Re: [CR] What do you ride? My BUD.

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/watch?v=VsmdsH2ed6s&feature=related