I’ll let you in on a little secret here: The Delrin Art Roller and One-Handed Rolling Pin are indeed the same exact thing. Can you think of a way to describe two completely different applications of use for the same thing? I couldn’t. And besides, you wouldn’t want to use the same roller for spreading glue and dough. That would be gross. And maybe toxic. Therefore, it was decided to make them separate products (wise decision I think). One more point of interest: This product is just a small sample of what we will be selling here at Hidgit! It was chosen deliberately to get this ecommerce store launched and tested with something simple to see how it all works. Now we just need a few willing guinea pigs to buy a few things here to see if it all works…
I came up with this simple idea when I was working on mounting some large format prints on plywood and needed to roll them out after applying spray adhesive. I looked at rubber brayers and tried a small one. The print I was using had a square border that I was lining up with the plywood backer, so that they would be square to each other after I trimmed it. I squared it up, clamped it down, sprayed and stuck one side, removed the clamps and did that section. Then I rolled. Unexpectedly, the rubbery surface of the brayer gripped onto to the protective paper layer I had over the print so much that it shifted the print on the backer a little. I was frustrated to have a less than perfect final product because of not having the right tool. So, per usual, I did my thing and set to work to make something better so I could do it better.
In the thought process of trying to improve my resin mounting technique, I really wanted a larger roller to work with because I mostly work with larger prints. Something the size of a standard 9-inch paint roller would be perfect both in length and diameter. And everybody has a bunch of old paint rollers laying around right? I know I do. A plastic tube that simply slipped over a standard 9-inch paint roller frame would be perfect I thought. If it were made out of hard plastic, with less friction, it would do the opposite of a rubber brayer and simply slide over the paper if I dragged it at an off angle. Most importantly, I needed something that would not accidentally pickup any overspray of adhesive and stick the roller to the paper (which has happened to me before as well). This was exactly what I needed for mounting art- A hard tube made of plastic that resisted adhesives and fit on a paint roller. I looked around my messy garage for a tube that I could cut to length that had the right inner diameter to slip over the end and fit snuggly on the frame but I came up empty. No luck at the home improvement stores either. So, I had to find a supplier that made tubing in the right size and it had to be made in America, because that is my thing.
Finding this tubing from an American manufacturer wasn’t as easy as you would think. Mostly because we don’t make much in America anymore. And if you don’t believe me, as of writing this, there is a slew of ships sitting off the West Coast of America full of goods from overseas and the shelves where those goods normally sit are empty. Combine that with skyrocketing energy costs, now we have record inflation coming at us. At some point, I will tap into my old college micro- and macroeconomics lessons and combine that with my 15-years of working in manufacturing and explain how outsourcing to foreign countries is detrimental not only to our economy but also to the environment (in a big way). But that diatribe will have to wait. In short, we all pay for unwise outsourcing decisions, one way or another and in more ways than one. I digress…
Enough doom-and-gloom, here is some good news: Do you know who makes high quality products made in America? It’s Wooster! From their Our Company page: “…we are very proud of our history… that was forged with a “made in America mentality” and passed from generation to generation. It still has important meaning for us today, and hopefully it has value to you.” It does to me. I love it! And so should everyone in this country because that helps all of us and supports our values. I used Wooster’s Sherlock 9-inch roller frame on all the marketing images on the Hidgit site and for all my painting projects around the house. If you don’t have one, or need a new one for rolling dough, consider getting one of these. It is a great high quality roller frame that you can get at just about any home improvement store. It is rigid, durable, affordable, holds the rollers on snuggly, and because it uses actual bearings, it doesn’t squeak if you keep it clean. And most importantly, as you can see below, it’s made in America. Disclaimer: I get absolutely nothing from this endorsement except for a warm and fuzzy patriotic feeling.

While I was thinking about what material to select for this roller, I made some pizza with my kids. In doing so, I thought about my uncle that lost an arm in his youth. How the heck does that guy make pizza or cookies and work with dough? When I was a kid in the 80’s, he used to have this archaic arm prosthesis with a clamping hook at the end. He never used it much. Mostly, he just figured out how to do things with one arm and his teeth. If you ever watch someone missing a limb do anything, you immediately appreciate having all of yours. Go put on a button-down shirt and a tie with one arm and see how it goes. And so, I was sitting there with some flour on my face, spacing out in my own wandering brain while my kids got pizza dough everywhere, and I thought that this roller concept could also be perfect for people with limited or no use of one arm and/or hand. After a quick internet search for a one-handed rolling pin came up with nothing, I figured I would see if this could help some people like my uncle and decided to market it as such. But please, if you are using our One-Handed Rolling Pin (link) for food applications, use a new and clean roller!
By envisioning this same product being used for preparing food, I had just made things harder on myself as far as materials selection went. So now I needed a plastic material that resisted adhesives, was slippery/low friction, durable, hard, and now needed to be rated for food contact and could resist oils used in cooking like vegetable oil. After 15+ years designing medical devices, I have gained extensive knowledge of materials used for challenging applications, so knew the perfect material for this job- Delrin® (aka- acetal homopolymer). I have used this plastic extensively in medical device applications for all sorts of things like gears, latches, housings, and more. It is tough as nails, very slippery, withstands high heat of autoclaves (much higher than your typical dishwasher dry cycle), is food safe (or better), and almost nothing sticks to it. The name “Delrin” is actually the name brand from DuPont, and they developed it as a specialized acetal plastic to serve as a replacement alternative for metal parts. It’s really great stuff and much more than any run-of-the-mill plastic.
Flash forward to today. I have found a manufacturer that makes Delrin tube in the right size that is 100% made in America, bought some, cut it to size, and have been using it for rolling out prints and art on plywood mounts/backers to resin coat and a little cooking here and there. It’s actually easier for my kids to use it as a one-handed rolling pin than a traditional two-handed one, so it might also be good for people who want to get their kids in the kitchen making cookies or pizza with them. I did find that it could add indentation lines in prints if you pressed really hard, so I have rolled/rounded off the edges to soften them up and prevent that from happening. I am yet to find a project where I need to spread a lot of glue on a surface but I am sure it will work great for that too. I can’t imagine that I will ever wear one out so it will be a tool I plan on keeping for life. The first production run of these tubes was very small, but if it is a hit, I hope to produce them in larger volumes to get the price down a little. So there you have it- the Delrin Roller! We would love to hear about what you do with it and how it works for you, so please share your experiences with a review or comment.
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