What else do you do for a living?

Hancock Fabrics. It’s awesome, I get a 25% discount, even if it’s on sale ^_^

I’m a neonglassbender & electric signmaker in The Netherlands.
I have a small company since 1986.

Here under you find a video. You can see whats my profession is all about & how Neon is made.
(It took me 6 years to learn & master the craft of bending neontubes)

[media=vimeo]18106215[/media]

The difference between U.S.A neon & neon produced in The Netherlands ;

In this movie you can see how they make the neon in U.S.A.The difference in the Netherlands is that we, (i’m one of the approx. 35 neon glassblowingers still out there in The Netherlands), make neontubes from Soda/lime glass (laboratory glass) In the U.S.A with lead glass (what is easier to bend), the hollow glass tubes you see used in the movie, is equipped with an internal coating of phosphor powder (for colors).In the U.S.A, they work up to 15 mm diameter neon.

In The Netherlands is a tube diameter of 17/18 mm common for neon signs.
How more glassdiameters, the more craftsmanship it takes to get the glass to be able to bend.If the hollow glass tube is bend in its form, we provide an internal phosphorus coating. (neonsuspension developed by Phillips).
As in the U.S.A (and all other countries) who work with precoated tubes, you can understand, if that tube e.g. on that spot to make a bend that is heated,
that internal coating is going to be locally thinner, resulting in “bright spots” in the bends. A layman sees not this inperfection, he sees the neon lighted up and finds it beautiful.

Neon’s in e.g. Las Vegas are being replaced every 5 years, while Dutch neon in practice more than 20 years can work.
And then after that amount of time we can “recondition” the orginal neonglass.
(transfer with new noble gas, a new phosphorus coating, new electrodes)

“NEON”
An old technique that consists of more than 100 years. First commercially applied & perfected by Georges Claude in 1910.
The term “neon” is somewhat misleading because not all tubes are filled with this noble gas.Neon-gas for the red light radiating colors, and Argon-gas with 1 drop of mercury for the other colors.

BENDING:
A hollow tube (laboratory glass), one side a stopcork in there. At the place where the bend should come, I mark it with chalk or soft pencil. Preheat the piece of glass using a natural gas/compressed air glass burner, till ca 1500 degrees Celsius. (glass led very bad heat, so therefore I can still hold the glasstube. Every time I blow a little air into the tube, a little bit during the bending, so the wall thickness of the glass in the bend stays equal with the rest of the tube.
If the bending of the glasstube is done, the innerside the neon glass tube, will be flushed, two times with Acetone (to clear out all moisture particles,left from blowing a little air into the tubes,while bending it)

POWDERING with fluoricents;
Following the light color that the customer wants, the neon glass system, we provide the neontube of a internal phosphorus coating.
(neon suspension, developed by Phillips)
A transparent glass tube filled with neongas gives an orange like light, a transparent glass tube filled with argongas
(with a drop of mercury) gives a silvery blue/light.
After that treatment the neontubes are heated in the oven for one night, so all impurifications & “tensions” in the glass will be removed.
Following step is melting on the (leadglass) electrodes (connection points for the cables) to the neonsystem.
FILLING with noble gas:
To one side the glass system is an electrode with a thin glasstube on it, it will be connected to the vacuumpump (manifold).
First, the neontubes are pre pumped (to allow all air out of it), then in highvacuum, where the noble gas under high vacuum is pumped into.
Finally, after “bombarding” (electrons surge) of 12000 Volts it, to activate the electrodes.After that, the connection with the highvacuum pump wiil be shut off with a small flame. The finished neonsign is lighted for 24 hours for testing,
Where appropriate, the return bends is painted black with a special “block out paint”.

What the most people don’t know, is the fact that neon can be dimmed also, at the 220 Volts (primairy) side of the neon transformer
(works only with argon filled neontubes)

Neon can last a very long time (in practice for decades), and also more energy efficient than other souces of electic lights.
A tenth of the energycosts compared to traditional lighting souces. (also more economical & durable as a LED)
Neon has proved itselves more than 100 years !

Ha I love how none of our positions are related to dj-ing! I’m a concierge at a hospital, just got my degree in neuroscience, and am waiting to hear back if I made it into medical school this year.

BigChipsHI, post: 10450, member: 853 wrote: .

My story was that I used to be a professional poker player for a solid four years, and at the time I was living the dream. I worked from home, made my own schedule, took a ton of vacations, traveled, was my own boss, challenged myself, supported myself, and made great money doing it. Alot more than I ever could have imagined with only a HS degree, being a prior restaurant employee, and making more money than friends and family members working their tails off.

I thought I had it made and would do that for the rest of my life. Just cruising along, living the good life. But long story short… I was young and naive. I got tired and bored with it which eventually lead me into “early retirement.” Eventually I ended up moving back home and having to get a real job.

Needless to say I hate it 😮

Just looking and keeping my eyes open to make my next move now 😉

“if your not living your own dream, then your living in someone elses”

Funny you say that, I was doing the same thing. I never played online poker seriously, because at first it was just a hobby (like DJing) and I was always a much better live NLH/PLO player. Foxwoods was also 40 minutes from my college so it was convenient enough to take advantage of alot of the tourists that came in daily. I was grinding 60-70 hrs/week and had limited expenses since everything most of everything was comped. After I graduated I moved further north and now its hard to find a consistent game so Ive been focusing more on my DJ skills. And I gotta say, IMO DJing is much more enjoyable, and not nearly as stressful as grinding it out, day by day at the tables, in the same seat watching the sun go up and down. Now if Im lucky I get to watch the sun come up when Im in the booth.

Im a Court Services Analyst for a Court Administration Office working on a IT Project for the Courts.Electro House music keeps me sane!

I’m kinda lucky. I only work 1 day a week running a few companies web stores, I actually earn enough from DJing to get by quite well.
I’m also doing a double degree in Law/Business in the Music Industry which keeps me busy from Monday-Thursday.

Microbiologist/Biomedical scientist…….love my job but love the music just as much!!