BECAUSE OUR VOLUMES OF PLASTIC PARTS IS REALLY LOW AT THE START OIF A NEW PRODUCT WE FIND IT DIFFICULT TO FIND FLEXIBLE YET COST EFECTIVE MAYS TO MAKE QUANTITIES OF PLASTIC PARTS. WE WOULD PREFER TO HAVE THEM INJECTION MOLDED AND WE HAVE USED CAST POLYURETHANE IN SILICONE RUBBER MOLDS BUT THESE PARTS ARE NOT VERY "GOOD LOOKING". WE HAVE ALSO EXPLORED DIGITAL MANUFACTURING AND FOUND THAT TO BE TOO EXPENSIVE AND THESE TECHNIQUES USUALLY INVOLVE MULTIPLE COPIES OF A PART DESIGN MADE ON MULIPLE SLA…See More

APG HAS MANY PROJECTS THAT INVOLVE NEW PLASTIC PARTS AND WE ALWAYS STRUGGLE WITH JUSTIFYING CONVENTIONAL TOOLING FOR INJECTION MOLDING BECAUSE OUR VOLUMES ARE LOW FOR 2-3 YEARS WHILE WE TRY TO "SEED" THE MARKET. LET ME CLARIFY THE VOLUMES; I AM TALKING ABOUT MAYBE 2000 PARTS PER YEAR AND SOMETIMES MUCH LESS. WE TYPICALLY USE THE SLA PROCESS TO VERIFY THE DESIGN AND THEN MAKE RUBBER MOLDS TO CAST POLYURETHANE PARTS FOR THE FIRST 10 OR SO PROTOTYPES FOR OUR CSUTOMERS TO EVALUATE. WE USE THE CAST…See More

Group for those involved in mechanical springs including machined springs, tension, helical, compression, torsional and more.

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