PRI Show:

The show as always was excellent, even though exhibitor numbers and attendee numbers were down. The visitors to our booth were excellent as it seems those who came wanted to be there. This year even seemed a bit better than last year. This is an indication of what direction the market is going in. People will spend what it takes to get what they want, BUT it must be quality. Fortunately in every independent test against similar coatings Tech Line comes out on top. This can be stressed to customers who are looking for quality. The High Performance Market looks good, maybe a bit slow in growing due to the economy, but still an excellent and growing market.

A New product, CilGen Marine Coating, was well received.

The Marine coating was getting a lot of interest in two areas. First as a speed coating where in testing a Drag Boat picked up 3 MPH with just the addition of LTMC. The other area was for Fiber Glass and Carbon Fiber components as LTMC protects against UV damage.

LTC for dirt track cars also got a lot of attention. Two areas were of most concern on the cars, and wheels and the bottom of Sprint Car wings. LTC will have a major impact on these parts.

CAM FAILURES

We have been hearing of repeated can failures even when Anealon is used (1 case with Anealon). The culprit seems to be cams made in China, which is the case for many, though not all, manufacturers. If it is made there do NOT coat it as the mfg/supplier will blame the coating and not warranty the cam. It is a metallurgical issue.

DIAMONDYZE

DiamonDyze continues to get huge attention. The salt spray figures are way beyond what traditional anodizing can provide, not to mention of course the wear characteristics.

Currently salt spray is over 6000 hours with no change in appearance. The shop that is doing the testing sent me photos. I thought they had mixed up the 6000 hour photos with the ones they took at the start of the test. Nope, 6000+ hours and NO change. The FORD APGE test is over 250 cycles and no change. The marine market, both for internal parts and external components was extremely interested. They saw the potential to replace a lot of expensive stainless steel with DiamonDyzed aluminum. We also spoke to one shop about DiamonDyzed props and they felt it would be a great idea as when hitting a major obstacle bronze and other metal props are hard enough that damage to drive line components can occur, not just the prop. A DiamonDyzed aluminum prop would handle the normal wear from water, silt and debris very well and if hitting an unseen object the prop is likely to bend before any other part, saving in repair costs.

We have already received test parts from several well known manufacturers as well as requests from shops all over the USA and Canada to be set up as soon as they can be. The Nebraska Shop should be operational by the end of the year and the UK shop by the end of January. Others will be scheduled after the first of the year.