Value Added Value Engineering – Supporting your Goals

solutions. sustainability. success.

Solutions. Sustainability. Success.

  • Material Offsets: Maintaining Performance / Minimizing Costs on both Polymers as well as Over-Molded Substrates, Specification vs. Application Assessments
  • Cycle Time Improvements: Molding Multiple Components into One
  • Design Enhancements: Ergonomics, Fit and Assembly Efforts, Manufacturability
  • Quality Improvements: Cost Avoidance
  • Performance Improvements: A Better “MouseTrap”, Cost Avoidance
  • Material Savings: Wasteless & Flashless Tooling
  • Time Savings: Elimination of Secondary Processes
  • Pro-Active Project Alignment: Production Intent Proto-Typing, Design Support for Manufacturability, Material Development, APQP Process, Lean Manufacturing Focus

roadmap

material offsets

Material Offsets

Maintaining Performance / Minimizing Costs on both Polymers as well as Over-Molded Substrates, Specification vs. Application Assessments

  • Are you “squirrel hunting with an elephant gun”? Is your material specification aligned with the application or performance requirements?
  • Do you have restricted chemicals in your current polymers?
  • Is your current supplier proactively evaluating critical raw material offsets in case of a force majeure or prior to their obsoletion?
  • Senior formulating chemists on staff.
  • Small batch capabilities.
  • Strategic alliances with certified, high quality metals providers.
Rubber design enhancements
Rubber performance enhancements

Design Enhancements

Ergonomics, Fit and Assembly Efforts, Manufacturability

  • Consider Rahco Rubber as an extension of your staff! We’re here to help design in performance and ensure scrap is mitigated due to molding restrictions.
  • Capitalize on our fit, finish and part utilization expertise.

Performance Improvements

A Better “MouseTrap”, Cost Avoidance

  • Benefit from on our intellectual properties and experience 1st to ensure overall performance, avoid costs over and project delays.
Prototype Injection Molding
  • Manufacturing Feasibility Review
  • Material Development & Optimization
  • Specification Development
  • Design and Prototype of Tooling
  • Sampling
  • First Article Report
  • Refinements to Parts and/or Materials
  • First shot Samples in as Little 14 Business Days

Rubber Prototyping Services

Your polymer part or rubber component will most likely be exposed to compression, deflection, and displacement in its real-world application.  Given that, we highly recommend and support the creation of a single cavity production intent “pull-ahead” tool to manufacture your sampling or prototype needs. This inexpensive method delivers a real rubber part that provides real test data and is absolutely the best approach when confirming the functionality of your design & preferred elastomeric material.

Fast Production Intent Sampling or Prototypes is the best answer 99.99% of the time.

A single cavity production intent “pull-ahead” tool will produce your samples and in nearly every instance save you time + money.

Rahco will act as an extension of your efforts to ensure or confirm that your design will perform as engineered plus optimized for manufacturability.

Let’s discuss how we can help. Tell us about your application needs & wants, then send over your 2D prints, 3D CAD, performance, and material specifications.

Rubber Molding project alignment

Pro-Active Project Alignment

Production Intent Proto-Typing, Design Support for Manufacturability, Material Development, APQP Process, Lean Manufacturing Focus

  • Our APQP process keeps all parties on the “same-page”. Each threshold or stage-gate of a project crossed together making sure progress is sustainable.
  • Rahco Rubber takes full responsibility for keeping agreed to timelines as well as clear & transparent communications.

DMAIC roadmap

Wasteless & Flashless Molding

  • Material Savings – Nearly Zero Off-Fall.
  • Time Savings – Elimination of Secondary Processes.
  • Mold to Packaging Efficiencies, Cost(s) Elimination.
  • Positive Environmental Impact – Landfill Reduction.
  • Logistics & Inventory Cycle Time Improvements – Cost Minimization and/or Avoidance.

Wasteless Molding Processes

Our Wasteless Molding Technology can save you rubber compound and provide faster mold cycle times saving you *71%. “Wasteless” molding is probably the greatest improvement in rubber molding in the 20th century. The 21st century has brought new techniques that have made the wasteless process even more efficient.

While the initial reason for “Wasteless” molding was obviously to save compound, it has also been shown to cut cycle times due to heating less rubber compound in each heat due to the absence of a “rubber pad.” The image shows a typical “Wasteless” mold, which will be, run under a cold pot system. The “Wasteless” molding process can be used in transfer or injection molding. It can also be used in conjunction with the “flashless” or “flashfree” process.

 

 

The fabric sheets shown above are examples of the minimal rubber waste pad, which is discarded when using the Wasteless process. As you can see, only the sprues and, in some cases, a small runner is wasted.

Waste Prevention

Maximize material yield through the eco-efficient use of advanced flashless, wasteless mold design and first time through manufacturability.

low waste rubber molding Before/Waste Pad

BEFORE: 462 grams of waste

After - Waste Reduced from 462 Grams to 9 Grams

AFTER: Only 9 grams of waste

wasteless rubber molding

Waste
513 grams of waste in runner system

wasteless rubber molding

Wasteless
Material runner system reduced to 2 grams of waste

*cost avoidance by materials + efficiencies

Secondary Operations

Assembly Automation

Customers often find it easier and more cost effective to have Rahco perform various assembly operations for them. This can range from simple packaging of various components to highly automated cells for part assembly and boxing, rubber part slitting and robotic part removal of molded parts. We also incorporate vision systems where appropriate.

Slitting

Another specialty of ours is slitting of molded parts. This is the most common in valves where the slit creates a “normally closed” condition.

Cryogenics

After molding the part, we often aren’t finished. Cryogenic de-flashing systems are computer controlled to precisely control flash removal without damage to the part. In this process, the parts are cooled to the embrittling point of the material. Once brittle, the parts are subjected to a fine mesh media which helps to break off the excess flash.

Cryogenic deflashing is used to remove flash (flash=byproduct of the molding process / unwanted-excess material) from molded rubber parts. The main chamber houses a deflashing basket that ranges in size from 1 to 5 cubic feet. The basket rotates at varying speeds in an effort to expose rubber parts to the plastic shot-blast media. The plastic media, which can be recycled and re-used several times, is expelled from the throw wheel at speeds up to 10,000 RPM. Once the deflashing process begins, the chamber fills with liquid nitrogen causing parts to go from ambient to freezing temperatures ranging from 0F to -175°F.

Dialing in the proper parameters is crucial to successfully removing flash without damaging parts. Based on part geometry, size, polymer, and basket volume, we can determine the appropriate temperature, RPM (speed of the throw wheel), cycle time, and basket speed. For example, a silicone part will require a colder deflashing cycle because the brittle point is much lower. What’s more, a part with overflow flash will need a longer cycle and likely a higher RPM speed as opposed to parts with thin or feather flash.

Cryogenic deburring is a robust, efficient approach with parts that have critical and complex dimensions that contain flash or when other methods are not available or economical, such as tear or hand-trimming.

BEFORE Cryogenic Treatment

BEFORE
Notice the “flash” and excess rubber before Cryogenic treatment

AFTER Cryogenic Treatment

AFTER
Notice how cleanly the frayed excess was removed

Post Curing

Some applications require that molded parts be post-cured. This is also true of some elastomers such as FKM and Silicones. To accomplish this we have modern, calibrated ovens to ensure accurate temperature and time, from batch to batch.

post curing