Made in the USA!

I have a great story. Actually, we have lots of them, but this one stands out in my memory.

We recently purchased some used twisting equipment from a mill in North Carolina. Now, recall if you will, that until the mid-90’s, there were tens of thousands of textile jobs in the area of western North Carolina. Then, for a variety of reasons, those jobs went overseas, devastating that part of the Country. Truly a terrible situation, but I’ll stay out of the politics and economics of the whole thing.

Anyway, we bought several twister frames from a broker. They came out of a mill that was shut down. We brought them up to Northern NY to add to our existing operation that twists very high temperature threads, yarns, and other products. The drivers and riggers that delivered these frames were all quick to point out how great it was that they didn’t deliver them to some port on the east coast to ship out on a freighter to another country. Rather, this time, those twister frames were actually going to a new industrial building in Upstate N.Y., USA! What a great feeling for all of us here at W.F. Lake Corp.! Working together, we were all investing in the future of the United States of America!

W.F. Lake Corp. manufactures all of its products in the U.S.A. and we’re proud of it. Since our founding in 1991, we’ve been especially aware of the need to produce products here at home. We’re fortunate to have been born here and we appreciate it!

It’s interesting to take a look at how important it is to have manufacturers here and to support them when you can. We like to point out that when it comes from the US, the box it came in was likely made in the US, the poly bag in the box, the truck driver that delivered the materials lives here, the guy repairing the truck, the company that put up the building, filled the vending machine, cleans the carpets, plows the driveway… well, you get the idea.

Statistics abound as to how important manufacturing is to the US Economy and I’ll spare you the details, save one.  The highest multiplier effect of any economic sector in the US is manufacturing. Don’t forget the person at the bakery who bakes the cake for “birthday month” and makes the buns for the hot dogs for the impromptu “bosses turn to cook” cookout, and… Sorry, got carried away again.

Made in the U.S.A. matters and we’re proud to say that is what we do!

Send us a note to find out more about what we do and the products we offer! 

Color of PTFE Coated Fiberglass Fabrics, Tapes, and Belts

PTFE Coated fiberglass fabrics, tapes and belts are typically a tan color.  Within the industry, we call this color “Natural”. But if you’ve ever worked with fiberglass fabric (maybe to repair your car or boat), it looks white. And of course it is white until it sees heat, then it turns “tan” or “natural”. Read on if you’d like to find out why!

Fiberglass yarns are made up of very fine filaments of glass fiber. These filaments are amazing little things, but they are, after all, glass and are subject to damage or breakage like any glass product would be.

Imagine very fine fiberglass rods; they’d easily snap and break if not handled very carefully. In order to make fiberglass filaments more durable, a starch “binder” is applied to the filaments to protect them in further handling, braiding, twisting, weaving, etc. These binders are organic… in some cases they are potato starch!

These binders caramelize when they see heat, very similar to a piece of toast turning brown in your toaster! Of course, PTFE coating of fabrics, tapes and belts requires relatively high temperatures to cure the PTFE. That tan color from the binders being heated is then trapped within a translucent PTFE coating, thus making the final product “tan” in color.  We call it “natural” because it is what naturally happens to these binders. You may see slight variations in the tan/natural color of the product because different binders are used on different yarns.

OK, but why are some black in color? That’s because we sometimes add pigment to the PTFE dispersion to achieve different colors or characteristics. Black is often used for several reasons. First and foremost, it is used to pigment belts in ultraviolet curing ovens (most often in the screen printing industry). When under UV lights, the starch binders that make a fabric or belt “tan” will bleach out, turning your tan belt a funny shade of off-white.

Although this in no way impacts the performance of the belt, it is often perceived as a failure. In order to hide that change, we make the belts black. That same black color can mask other things like wicking oils in food processing, ink from screen printers, etc. In some rare cases, specialized pigments (mostly black) are used to try to impart a degree of conductivity to this incredible insulator. In most cases, the point is to create a path to discharge static electricity.

What about other colors? Sure, they can be done but really are very specific to certain industries and not typically an issue in most commercial applications.

Yarns for electrical insulation are an entirely different beast, Yes, we manufacture those as well, but they are another topic entirely!

Again, and as always, contact us with any questions or comments. We’re here to help!