Prototyping & Design Review
- Customer pickup,
- Courier
- In detail
Our expertise in prototyping has resulted in the creation and manufacture of a wide range of rubber components for a variety of familiar devices.
From ultra high speed print heads to small surgical tool components to simple gaskets and seals, each started with a prototype.
Whether you are starting from an initial design sketch or addressing a redesign issue, close collaboration with our engineering staff in the early stages of your project has been proven to successfully save significant expense in man-hours and thousands of dollars in development time.
Tapping into the expertise accumulated over 45 years of custom rubber molding will simplify and abbreviate the time consuming process of creating a prototype. Equipped with an understanding of the expected environmental conditions and the anticipated wear rigors of your particular application, we can recommend the material most suited for the job. Working closely with a host of local tool designers and fabricators, C&M Rubber engineers provide them with the required input and upon their completion review the prepared prototype drawing(s) created for your part. Based upon a satisfactory client review, this phase is culminated with the preparation of a quotation for the prototype tooling and a proposed production tool based upon your anticipated annual requirement.
What About Using "Rapid Prototyping" Methods?
In many instances, it is timely and cost effective to pursue "rapid prototyping" to create a functional part that will mimic the fit and form of the "real thing". Employing current technologies such as Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Stereolithography (SLA) is especially effective in the creation of thermoplastic or polycarbonate components as prototypes or limited run production. These methods are superior for testing form; however, rubber components are often exposed to compression and expansion in real-world applications. As such, we highly recommend the creation of a single cavity prototype tool for the creation of an actual rubber part. This inexpensive method provides for real world testing of the actual rubber part using the preferred elastomeric material.