PAINT ROLLER COVERS WITH THERMOPLASTIC CORES AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SAME

摘要

A method and apparatus for making paint roller covers by spirally advancing a thermoplastic tubular form past a plurality of electronic corona discharge heads arranged in a helical path around the tubular form to subject substantially the entire exterior surface of the tubular form to high frequency, high voltage sparks as the tubular form spirally advances past the heads to make substantially the entire exterior surface more receptive to adhesion when a uniform layer of epoxy adhesive is subsequently applied to the treated exterior surface of the tubular form. Next a fabric strip is spirally wrapped over the epoxy adhesive to bond the fabric strip to the tubular form. To make the exterior surface of the tubular form still more receptive to adhesion, the exterior surface may be preheated immediately prior to treating the exterior surface with high voltage sparks. Also, the fabric backing may be preheated immediately prior to spirally wrapping the fabric strip over the epoxy adhesive layer to minimize the amount of heat dissipated into the fabric. Further, a uniform pressure may be applied to the exterior surface of the fabric after the fabric has been applied over the epoxy adhesive layer to insure an even, uniform adherence of the fabric to the tubular form over substantially the entire surface area of the fabric backing.