RFQ/rubber molded part

Joe Miranda · Dec 3, 2020

I need the attached made out of urethane. These will be part of a device that we already hold a patent on. We have no idea if the device will sell so I don't know what numbers to ask for. The screw is a 1/4-20 shcs. If these can be produced in the 100's then please quote them as per 100. If it is 1,000 then please quote it accordingly. We have a CAD drawing of the part which can be provided if necessary. We currently have a 12 cavity mold that we have been using with pourable urethane which you could use if that helps. Thanks. JoeView attachment 306471

Milland · Dec 3, 2020

Hi Joe,
Depending on the durometer you can use, that might be a screw machine/CNC chucker part. Can you sub-out the machined thread for a tapped hole and stainless set screw?

Going this route should make for a cheaper part if the hardness is acceptable, and easier to get low quantities made.

Joe Miranda · Dec 3, 2020

Milland said:
Hi Joe,
Depending on the durometer you can use, that might be a screw machine/CNC chucker part. Can you sub-out the machined thread for a tapped hole and stainless set screw?

Going this route should make for a cheaper part if the hardness is acceptable, and easier to get low quantities made.

Have you ever machined rubber? And if so, what did you use?

Milland · Dec 3, 2020

Joe Miranda said:
Have you ever machined rubber? And if so, what did you use?

Yes. Some relatively soft, in which case I used a coarse grinding wheel in a die grinder, some harder, with Al-specific carbide inserts or sharp-honed HSS bits.

Obviously, you may have to program out tapers and watch for grabbing, it's a little game sometimes. Doing the work in short segments with a final light finish pass can make some difficult geometries "doable" with care.

Tapping in softer grades can be tricky, at some point you say F'it and drill a minor diameter and shove the set screw in. May have to do that, then finish OD geometry depending on distortion.

Joe Miranda · Dec 3, 2020

I have machined rubber in the past - never got very great results. This has to be done fast to keep the costs down - $2 per piece max. For us that means 2 minutes max. If it's a "no-go" out of rubber we'll stick with plastic. We have done it that way and it works ok but I would rather have them out of rubber.

Milland · Dec 3, 2020

Joe Miranda said:
I have machined rubber in the past - never got very great results. This has to be done fast to keep the costs down - $2 per piece max. For us that means 2 minutes max. If it's a "no-go" out of rubber we'll stick with plastic. We have done it that way and it works ok but I would rather have them out of rubber.

Could you get acceptable results with a plastic core that's dipped in a rubber coating? You'd have to get the mix and cure right, but conceivably you'd get good conforming coatings with relatively little effort once the process was refined.

Joe Miranda · Dec 4, 2020

Yes, we can "dip" them. If there is no interest in lower volume molding we will probably go with Delrin which we have verified works and just machine them. I was hoping to "soften" it up a bit.

DDoug · Dec 8, 2020

Have you tried:
1. Custom Engineered Molded Rubber Components | Custom Lathe Cut Washers
2. About Us

dpryor · Dec 12, 2020

Joe,
Does your part need to be "rubber" in the truest sense of the word? Or are you just looking for a softer "rubber-like" material.
If you already have a mold suitable for pouring urethane, you might just look for a different formulation.
We do low-volume rubber molding here but the tooling investment alone might put the cost for that out of reach.

Doug Pryor
[email protected]

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