Painting a launch rod

Anyone ever paint a launch rod? I was thinking about painting one with epoxy paint.

That wouldn't be very smart. Rods would get hung up on the extra thickness/non-smooth surface. There really is no need. If I may ask, why would you want to?

Just thought it would look cool to have a colored launch rod.

It would have to be plated, it wouldn't take long for the corrosive gasses and heat to ruin your paint job. WD40 and 4O(that's OOOO) steel wool clean a rod about as well as your going to. I have polished them from there to get the oil off then spray Pledge on a rag and polish the rod.

I went and did a crazy thing and got O1 tool steel drill rod from McMaster-Carr in the 3 common rod sizes. Shipped it was pretty spendy. The rods have the advantage of being ground to size and not just pulled or rolled. They are as smooth as you could ask for. I got them all a few thousandths under for more clearance. All I have to do to them is to wipe them down with WD40 on a rag and they're ready for the next time

Really Painting our Launch rods would be a total waste of time and materials. our Exhausts are pretty corrosive and would eat up even HI-Temp engine paints.
Instead Replace your Steel launch rods with either 304 or 316 Stainless steel: Drill rod precision is totally unnecessary. Our Hobby launch lugs have Plenty of room to handle the slight variances in rolled stainless rods.

I started using 304 Stainless 1/8",3/16" and 1/4" launch rods back in the early 80's. I'm still using the same 1/8" and 3/16" rods purchased back then.
Since that time I've switched all our clubs launch rods to Stainless (mostly 304) for the smaller stuff and 316 Alloy for 1/4" x 72" and larger. 316 which is a good bit stiffer.

The beauty of Stainless Steel is they clean up with a squirt of Fantastic cleaner and stay well lubed with a finishing whip down with a paper towel sprayed with WD-40.
McMaster-Carr is a fine place to purchase these rods. Currently:
304- unpolished-not certified:
1/8" #89535K16 3' @ 5.04ea, 6' @ 8.55ea
3/16" #89535K84 " @ 5.52ea " @ 9.36ea
1/4" #89535K85 " @ 9.43 ea

316- Not Certified:
1/8" #89325K88 3' @ 7.45ea, 6' @ 12.62ea
3/16" #89325K89 " @ 7.64ea, " @ 12.95ea
1/4" #89325K91 6' @ 13.48ea

Plus shipping which can be anywhere from about 10buck or the 3footer to 17.80 for the 6' They come in 3" tubes.

PS: If you want to make your Launch rod Rally sparkle: Chuck one in your electric drill and spin it while running some 600grit sandpaper or better a Ultra fine Grey ScotchBrite Pad #7448 up and down the length for a couple minutes. really brings out the Shine of either Stainless Alloy.
I do this with all the clubs & my Launch rods when they come in New or every couple years just to brighten them up.

You are right, it would look cool.

Aesthetics aside, there are the functional considerations. The main considerations for a launch rod are:

• How straight it is
• How stiff it is (to minimize"rod whip")
• The tolerances to the supported lug (how tight/loose it is within the lug it is designed to fit)
• The coefficient of friction

The paint (epoxy, enamel, whatever) will affect the 3rd and 4th point, and most of the time negatively. The tolerances are usually tight to begin with and adding a few mils to the thickness and the "slide factor" will be diminished. That leads into the last point in that some paints may be "grabby" and not slide as easily as bare metal.

The only one I might seriously consider (if I had a money tree) is chrome plating an undersized drill rod (see dave carver's post).

Micromeister has good advice in his post.

Greg

You could plate a 6 mm o.d. rod which is 0.236 inches od. Normal chrome plating over steel is a triple plating process, copper, followed by nickel, them by chrome.

It's hard to find real chrome plating due to the environmental hazards of hexavalent chrome so most chrome plating has be supplanted by bright nickel plating.

I would think that on stainless, you can plate the bright nickel directly.

Bob