Dear Ian
Sounds like TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) is what you need, and as always the best way to test this thoroughly is to use the eventual production process i.e. injection moulding in this case.
We can help your contact by supplying overmoulded parts using Swiftool.
So, for a similar cost and in a similar timeframe to vac. casting, you can go straight to injection moulding on industry standard machines without the usual time and cost penalties.
This will also enable your contact to evaluate injection points, gate positions, split lines, etc. and generally troubleshoot the product design in preparation for production. (We use a combination of Magics and Moldflow to do a "3D spellcheck" as part of the quoting process - this takes a few minutes of user input time only, and is free of charge).
Please send me zipped binary STLs of the under and overmoulding geometries, and we will supply a quote, together with a range of TPE specs. for your contact to choose from.
Regards
Nick
Nick Osborn
Managing Director
Swift Technologies Group
Tel: +44 (0) 1354 650 789
www.swiftech.co.uk
"Real Parts Real Quick - Because Time is Money"
>>> Ian Gibson <igibson@hkucc.hku.hk> 11/04/01 03:01:50 >>>
Dear rp-ml
I have a contact who wants to coat plastic parts with a 'rubber-like'
material. The requirements are similar to the elastomeric materials used
for toothbrush handles and on pen barrels.
As I understand it, this is normally achieved using removable insert
injection moulding, which is costly and we don't want to go this route
without knowing that it works first.
Is there a way to prototype this effect by spray coating an elastomeric
compound on to a plastic part?
IG
Dr. Ian Gibson
Associate Professor
Dept. Mechanical Engineering
The University of Hong Kong
tel: +852 28597901
fax: +852 28585415
email: igibson@hkucc.hku.hk
Don't look around to find the sound that's right beneath your feet.
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Fri Jan 04 2002 - 09:57:05 EET