MikePro
New Member
Greetings from the Midwest!
Mike from Racine, Wisconsin USA.
Just hit the 100 post mark, so I figured it was about time I did an official introduction.
15 years and counting in the sign business (that's including 1year of scrubbing toilets for cash before I was old enough to apply for a work permit). I work 50 hours a week and i'm loving it! Originally signed up here in hopes to diagnose Mimaki printing issues, but I have to admit... I'm a sign nerd. I'm hooked.
Signs101 helps me vent the obsession... my friends are actually sick of me pointing out signage in the Midwest that I've made/installed... but what can I say? I'm proud of what I do.
Sign guy. 3rd generation.
Grandfather, ex-iwo jima marine veteran, started up a neon shop out of his garage. Father took over the business and expanded it into a 40-man sheet metal workers union operation. You name it, Michael's Signs does it... xept toilets. Specialized in Architectural Signage, but we are a true custom sign shop. Scale model trains with interactive toys/puzzles for a traveling children's museum all the way up to, and beyond, 12' tall LED lettering on the side of the world's largest 4-sided clocktower (Allen Bradly, now Rockwell Automation, in Milwaukee). Neon, Flouro, HPS, LED, and Propane (hell yeah, that's right)... we project your image. We've even done work in Mexico! ... and Lithuania if you count a side project for my relatives that I took with me on vacation.
I'm the new guy in a shop full of journeyman twice my age and catch garbage for being the boss' kid. Still, nothing holds me back...graphic design, plotter, printer, cutter, router, welder, install, you name it... I know how to do it. Well, everything but pumping the neon and capping the electrodes. But I know how to drive all our rigs around the lot, even though I don't have my CDL yet. I'll also admit that my welding is a bit chintzy, but the union doesn't exactly like me stepping into their end of the shop anyways.
Its just as good, since I prefer to let the pros do their thing. I just get a kick out of knowing how to do anything and everything that's involved with the family business... tho' for the time being, I'll mostly stick to my CS3, Onyx, and 160SP.
Management/Sales is, ultimately, my goal.
Nice to meet everyone.
I'm likin' this place already.
Mike from Racine, Wisconsin USA.
Just hit the 100 post mark, so I figured it was about time I did an official introduction.
15 years and counting in the sign business (that's including 1year of scrubbing toilets for cash before I was old enough to apply for a work permit). I work 50 hours a week and i'm loving it! Originally signed up here in hopes to diagnose Mimaki printing issues, but I have to admit... I'm a sign nerd. I'm hooked.
Signs101 helps me vent the obsession... my friends are actually sick of me pointing out signage in the Midwest that I've made/installed... but what can I say? I'm proud of what I do.
Sign guy. 3rd generation.
Grandfather, ex-iwo jima marine veteran, started up a neon shop out of his garage. Father took over the business and expanded it into a 40-man sheet metal workers union operation. You name it, Michael's Signs does it... xept toilets. Specialized in Architectural Signage, but we are a true custom sign shop. Scale model trains with interactive toys/puzzles for a traveling children's museum all the way up to, and beyond, 12' tall LED lettering on the side of the world's largest 4-sided clocktower (Allen Bradly, now Rockwell Automation, in Milwaukee). Neon, Flouro, HPS, LED, and Propane (hell yeah, that's right)... we project your image. We've even done work in Mexico! ... and Lithuania if you count a side project for my relatives that I took with me on vacation.
I'm the new guy in a shop full of journeyman twice my age and catch garbage for being the boss' kid. Still, nothing holds me back...graphic design, plotter, printer, cutter, router, welder, install, you name it... I know how to do it. Well, everything but pumping the neon and capping the electrodes. But I know how to drive all our rigs around the lot, even though I don't have my CDL yet. I'll also admit that my welding is a bit chintzy, but the union doesn't exactly like me stepping into their end of the shop anyways.
Its just as good, since I prefer to let the pros do their thing. I just get a kick out of knowing how to do anything and everything that's involved with the family business... tho' for the time being, I'll mostly stick to my CS3, Onyx, and 160SP.
Management/Sales is, ultimately, my goal.
Nice to meet everyone.
I'm likin' this place already.
