Did anyone see the St Croix factory on how its made? It was interesting to see their dynamioc analyzer. They were saying that if a rod breaks in one place its a dud. If it breaks in several its a good rod. These rods that broke were being tested to a level (Newton Meters) over what the rods were rated for to see what they could take. The rolling machine was interesting. I sure would like to get a tour one day somewhere.

A single break generally indicates a bad or damaged spot in the blank. When a rod fails due to simply being pushed past its design limits the resulting collapse is catastrophic and will generally result in shock that fractures the rod in several places. At the very least it will not be a clean, shear type break, but rather a "blow-out" and collapse that fractures and splits the rod over a bit a length.

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Didn't see the show, but I did have the good fortune to tour the factory in Park Falls. I was very impressed with their attention to quality.

I also found the painting method interesting. It looked like they were pulling the blanks through a box with some type self sealing latex windows?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2009 02:18PM by Scott Bazinet.

The paint method isn't a self sealing latex window but a constant flow of paint that just appears that way....basically like running the rod under running water.

Like the sugar wall at Kryspy Kreme!!

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

When I was at St. Croix they were painting their blanks by pulling them thru a rubber membrane with a small hole in it.

A T section of pipe was on a stand with the long leg of the T pointing up. The two ends of the T each had a membrane mounted in a frame. Each membrane had a hole in it. The T was filled with paint and a blank was inserted and pulled back out thru the two membranes and hung on a conveyor that wound its way thru an industrial oven. Certain blanks, because of the extreme diameter changes can take a couple of different times thru the T with membranes that have different sized holes. For instance, a hole size that worked well for the tip of Muskie blank squeegeed all the paint off the butt section.


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Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Matt that is what was on the show. It was quite quick so I didnt get a good look at it. I would like one of these for my own shop. Looks like once you are setup painting blanks would be a breeze.

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The material the membrane is made from is very important. You'll go through a long list of types, butyl, latex, etc., before you find the type that works with the paint you intend to you. I will give you a hint - the material that "punch" balloons are made from works with the widest variety of paints.

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Does anyone know of a link where the show can be watched on the internet? I've love to see the tour of St. Croix's factory.

thanks,
jeremy

This post is not an attempt to hi-jack this thread, It is intended to explain one of the many ways that rod manufacturers paint their rods.

Graphite USA ( GUSA ) has exceptionally beautiful finishs on their painted rod blanks. When I visited GUSA, years ago, (when they were located in San Diego), I was shown how they painted their rod blanks.

1). For painting, GUSA used a dedicated, sealed room, about the size of a walk-in closet.

2). They painted up to 6 blanks at the same time, by hanging the blanks from their tips, then pouring the paint on to the blank tips and letting the paint run down to the blanks. The surplus overflow of paint was collected in a bucket below the hanging rods.

They did not use any means, such as a membrane, to spread the paint over the blanks. It was accomplished strictly by gravity.

I am still amazed by the absolutely perfect rod finishs, which GUSA obtained by this simple method.

Rena

Incidently, I got a GUSA Candy Apple Red blank, during my visit

Rena, the same method GUSA is using was used by AllStar when we toured their factory some years ago in Houston. Very interesting process. Letting gravity work for you looks like a better method then drawing the blanks through a membrane.

The point of drawing the blank through a membrane is to keep weight to an absolute minimum - this is known as a "squeegee coated finish." It creates a thinner coating than dipping or gravity feeding, which can be important in blanks where all out performance is the goal but you still desire a painted blank.

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They also said it was a "special" paint. Im wondering if its acrylic or laquer?

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