Category Archive: Uncategorized
Even with our recent addition here at Stern last February, we are constantly working to expand and improve our facility for our employees, and to fit our needs. In the last few weeks, we have been putting some time into renovating our old offices into a new lunch area, as well as adding a new training room.
Following our expansion in February, we moved everything from our old offices into the new facility. With this space now available, our team here at Stern decided to take this empty space and turn it into a new lunch room. The old lunch room, which was located near the middle of the plant was fairly dark and noisy, and wasn’t really an inviting place for our employees to enjoy their break. The new area in the old offices offers a much more appealing space. The process of making the old offices suitable for a lunch room took some time, but with some help from the guys from Giza plumbing and Heating and Japke Decorating and Carpet, the lunch area turned out great. We added new flooring, fresh paint, as well as new doors and trim. Best of all, the new area has several windows that brighten up, and make the room much nicer than our previous space.
Along with this much needed renovation, we also finished a room in the new building that will now be used as our employee training and meeting facility. Here at Stern, our employees are constantly going through many different types of training, from new employee orientation to annual OSHA regulations and much more. This new space, features some great technology, and is capable of holding nearly all of our employees at one time, which allows us to speed up the training process while making sure everyone is able to retain the same information. This space is also large enough to hold our employee meetings.
Here at Stern, we are constantly striving to improve our facility to improve efficiency, increase employee morale and knowledge, and most of all improve our final product for our customer.
Minnesota springs are full of many fun and exciting things to do, yet one of the most popular is ATV trail riding. With hundreds of miles of trails spread throughout the state, the opportunities to venture out on your machines is endless. One of the closest trail systems, located just 40 miles from Stern Rubber, is the Spider Lake recreational trail system.
The Spider Lake Trail system carves through 29 wooded miles of the Foot Hills State forest. From smooth and sandy terrain, to rough and rocky, challenging roads, there is a style of trail for every level of rider. The trail system offers routes for both class I and II ATV’s, as well as Jeeps and other off road vehicles. For a fun day with friends, many Minnesotans set out for a full day adventure, that often includes a trail side lunch (given a group member packs one), many great stories, and of course a great time out enjoying the lakes, and other beautiful scenery that can only be seen while on your off road vehicles.
Although the Spider Lake system offers an amazing opportunity to get out and enjoy the trails, another great trail system located just 60 miles north of Staples, is the Round River Drive trail system in Akeley. This ride is one of the most memorable in the state. Connecting state forest roads, state maintained trails for both class one and two ATV’s, the Akeley trail system is worth the trip. With the opportunity to either eat at the trailside restaurant, or once again cook lunch out on the trail, the fun to be had is second to none and the scenery is unforgettable. With beautiful rock formations, stunning forests and breathtaking lakes, the trail system cuts through some of the most amazing pieces of Minnesota’s landscape, that can only be seen while using your off road vehicle.
So if you happen to be in Stern Rubbers back yard this spring or summer, get out your Polaris or Arctic Cat ATV and head to one of the many stunning off road trail systems throughout the state.
Within our quality lab here at Stern Rubber we have many pieces of technology. From 3-D printers and scanners, to our Keyence high speed measuring system, quality of our products is at the top of our list. Yet there is one piece of equipment in the lab, that is key to our product’s success and that is our TechPro tensile tester.
When it comes to rubber production, tensile strength is a key feature we focus on for material selection and product development. Tensile strength is the measurement of the force required to pull something such as rope, wire, rubber or any other structure to a point where it breaks. Here at Stern, like many other companies, we put to use the universal testing machine. This piece of equipment is hydraulic or electric driven, and runs on a uniaxial design that stretches the material by pulling it straight up and recording a read out upon the products failure (breaking). Although this seems like a simple test, alignment is very key, when it comes to this type of testing. If the material is not placed correctly in the machine, the results can be skewed due to force being reduced or added due to bending or shifting of the material.
As for the type of tests, the tensile tester focuses on four main parameters, force capacity, speed, precision, and accuracy. The strain measurements are most commonly measured with an extensometer, but on small test a strain gauge is also often used. New machines use digital time, force and elongation measurement, yet tests show that analog machines sill exceed the accuracy of these modern testers. The machine’s best feature is that it is designed to mimic the actual application of the product it is testing. Many of our products face several different environments and amounts of stress. So by using the tensile tester, we can display to our customer how strong or weak the product they are working with is, and adjust our material selection, and product design based on the parameters our customer is looking for.
Tensile testing is just one area of quality assurance we focus on here at Stern Rubber. Ensuring our products meet or exceed our customer’s expectations, is what we strive for, and with help from the tools and team members in our quality lab, we work to deliver the best products to all of our customers.
Here at Stern Rubber, we are proud to support local firefighters and departments, and our own firefighting team members, Barry Hirschey of Staples Fire Department and Bob Jackson of Pillager Fire and Rescue. Recently in the Brainerd area, the talk of fire was a popular topic when a local resort offered an amazing training opportunity.
Quarterdeck Resort, located on Gull Lake has been a fixture in the lakes area for decades. Yet this classic property also needed a great deal of renovation. With the new owners of the resort realizing that the old buildings were nearly unsalvageable, they decided to offer the opportunity to local fire departments, to use them for training. So the Pillager Fire Department, along with Central Lakes College, teamed up to host a regional training burn, using an 8 unit motel building. With the intention of gathering a few other departments and some new comers to the firefighting business to have the opportunity to practice their skills, the list soon hit 150 firefighters from all across the state that wanted to train, and practice in the Birchwood building at Quarterdeck. Along with the firefighters, prior to the burn, the Cass County SWAT team also took advantage of the old hotel for some tactical training.
Bright and early on March 12th, the firefighters from Pillager arrived, and got set up at the Quarterdeck sight. Soon their trainees arrived, and throughout the day, several room burns, and search and rescue missions were done, giving everyone the opportunity to learn some new firefighting tactics. With each burn, instructors and students worked together to use thermal imaging cameras, different spraying techniques, and many other tools and tactics to battle the blazes they were faced with. At the end of the day, after having nearly 150 firefighters test their skills, the Pillager department finished up, and let the building burn. For many small, rural volunteer departments like Pillager, Staples and many of the others that attended the training, live burns are very important, because they often only face two or three actual structure fires a year.
As part of the training burn, CLC took the opportunity to invite some community members to get in on the fun, and experience what it is like to be in a fire. They had to go through a few days of training to be qualified to wear the self contained breathing apparatus. This included some members of the local paper, as well we the local news, and some members of the local Chambers of Commerce. Here are some links to a story from the Brainerd Daily Dispatch, a video from Lakeland Public News: https://www.facebook.com/LakelandPublicTelevision/videos/1218024791560766/, and another video from the Brainerd Daily Dispatch: https://www.brainerddispatch.com/video/UQ12yYzI.
This was just one of many types of controlled burns that fire departments do to practice for the occurrence of a real structure fire, although not too often do firefighters from several departments across the state, gather in one place to learn and train together. From all of us here at Stern Rubber, we are proud to support our local firefighters and departments, and are happy to see such a unique training take place in our back yard.
3-D printing has become a new and very futuristic way to design and display products in the manufacturing industry. From key chains to ears, the limits seem almost endless to what can be printed. Here at Stern, we have added a new feature to our 3-D printing capabilities, and purchased a flexible, almost rubber-like, printable product called NinjaFlex printing filament.
With the recent addition of the Makerbot 3-D printer in our quality assurance lab, the opportunity to expand this tool’s capabilities is always an exciting time. With the Makerbot being originally bought to make plastic measurement fixtures, the addition of the NinjaFlex product now allows our team to print nearly perfect replicas of what our customer is looking for even before making a mold.
Although the NinjaFlex product is not a true printable rubber, this industry leading, specially formulated thermoplastic polyurethane, is as close as one can get, without putting rubber in the press and running a product. This innovative printing material is made in the USA and offers great flexibility with low tack, and easy to feed texture, that leads to a uniquely flexible, but strong print out. Some key features to the NinjaFlex product are its consistent diameter and material properties allowing for high quality print outs, time after time. Along with that, NinjaFlex prides itself in its highly elastic properties (1000% elongation), and excellent vibration, abrasion, and chemical resistance.
With this new product added to our Makerbot printer, here at Stern, the capabilities to test and display new products to our customers is greatly expanded, and offers endless opportunities to expand our quality assurance and customer service capabilities.
As winter in the Brainerd Lakes Areas winds down, there is one event at the end of February that helps put a spring time twist on remaining snow and ice, and that is the Frozen Fore.
Beginning in 2005, the Frozen Fore has grown into a three-day event designed to raise money and support local charities, with all the proceeds going to Confidence Learning Center, Mount Ski Gull, the Blue Line Club, and Kids Against Hunger in the Brainerd Lakes Area. The event gets kicked off on the last Friday in February, with the frozen flop, which is a plunge into frozen Gull Lake. After the “swimmers” have warmed up, a tent party set up on the lake soon follows, featuring an ice bar, great food and live music, that all help to get the event rolling. Following the kickoff party of Friday, the fun soon continues on Saturday with a themed tour around Gull Lake. The day begins by either hopping on one of the provided shuttles or by driving your own snowmobile, to play 9 holes of snow golf at several resorts and restaurants around the lake, including Zorbaz, Bar Harbor, Jakes, Ernie’s, Cragun’s, Grandview Lodge, Cowboys and Sherwood Forest. Following a fun day of golf, the tent party starts again with another fun night of great food and live music. Following the excitement of the first two days, Sunday wraps up the event with a food fest that show cases several local restaurants best dishes and ends with an award given to the best flavor in the area. The Frozen Fore is one of the most popular Brainerd lakes winter events.
So if you’re ever in central Minnesota during the end of February, support some local charities and have a great time at Gull Lake’s Frozen Fore.
Click here for a video of this year’s event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmOdHvKk-1s
Riding Across the Region
The Brainerd Lakes Area is the home of beautiful lakes, great fishing, world class resorts, stellar golf courses, and most recently, some of the best mountain biking in the country. The Cuyuna area, located between Crosby and Riverton Minnesota, about 20 miles from Stern Rubber’s Aitkin facility, recently altered their rugged landscape, into a top notch mountain biking location.
The Cuyuna region, in the Crosby/Ironton area, has become the mountain bike destination of Minnesota. The recently built trail system, spans over 800 acres of beautiful northern Minnesota forest. The trails are designed to fit any rider, from beginner to expert. The Cuyuna system is 25 miles of well-marked, and strategically laid out trails that carve through the lakes area, enhanced by the deep red soil, large birch and aspen trees, and overlooks some of the rich mining history, that once thrived in the area. Along with the mountain biking, the trail system also offers a 6.5 mile paved trail, that connects Crosby to Riverton, and from there travels to join with the Paul Bunyan trail system, spanning across the Brained Lakes area.
Along with the trail’s rich beauty, it also has some other appealing features. The Cuyuna Lakes Ride Center is the only International Mountain Bicycling Association center in Minnesota and there is only one other comparable destination in the Midwest. Along with that, the Cuyuna trail system is one of only eleven ride centers in the world. The trail system offers a challenge for all riders, ranging from easy, to extremely difficult.
Although the trails are most popular in the spring and summer, the system is also open in the winter, and offers 40 miles of packed trails, along with 20 miles of groomed trails for fat biking, and offers an amazing experience for the rider. The fun does not stop their either, as the Cuyuna system also puts together many sponsored rides, and weekly groups for riders of all ages, and experience to get out, and enjoy the trails and scenery together.
So no matter the time of year, if you’re ever in Stern Rubbers back yard, check out the biking trails in the Cuyuna lakes area, and experience an adventure you’ll never forget.
Last week, we talked about how one of Stern Rubber’s first customers, Scorpion, got its start in Crosby, MN. This week, we pick up the story in 1968.
Although things for Scorpion seemed to be going very well, it was not without hardship. Following a great year in 1967, Scorpion was working even harder to produce an ever better machine for the 1968 model year. Yet late on November 2nd, a fire broke out in the assembly building of Trail-A-Sled (TAS). Multiple explosions caused the fire to expand rapidly, and firefighters could only ensure the fire did not spread to other buildings. Overall the fire destroyed the entire assembly building, over 1000 engines, hundreds of company records, and nearly one third of the Crosby community was now without work. Although the building and many hours of production was lost, the employees pulled together and produced 6,000 units for the 1968 model year, and even managed to turn a profit. Although the fire seemed devastating to the company, it turned out to be more beneficial than anyone ever imagined. 1968 led to TAS building and moving into a new 70,000 square foot complex that allowed the company to house all production under one roof, and lead to the production of 50,000 machines in an 8-month production run.
As the 60’s drew to an end, Glen, Dick, and Stub had taken their dream and made it a reality, boasting 50,000 sleds a year in production and employing over 300 people at the Crosby facility. Although the men were very successful, they wanted to see the company further expand, and they believed the only way to do that was by selling a portion the company. So in January of 1969, TAS was purchased by Fuqua Industries, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and the name of TAS was changed to Scorpion Inc. Glen and his founding partners stayed on the staff until October of 1970, when some disagreements between them, and the managers of Fuqua caused the men to opt for a complete buy out. At this time, they were asked to exit the Crosby facility and never return.
With the loss of the company’s founders, Scorpion still strived to press on, and by December of 1971, Fuqua saw themselves expanding the Crosby facility even more. Yet after 2 years of success, things turned ugly, with the Arab Oil Embargo forcing gas prices to sky rocket, and Mother Nature producing a strangely mild winter. The need for snowmobiles was at an all-time low, and many manufactures began to drop like flies, and layoffs at the Scorpion factory were part of the daily routine. Yet Harvey Paulson, and his team of managers at Scorpion pressed on, and prayed for an economic turnaround.
In 1974 Fuqua purchased Brutanza Engineering, who held the patent for a high performance liquid cooled engine. Paulson hoped this new technology would make customers interested in a new improved liquid cooled Scorpion, but the company still struggled to make a profit. Soon Paulson was scrambling to come up with new ideas to promote the Scorpion line, and began selling a moped line, as well as marketing their own engine that was rightfully named the Cuyuna.
Yet the firm’s fate was inevitable, and in 1978, Scorpion was purchased by longtime rival, Arctic Enterprises, maker of the Arctic Cat. This move created hope for the locals, who had put their heart and soul into Scorpion, having fallen from 360 to 120 employees and many weary of a turn around. Arctic brought some hope, when they began manufacturing their heavy hauler trailers, along with Scorpions in the Crosby facility, and for the first time began to hire again. But the excitement of production was short, and in 1979, Arctic Cat shut down the Crosby facility, and moved the production to their Thief River Falls facility, until Arctic went bankrupt in 1982, ending the Scorpion production forever.
Although today, Scorpion seems to be a symbol of lost hope and shattered dreams, the Cuyuna community is still proud of the time they had with Scorpion. At its best, TAS was one of Minnesota’s most innovative employers, and was the 2nd largest snowmobile manufacturer in the country, enduring what hundreds of snowmobile manufactures couldn’t, with even a giant like Polaris barley scraping by. Today the Crosby area still celebrates the amazing piece of machinery that came from their town. Every February, the Cuyuna Lakes chamber of commerce hosts their annual Scorpion rendezvous, for collectors and enthusiasts to discuss and reminisce of the days when Scorpion was at the top of the charts.
So if you ever are in Stern Rubber’s backyard during the first weekend of February, check out Scorpion Days in Crosby, a time to reminisce and enjoy these classic central Minnesota machines.
As a footnote to this story, click here to read a story written by Richard Harrison, one of the founders of Scorpion about Edgar Heteen, one of the founders of Polaris, and the founder of Arctic Cat, and how Edgar helped Scorpion after their fire in 1968.
Beginning in the early 1960’s, the idea of the snowmobile exploded. Few companies that were manufacturing sleds then are still around today including Coleman, Husqvarna and Sears and Roebuck. Yet one manufacturer that began in Crosby, Minnesota about 45 miles from Staples, and only 20 miles from Stern Rubber’s plant in Aitkin, was a manufacturer by the name of Scorpion.
In the late 50’s, Glen Gutzman and his business partner Donald Bergstrom, were constantly working to build an air powered machine that would propel a driver and a passenger through difficult snow conditions. Glen, and his team, made their first machine in Eagle Bend, Minnesota. As time progressed, Glen’s production of his aluminum bodied machines continued, and he would soon move his production to a small garage that he leased in Crosby, and named his company Trail-A-Sled Mfg (TAS).
Upon his arrival in the Crosby area, Glen met Dick Harrison, and his father, Eugen “Stub” Harrison, local painters, and avid air sled designers. Dick and Stub had been working on an all-aluminum machine of their own, composed of parts from a surplus aircraft fuselage, and designed through trial and error. The three men would soon become partners, upon the resignations of Glen’s previous group members, and the three were a near perfect team. With Glen’s business skills at the forefront, Dick’s mechanical ability working with the engines, and Stub’s meticulous eye designing the body styles, they were destined to make something great.
As the men began to work together, they soon realized their idea of making an aluminum based machine was not in their best interest, and soon switched to working with fiberglass. TAS soon began to build pontoon boats, duck boats, canoes, and even sleeper cabs for semi-trailers, yet their air sled was their constant priority. In 1960, the firm finally unveiled their new machine, and over the course of four years, would produce about 50 air-sleds. The machine featured a Lycoming 125 hp engine, spacious heated interior, and easy towing capabilities that made them very popular in the commercial market.
Although the firm worked hard to design their own machines, they also kept a close relationship with other companies, and acted as a retailer and supplier to Polaris industries. Throughout the early 60’s, TAS also experimented with tracked snow machines, and in 1964 cranked out nearly 50 fiberglass bodied sleds, that featured the popular, but noisy cleated track. Yet as the 1965 model year rolled around, TAS’s big break came along, when the team came up with the idea of using an all rubber track on their new “Scorpion” snowmobile. They soon got it patented, making it the first track to be patented in the United States. The new Scorpion model was a big hit for TAS, and for the 1965 model year, the company produced 500 machines that featured their all rubber track, fiberglass body, and had the capabilities of going 40mph.
With popularity sweeping the company away, they soon needed to become masters of production, and began to expand rapidly, while they still continued to do mainly all of their own production including hoods, seats, windshields, tunnels, and clutches to name a few. This included them doing their own rubber molding for items such as the engine mounts and bogie wheels! That all added to what seemed to be an endless list of production items. As 1967 approached, Scorpions abilities seemed endless, with even Vice President, Hubert H Humphrey stating that “the Central Lakes area is the Official Snowmobile Capital of the World.” By the end of 1967, Scorpions popularity continued, and in February, three Scorpion employees set off on the machines, on a journey from Crosby to Anchorage Alaska. In just a little over 28 days, the men arrived in Anchorage with their machines, and newly invented track still at top performance. The journey north was so popular, that even Sir Edmund Hillary (the conqueror of Mount Everest) chose to use Scorpion snowmobiles in his next expedition.
Check back next week for the rest of the story!
Here at Stern Rubber, we pride ourselves in being able to offer many types of materials to a support a wide variety of customers. From Fluoroelastomers to Polyurethane, Stern offers many different types of material for to our customers, and one of those materials is epichlorohydrin.
Epichlorohydrin is an organo-chlorine compound and an epoxide that in natural form is a colorless liquid, with a pungent odor, that is moderately soluble in water. Epichlorohydrin is a highly reactive compound, and is used in the production of glycerol, plastics, epoxy glues, resins, and elastomers. Epichlorohydrin was first discovered in 1848 by Marcellin Berthelot, while doing studies on reactions between glycerol, and gaseous hydrogen chloride. During the reaction process, Berthelot observed that the compound Epichlorohydrin was left isolated following the reaction of the other two materials.
Epichlorohydrin is manufactured today from allyl chloride in two steps, beginning with the addition of hypochlorous acid, which is the mixture of two alcohols. In the second step, the alcohol structure is then treated with a base to form an epoxide. This technique is the most common and is used to produce nearly 800,000 tons of epichlorohydrin annually. Although this is one method of producing epichlorohydrin, companies like Dow chemical have found another method that uses recycled glycerol. Glycerol, which is a co-product of biodiesel production, is a waste product that is very difficult to dispose of. Yet by dechlorinating the glycerol, and then mixing the dichlorohydroxypropane compound with a base, epichlorohydrin is formed. Although this process is resourceful, the rapid increase of biodiesel production has led to an excessive amount of glycerol, making the process somewhat uneconomic. So companies like Dow have switched to using synthetic glycerol base epichlorohydrin, for only sensitive pharmaceutical, technical, and personal care products.
Today, epichlorohydrin has many useful applications and is used as a versatile precursor in the synthesis of many organic compounds. One use of this method is the conversion of epichlorohydrin to glycidyl nitrate which is used in explosives and propellants. Along with this form, epichlorohydrin is also used as a solvent for cellulose, resins, and paint, as well as insect fumigant. Polymers and elastomers of the material are also very common and used in paper reinforcement, and water purification, as well as in the production of tea bags, coffee filters, and sausage casings.
Of course, here at Stern, we use epichlorohydrin rubber or ECO, which is a synthetic rubber made from epichlorohydrin. It has properties similar to nitrile rubber, but with better heat, oil, and gasoline resistance. It has low gas permeability, and better low temperature flexibility than nitrile. It has excellent resistance to acids, alkalis, and ozone. A few common applications include automotive hoses, air ducts, and diaphragms. It is also used in laser printer rolls and vibration dampening devices. We use it to manufacture throttle body adaptors and air inlet hoses for snowmobiles, ATV’s, and motorcycles.
Here at Stern Rubber, we use epichlorohydrin from Zeon.
Now, although this type of material is very effective, we also use many other types of rubber to produce our products. So, remember, Stern Rubber is always available to help with your material selection. Check out the engineering resources section for more information on materials, which includes a material selection guide.
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