I pressed her she finally confessed that she would have to spend an entire day in a seminar to be certified to get the accountant's edition of the Manufacturing edition.... Just one of many reasons why everyone hates QuickBooks! Unfortunately it is still probably the best solution out there for many small companies....

Most people including me will say Quickbooks. All people who use Quickbooks HATE IT! Do a Google search for "I hate Quickbooks" it's amusing. I got the notice that my $375 "manufacturing edition" requires upgrading to the 2008 version. Downloading features are now disabled. I have been quietly searching for alternatives, but alas there are none that are compellingly less expensive. And apparently they all require paid upgrades every year or so as well. Since I rarely use the features in the Manufacturing edition, I am going to downgrade to regular old Quickbooks. I am almost certain that the file formats will not allow that. But before I do, we also had to upgrade Quicken for our home finances, so I bought for a few dollars more the "small business" edition. I am going to try to see if I can handle just that. My accountant insists that payroll should be outsourced to PayChex or some similar company for liability alone, so I have no need for that feature either. For those who also hate Quicken, there are some exciting online accounting programs that are coming out, like Mint and Buxfer. But they have a ways to go and are probably best described as betas at this point. Of course there will be paid versions that have all the features you want, but otherwise free with a few banner ads. Maybe there will be a business version someday.... So, after saying all this, one must try to put QB in perspective: It is good for three years (as of now) before an upgrade is required, so in the grand scheme of things it is not a huge business expense, just a bit insulting to have to be put through all those hoops. One must also consider the real cost of your time and effort to migrate to a new software package--how much is a whole day of lost productivity worth to you?

There is one CFL manufacturer that is claiming that, and also claiming that it is independently verified. Consider1ng that Pyhilips makes a T-8 that uses 1.7 mg, It is not impossible. For CCFL or "sign CCFLs" it is not nearly enough, as you say. The tubes operate to cold and there are too many cold spots where mercury can condense. Recently I have noticed a lot of the Denny's border tubes have a lot of dim spots--I think these are Eurocom Hg+ but I am not 100% certain of that.

In short, "neon sign" mercury lamps need at least 50 mg of Hg, and usually get two to three times that. Claims that less can be used are in dispute, as long-term mercury is consumed or sequestered. IMO there are going to be a lot of Eurocom Hg+ electroded tubes that will be quite dim in the future as this takes place. The problem with the sign industry low pressure mercury tube is that there is absolutely no effort made to optimize Hg vapor pressure. At 30 mA magnetic, my data shows that 9mm is optimal, with efficacy decreasing as diameter rises. OF course there is a lot more to it than that, factors like ambient temp and gas composition and pressure also play key roles to be certain. I am seriously considering eliminating 15mm as an option for mercury tubes. Maybe even 13mm.... But what I wonder about is, the true measure (from an environmental standpoint) should be mg of Hg/watt, right?