[TowerTalk] polyrod

[Tom Rauch]

>    To add another real world experience to the discussion
earlier this
> month, one of the locals has a coil of Polyrod he picked
up from the sale of
> K4JA's station.  It was stored in a coil but covered to
protect it from the
> sun.  He called me this past week and said it had
splintered throughout the
> roll.  As a result the entire coil of Polyrod is shot and
will have to be
> replaced.  Take your chances if you want but mine is
unrolled in the back
> yard.


Once again just last week I asked everyone I could reach at
polygon about the "falls apart when coiled" rumor. The
engineering staff said they never heard of it, and couldn't
even guess why it would happen when the rod is coiled at the
radius they ship unless it is "bent" by mishandling. They
also said they did have some calls asking about it, and told
everyone else the same thing. I even asked them if it was
possible they might have occasional bad batches of resin and
they said "no". They said once it starts to harden or
reaches a certain temperature that's it, it is hardened and
won't ooze or change.

They clearly warned me about handling. They said if the coil
or rod is mishandled in shipping or storage by forcing a
tight radius it would splinter as outer fibers would break.

It would be nice if someone that has rod that failed from
being coiled (without the coil being compressed) should send
a sample back to Polygon so the engineers have a chance to
see it, because other than warning me about not bending into
a radius significantly tighter than they ship it the
engineering staff assures me they never heard of  a problem
from simple storage!!

Perhaps the local can ship a sample back to Polygon and see
what they said. It would be great if everyone, manufacturer
and people who have failures, got together and figured it
all out.

In the mean time I've set aside the oldest rod I have (still
coiled and still like new) and will continue to leave mine
outside in the sun and just see what happens over the next
few years.

73,
Tom