LBM, Melamine where did it go?

R

RFisher

FISHER CUES
Silver Member
Anybody know where to get melamine now that atlas doesn't sell it, no hurry, got alot, I really like this material, need to know if I should sit on what I got?

Thanks,

Bryan Fisher
Fisher Cues
www.fishercues.com
 
I'm down to about only 2 feet of It. I guess I better try and get some more before It disapears like so many other materials have. I didn't realize Atlas doesn't have It anymore. Thanks for the heads up.

Greg
 
lbm

Mother $%#$%#%^@%^$%$%^@$ that was awesome stuff. Why in the world would they stop selling it. Looks like I gotta find new ferrule material..
 
RocketQ said:
Mother $%#$%#%^@%^$%$%^@$ that was awesome stuff. Why in the world would they stop selling it. Looks like I gotta find new ferrule material..
Click to expand...

It is tough to produce something for aesthetics when you are used to making just industrial products. Plus there isn't much money in it compared to what they produce in general. It would be like having a guy work on your car and you don't want to pay because he left a greasy finger print on the engine. I doubt he would care if you ever came back. I think once they deal with cue makers with their tiny orders and high demand perfection as well as complain about price, they are glad to not deal with them.

The stuff has to made in an almost hospital setting to not get it contaminated. We have all seen the specks that can get trapped in the weave. I was told by one supplier years ago they used the same machines to make the various products and when they wanted to produce white it was ridiculous what they had to go trough cleaning the machine before they could run it and they still got complaints of contamination. I was trying to place a special order, pretty large, but they said no thanks not even if I ordered 10,000 feet.

It is even worse if you are the supplier like Atlas who has to deal directly with the customer buying like a foot at a time who b!tches because of specks in the material. Having to hear "I am never doing business with you again, this stuff is $hit", when it is really no ones fault. Bottom line, who needs the aggravation when there is no money in it anyway.
 
The contaminates or porosity problems, when they appear in an LBM ferrule, are frustrating. I love LBM ferrules for looks and performance though. The usual remedy is to cut the ferrule off and put on another. For certain, some batches of rods/ ferrules are cleaner than others. I recently explored the possibility of having a large number of rolled and molded .562 LBM rods made. I wasn't going to get rich, but I wanted to have and make available the very best and cleanest LBM ferrules around at a sensible price. I was shocked by the pricing I got directly from Norplex-Micarta--a few dollars higher per foot than Prather's lowest retail!

Martin



macguy said:
It is tough to produce something for aesthetics when you are used to making just industrial products. Plus there isn't much money in it compared to what they produce in general. It would be like having a guy work on your car and you don't want to pay because he left a greasy finger print on the engine. I doubt he would care if you ever came back. I think once they deal with cue makers with their tiny orders and high demand perfection as well as complain about price, they are glad to not deal with them.

The stuff has to made in an almost hospital setting to not get it contaminated. We have all seen the specks that can get trapped in the weave. I was told by one supplier years ago they used the same machines to make the various products and when they wanted to produce white it was ridiculous what they had to go trough cleaning the machine before they could run it and they still got complaints of contamination. I was trying to place a special order, pretty large, but they said no thanks not even if I ordered 10,000 feet.

It is even worse if you are the supplier like Atlas who has to deal directly with the customer buying like a foot at a time who b!tches because of specks in the material. Having to hear "I am never doing business with you again, this stuff is $hit", when it is really no ones fault. Bottom line, who needs the aggravation when there is no money in it anyway.
Click to expand...
 
I used to get all of my phenolics and melamine's from NVF. Their quality was very high and their minimums were very low and their prices were better than Atlas by a long shot. Their delivery time was 6 to 8 weeks. However, like most other things that are great in my life, they were bought out. Spaulding is now the new owners and what I understand, their quality has dropped off the map, their minimum orders have skyrocketed and they have quit making many of the items that I used to purchase. I loved the ferrule material that I was getting from them at around 8.00 a foot. If I had any idea they were going to be bought out I may have bought a 1,000.00 worth of the stuff. I replaced a tip on one of my cues that had one of these ferrules Friday and thought about them.

Dick
 
rhncue said:
I used to get all of my phenolics and melamine's from NVF. Their quality was very high and their minimums were very low and their prices were better than Atlas by a long shot. Their delivery time was 6 to 8 weeks. However, like most other things are great, they were bought out. Spaulding is now the new owners and what I understand, their quality has dropped off the map, their minimum orders have skyrocketed and they have quit making many of the items that I used to purchase. I loved the ferrule material that I was getting from them at around 8.00 a foot. If I had any idea they were going to be bought out I may have bought a 1,000.00 worth of the stuff. I replaced a tip on one of my cues that had one of these ferrules Friday and thought about them.

Dick
Click to expand...
Spaulding has gone down the toilet.
The epoxy, resin and their process are all done with one mission now.
Get cheaper.
 
JoeyInCali said:
Spaulding has gone down the toilet.
The epoxy, resin and their process are all done with one mission now.
Get cheaper.
Click to expand...

That can be credited to one thing - our government. In the early part of the 20th century, when the government was looking out for the people, laws were passed and very large monopolies were broke up, making for many smaller companies competing for your dollar. Now the government has went back to looking out for the large corporations again and let a few large companies buy up all of the smaller ones and once again - no competition so it's back to take what I offer at my price or do without.

Just my todays rant!

Dick
 
macguy said:
It is tough to produce something for aesthetics when you are used to making just industrial products. Plus there isn't much money in it compared to what they produce in general. It would be like having a guy work on your car and you don't want to pay because he left a greasy finger print on the engine. I doubt he would care if you ever came back. I think once they deal with cue makers with their tiny orders and high demand perfection as well as complain about price, they are glad to not deal with them.

The stuff has to made in an almost hospital setting to not get it contaminated. We have all seen the specks that can get trapped in the weave. I was told by one supplier years ago they used the same machines to make the various products and when they wanted to produce white it was ridiculous what they had to go trough cleaning the machine before they could run it and they still got complaints of contamination. I was trying to place a special order, pretty large, but they said no thanks not even if I ordered 10,000 feet.

It is even worse if you are the supplier like Atlas who has to deal directly with the customer buying like a foot at a time who b!tches because of specks in the material. Having to hear "I am never doing business with you again, this stuff is $hit", when it is really no ones fault. Bottom line, who needs the aggravation when there is no money in it anyway.
Click to expand...

These are all good points, however, don't you think
you should take the next step and put most of the problem
on cue BUYERS. I realize many cue makers are a lot more
anal than I am, but some of the things I have seen players
agonize over make me want to recomend therapy.

Dale<still diplomatic, mostly>
 
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