WE CONTROL THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS

We have supplied forged-end inertia-welded rods around the world for many years and have yet to have a single weld failure.

How do we accomplish this? Premiere would like to take credit for the technology, but the truth is that it has been around for quite some time. Travel to the North Sea, 22,000 feet below an offshore oil platform and you will find forged, inertia-welded rods in use. Drill a 5,000 foot horizontal bore 8,000 feet below the earth's surface in South Texas and what do you use? You would use forged rod end, inertia welded rods. Maxi-rig HDD operators have used this rod for years, even for high profile projects involving long reaches under the Hong Kong Harbor and Mississippi River.

When a Premier rod end is forged prior to the welding process, the weld area can be increased anywhere from 25% to 110% of the tube body thickness. When this process is combined with a special low alloy steel, the result is a weld area that is even stronger than the tube body itself. This is why Premier can guarantee the weld for the life of the product, no matter what operating conditions or time limitations.

When comparing a forged, inertia-welded rod to a one-piece forged rod you will notice Premier's drill rod tool joints are machined separately... producing a perfectly centered box and pin. This cannot be achieved with one-piece forged rod, where it is not practical to reliably and consistently center the inner diameter of the pin. This off-center ID further weakens the one-piece forged rod.

We start with 4100 series low alloy steel made to our exacting specifications. Premier specifies that each heat of raw material is supplied with full mill certification. Our rods ends are forged at the Premier factory by an experienced staff, most of whom have been with us since we opened our doors over 20 years ago. After inertia welding our rods are stress relieved and heat treated to exacting specifications and machined here at our facility. Every step is controlled by our rigorous quality process, up to and including the stringent electromagnetic and dimensional testing to the highest standards of API Q1. Before each order is shipped each rod is f00% inspected dimensionally, electromagnetically and also hardness checked to verify the heat treat process meets our exacting standards.