Joe,
No one needs me to declare that Trek "did it right". The proof that their process took advantage of the best qualities of Imron are the surviving frames. A Custom job is better in pretty much every respect; but the Trek paint jobs did the job well enough.
With Imron, technically one is not "baking" the paint. It is being force dried. They are slightly different in practice.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA
Brian, I seem to recall some painters on another list debating the merits of baking vs. air dry, and the particulars of when and how much. I can't recall who won that debate(s).
I worked at the Trek factory(s) in Waterloo, Wisconsin from 1979 to 1982. I was a brazer and fork builder for much of that time. I started my Trek career in frame-prep shipping, then post-braze finishing, then brazing, then department foreman, then back to brazing -- day shift, night shift, day shift -- then I was part of a group layoff. That's the short story.
The longer story would include the day I left my safety glasses in the bathroom, and returned for them only to find two big swirly dollops of hand soap upon each lens. Didn't make me laugh. Tim Isaac, from Texas or Colorado or whereever he's from, suggested to me that "people from Wisconsin don't have a sense of humor." So, later in Isaac's career at Trek, one day, when I espied Isaac's peanut butter & honey sandwich on his desk, I heartily took a monster bite outta his lunch. Actually me and another employee took a bite each. It was a Wisconsin team effort.
OK, back to work: In 1982, at Trek, I recall the conveyor of wet-paint frames that included a step in which the frames passed through a heat chamber. Once? Twice? Thrice? I dunno. Also, I can't recall the coating process: primer-color-clear? clear in the color?
And then there's the merits of the series of liquid baths the frames received prior to paint. Rust removal, phosphate, yada yada yada, so, perhaps these frames were super-clean and rust prohibitive to the max?
As far as "time" and "effort," the electrostatic process with the robotic paint application still required one human painter to hand-spray the Imron toward the nooks and crannies of the framesets. This was a full-effort job. Managing the process too, was a full-effort job. Moreso, the intensity of responsibility required to manage high-volume manufacturing processes IS a constant TIME and EFFORT responsibility -- a life lived on the edge, yo.
If, if so, when, if when, to what degree, your job gets edgy, Brian, I dunno, but, did Trek do it, do you think, as you say, "with proper application?"
Joe Starck
Madison, Wisconsin USA
http://www.youtube.com/
�
> Imron is Imron. With proper application it is super durable
> as bicycle paints go. Wet paint can be applied
> electrostatically; powder coating HAS to be applied
> electrostatically. The powder is then melted to the metal.
> In the case of using wet paint electrostatically the process
> allows the paint to be "attracted" to the frame so that it
> doesn't take as many passes to completely cover the frame.
> It saves TIME and EFFORT, but does not add to the durability
> of Imron.
>
> Brian Baylis
> La Mesa, CA
>
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------
> From: Joe Starck <josephbstarck@yahoo.com>
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR] What do you ride? My BUD.
> Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 17:33:41 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>
> --- On Wed, 2/2/11, cwstudio@aol.com
> <cwstudio@aol.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Today's BUD is a 1982 Trek 613, 60cm. A very nice
> lugged
> > steel frame and fork, Reynolds 531, original and
> straight,
> > with nice pewter metallic paint. The paint, being
> Imron,
> > looks as good as new, except for the typical marks and
> small
> > dings from use.�
>
> Was there anything about Trek's painting process in 1982
> that made for your durable paint? That is to say, is the
> credit due to the "Imron" or to the company's
> "electrostatic" system of 1982? Regarding the term
> "electrostatic," is that similar to but not quite
> powdercoating? or is that the same process as
> "powdercoating?"
>
> What was Trek's paint system in 1982?
>
> Joe Starck
> Madison, Wisconsin USA
>
>
>
>
>
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