Heat Rolling
Fact&Fiction
Lets clear the air and actually put real facts on the page.
Heat rolling was created by a bat rolling company about 2 years ago, their claim to fame is that the heat somehow changes the resin in the bat and causes the fibers to stretch and ultimately perform better than traditional rolling. When you roll a bat you want the resin to crack, break, and spiderweb within the bat itself without causing any changes to the paint of exterior wall of the bat. If you warm something it becomes soft and less likely to crack or break (take spaghetti for instance, when its cold its hard and cracks and breaks, warm it up and it bends and is less likely to crack)
They claim that they place your bat in a warmer and bring the bat to a predetermined temperature for each type of composite
(knowing which composite each specific bat is made from is an impossibility, and is not public knowledge given out by manufactures) .
They also claim that:
"The physics of the resin throughout the carbon fiber is then changed and a more thorough break in occurs (resin becomes brittle)"
If you know anything about physics, warming or heating an epoxy or resin in no way would make it more brittle, that is caused by the bat being cold hence the reason why bat should not be used in low temperatures. Heating a bat would cause the glue to loosen ( spaghetti explanation)
"Heated bat rolling has been around for awhile but the process is a lengthy one and time and efficiency becomes an issue for most. A bat cannot be heated up rapidly or the laminate and paint will bubble or the carbon fibers will show through the paint. Therefore, heating a bat takes about 1/2 an hour and the rolling process is about 15 minutes for a total of 45 minutes per bat."
So you run the risk of melting away your paint, destroying your brand new bat, and the process takes 5 times as long.
Original bat rolling is when a softball, fastpitch, or baseball bat is placed between three hard plastic rollers of a bat rolling machine and then increments of pressure are applied. When the bat passes through these rollers the carbon fiber material is flexed and the resin that holds the layers together is broken up. Hitting a ball causes the same effect but takes about 500 hits and is not as consistent as bat rolling. The resin within the carbon fiber starts out completely intact and after bat rolling (or batting balls) the fibers become more flexible (because the resin breaks up) which significantly improves the bat's trampoline effect. The degree of trampoline effect is what determines the distance of the batted ball (more trampoline effect equals more distance). Bat rolling not only adds 20-40 feet of distance to a batted ball but it also increases the sweet spot of a bat.
This is a direct statement from one of our competitors that offer Heat Rolling
What are the benefits of getting my bat Heat Rolled?
By using our Heated Bat Rolling service you will not have to put 400-500 hits on your bat before it performs at its highest level. Used bats benefit from rolling because typically during normal use most hitters don't properly rotate their bats so you will have hot spots and dead spots. Our processes will even the performance across the entire barrel diameter. Regardless of what manufacturers say, all bats require some break in time perform they start to open up. By using our heated rolling process you'll be confident to start using your bat in as soon as you unwrap it from our shipping box.
Where in that statement does it answer the benefits of heating a bat and then rolling it. These benefits are true to traditional Bat Rolling, but has nothing to do with heating up the bat first.
Quote from the competition
"We had been experimenting with Heated Bat Rolling for several years and never really found too much benefit with the process."
Friction?
"We have seen an article written that states that heated bat rolling is detrimental and the fibers shrink back to their original form. That article makes zero sense because if you roll the bat long enough in the machine to ensure proper break in, the bat gets warm from the constant pressure and friction."
So if friction is causing heat, why do you need to first heat the bat?
And the number one:
Some manufacturers are using flat paint schemes which nearly require us to heat them up to get a proper break in. When rolling a flat paint scheme bat, you can not roll it nearly as thoroughly without heating it up first. This paint scheme is becoming more common in the mid-upper tier bats so if they are not getting heated, you are not getting the full break in experience.
WHAT!?!? So glossy finish bats don't need to be heat rolled? The paint on the barrel of the bat has absolutely nothing, and i mean nothing to do with the make up of the carbon fiber and resin construction of the bat.
It is our opinion that heat rolling is nothing more than a way to stir up business. We have never seen any performance difference between a bat that has been heat rolled or just rolled the traditional way. ( See our own analysis chart at the top of this article)
Heat rolling was created by a bat rolling company about 2 years ago, their claim to fame is that the heat somehow changes the resin in the bat and causes the fibers to stretch and ultimately perform better than traditional rolling. When you roll a bat you want the resin to crack, break, and spiderweb within the bat itself without causing any changes to the paint of exterior wall of the bat. If you warm something it becomes soft and less likely to crack or break (take spaghetti for instance, when its cold its hard and cracks and breaks, warm it up and it bends and is less likely to crack)
They claim that they place your bat in a warmer and bring the bat to a predetermined temperature for each type of composite
(knowing which composite each specific bat is made from is an impossibility, and is not public knowledge given out by manufactures) .
They also claim that:
"The physics of the resin throughout the carbon fiber is then changed and a more thorough break in occurs (resin becomes brittle)"
If you know anything about physics, warming or heating an epoxy or resin in no way would make it more brittle, that is caused by the bat being cold hence the reason why bat should not be used in low temperatures. Heating a bat would cause the glue to loosen ( spaghetti explanation)
"Heated bat rolling has been around for awhile but the process is a lengthy one and time and efficiency becomes an issue for most. A bat cannot be heated up rapidly or the laminate and paint will bubble or the carbon fibers will show through the paint. Therefore, heating a bat takes about 1/2 an hour and the rolling process is about 15 minutes for a total of 45 minutes per bat."
So you run the risk of melting away your paint, destroying your brand new bat, and the process takes 5 times as long.
Original bat rolling is when a softball, fastpitch, or baseball bat is placed between three hard plastic rollers of a bat rolling machine and then increments of pressure are applied. When the bat passes through these rollers the carbon fiber material is flexed and the resin that holds the layers together is broken up. Hitting a ball causes the same effect but takes about 500 hits and is not as consistent as bat rolling. The resin within the carbon fiber starts out completely intact and after bat rolling (or batting balls) the fibers become more flexible (because the resin breaks up) which significantly improves the bat's trampoline effect. The degree of trampoline effect is what determines the distance of the batted ball (more trampoline effect equals more distance). Bat rolling not only adds 20-40 feet of distance to a batted ball but it also increases the sweet spot of a bat.
This is a direct statement from one of our competitors that offer Heat Rolling
What are the benefits of getting my bat Heat Rolled?
By using our Heated Bat Rolling service you will not have to put 400-500 hits on your bat before it performs at its highest level. Used bats benefit from rolling because typically during normal use most hitters don't properly rotate their bats so you will have hot spots and dead spots. Our processes will even the performance across the entire barrel diameter. Regardless of what manufacturers say, all bats require some break in time perform they start to open up. By using our heated rolling process you'll be confident to start using your bat in as soon as you unwrap it from our shipping box.
Where in that statement does it answer the benefits of heating a bat and then rolling it. These benefits are true to traditional Bat Rolling, but has nothing to do with heating up the bat first.
Quote from the competition
"We had been experimenting with Heated Bat Rolling for several years and never really found too much benefit with the process."
Friction?
"We have seen an article written that states that heated bat rolling is detrimental and the fibers shrink back to their original form. That article makes zero sense because if you roll the bat long enough in the machine to ensure proper break in, the bat gets warm from the constant pressure and friction."
So if friction is causing heat, why do you need to first heat the bat?
And the number one:
Some manufacturers are using flat paint schemes which nearly require us to heat them up to get a proper break in. When rolling a flat paint scheme bat, you can not roll it nearly as thoroughly without heating it up first. This paint scheme is becoming more common in the mid-upper tier bats so if they are not getting heated, you are not getting the full break in experience.
WHAT!?!? So glossy finish bats don't need to be heat rolled? The paint on the barrel of the bat has absolutely nothing, and i mean nothing to do with the make up of the carbon fiber and resin construction of the bat.
It is our opinion that heat rolling is nothing more than a way to stir up business. We have never seen any performance difference between a bat that has been heat rolled or just rolled the traditional way. ( See our own analysis chart at the top of this article)