Blog

RESPONSIVENESS ~ FROM DESIGN TO DELIVERY™

  • Can You 3D Print Rubber?



    Over the past decade, 3D printing has exploded in popularity. It’s gone from a futuristic manufacturing technique to a hobby many people enjoy within their own homes. Just take a look at the trendline for Google Searches of the term “3D printing” from 2004 to today.

    3d-rubber-trend.png
    It’s even become feasible and cost effective for manufacturers to print some smaller batches of parts using 3D printing rather than traditional production methods. 

    Because 3D printing requires using a melted liquid substance that cools solid, it was originally only available for plastic and resin products. But technology has advanced so quickly we’ve been able to introduce 3D printing techniques in the rubber industry. 


    Can you 3D print rubber?


    Yes, you heard us right. It is possible to 3D print rubber - with some caveats. 

    The two most common types of 3D printing in use today are SLA and FDM. The first, stereolithography (SLA), was the first one to be introduced in the 1980s. It involves using a laser to shape and cure resins into hardened plastic. It can produce complicated shapes and details. 

    The second, fused deposition modeling (FDM), involves building a product by using a heated nozzle to put down one layer of the product at a time. These products are built slower and cannot create the same precision when it comes to complex shapes and details. 

    You cannot 3D print rubber products using an SLA printer. However, you can use an FDM printer to 3D print rubber. 

    There are only a handful of rubber materials that liquify in a way that allows for 3D rubber printing. While most of these rubber formulations are proprietary with the formula known only to the suppliers, they are often based in urethane rubber polymers.

    Urethane is a great rubber material for 3D printing as it can easily move from a liquid to a cured state in comparison to other rubbers. You can also 3D print rubber using silicone. 

    You cannot 3D print on any type of printer with natural rubber, EPDM rubber or any rubber material that doesn’t liquify or move from a liquid to a cured state easily. This presents limitations on rubber products that can be 3D printed, depending on the final application.

    For example, if an end part needs to be exposed to oil, you could 3D print a part to check fit and function, but the 3D part would not hold up to the application as well as another material/polymer like Nitrile. Urethane-based rubbers will break down overtime when exposed to oil and more resistant rubbers, like Nitrile, cannot be 3D printed. (Again: this is at the time of writing. This may change in as soon as a few years!)

    However, 3D printing can be useful when prototyping a rubber part or creating a small run of products for applications that require the physical properties of urethane, such as its resistance to gasoline and exceptional tear resistance. 
     

    When Is 3D printing rubber better than traditional molding?


    3D rubber printing is not always better than traditional molding. More often than not, traditional molding is advised, but 3D printing does have its place in rubber part manufacturing. Businesses should inquire about 3D printing parts if any of the following applies to their situation: 

     

    Your Tooling investment is high


    With traditional molding, rubber molders take a block of steel and cut out the negative of the part you want to make. Then, rubber is inserted into the mold, which is put into a press and vulcanized. The investment required to tool a block of steel can be significant (as in, thousands to tens of thousands significant). 

    With 3D printing, on the other hand, once you have a computer model of the part you want to create, plug this model into the printer, which creates your part without the upfront cost of tooling. 

    This all depends, of course, on how much tooling is estimated to cost and the number of parts you need to print. If the cost of tooling one mold is high for a run of just 1,000 parts, it may be more cost effective to 3D print your parts.
     

    You need a product prototype

     

     

    Like we said, tooling is expensive. Sometimes you may need a prototype rubber product or two for a test run. In this case, it’s much cheaper to 3D print a prototype rather than pay to create a brand new mold from steel. 

     

     

    Your part design is complex


    FDM 3D printers aren’t as great as SLA printers when it comes to those little nooks and crannies, but that doesn’t mean they can’t handle any detail. Parts with ribbing, small indents and other details will be expensive to tool out of a block of steel, but can be more easily programmed into a 3D printer design.

     

    Your part design is fairly small


    With 3D printing, you’re limited in scope by the size of the printer’s print bed. The print bed can easily accommodate 1,000 parts sized at five millimeters long, but won’t be able to handle 1,000 parts sized at five inches long.
     

    Your part’s application is compatible with the physical properties of 3D-printable rubber


    That is to say, you can’t 3D print a design that requires Nitrile rubber, natural rubber or EPDM. Any parts you want to 3D print must comply with the physical properties of the printable rubber specified by the manufacturer. At Custom Rubber, we provide these spec sheets (CRC-URP65 and CRC-RP75) when you get in touch to inquire about 3D printing. 
     

    Your part design is thick enough for 3D printing


    There are limits on how thin you can 3D print rubber parts. Limits vary depending on the part’s final application. 

    You need the part as quickly as possible 


    Metal molding needs four weeks minimum for tooling, shaping and molding the final product. With 3D printing, you can receive your parts in as little as two weeks. 
     

    Your company is watching its eco footprint


    3D printing rubber parts generally has a smaller carbon footprint - to an extent. If your required part meets most of the above criteria (i.e. you need a small quantity of a small part), 3D printing can lower energy costs, especially in comparison to heating steel enough to shape it into a mold, then heating and vulcanizing rubber. 

    This generally remains true until you need high quantities of large rubber parts. At that point the energy costs between 3D printing and traditional molding become negotiable.


    Applications for 3D rubber printing


    At Custom Rubber Corp., we’ve created 3D printed rubber products for multiple companies and their differing applications. 

    One of the most common use cases for 3D printing we’ve found our customers have is around protective cases for electronic instruments. There are many fit-related issues around protective cases that must fit snugly around specific device brands and types. Printing a low-cost prototype first ensures your product fits correctly before moving to large-scale manufacturing. We’ve also done prototypes for key fobs which enclose sensitive electronic parts.
     
    part-for-site.jpg 
    In the construction sector, we’ve previously created grommets for wire protection. In one case, a manufacturer needed the grommets last minute due to an internal mix up, and chose to 3D print to save time. In another case, a manufacturer needed seven different-sized grommets, 20 of each size. It made more sense to 3D print when considering the cost of tooling a different mold for each sized grommet. 

    Overall, we’ve found when businesses benefit from 3D rubber printing, it has less to do with the type of business they operate and more to do with the factors mentioned in the previous section. 3D printing rubber is great for prototyping and creating small production runs of small parts. 


    The future of 3D rubber printing


    Right now, 3D printing is definitely a trend, with manufacturers and at-home hobbyists alike interested in capitalizing on a fairly new technology. But like any new tech, it will grow and improve with time. After all, 3D printing rubber wasn’t possible just a decade ago!

    We believe the range of available polymers will continue to expand and overall costs will decrease. But we also believe there will never be a point in time when 3D printing makes sense for large production quantities. It’s unlikely companies will ever turn to 3D printing to create 100,000 parts at a time unless they’re a huge, global company or need a specific, trademarked 3D printed part. 

    While we don’t anticipate 3D rubber printing scaling up to the level of traditional molding, it’s clear innovation is happening as we speak. We’ve seen huge changes in 3D rubber printing in the last three months alone. Advances in materials, size and the speed of printers will continue to make huge strides.


    What rubber parts can I 3D print today?


    If you believe you have a rubber part in need of 3D printing, Custom Rubber Corp. is ready to help. In order to quote, we need a 3D computer model of the part, preferably solidworks or x_t file type. If you are unable to create this, we can do it for you, with a sample in hand. 

    Click here to get a quote on 3D printed rubber parts from Custom Rubber Corp. We’ll let you know the best options for your budget and application.
     
    Posted Saturday, May 14, 2022 by: Global Administrator
    Share this post:
    • Facebook Share
    • Twitter Share
    • LinkedIn Share
  • Custom Rubber Focusing on Employees - Now and in the Future

    Custom Rubber Corp. President, Charlie Braun, was recently selected by their insurance carrier Acuity to share some thoughts around employees - now and in the future.  Watch these two videos.

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber Corp. Upgrading and Expanding

    The Holidays brought new presents to Custom Rubber Corp.  A total of four new machines arrived December 23rd, just in time for the Holidays!
    Some of the machines are additional capacity, some are upgrades to machines that were old and needed to be replaced.  Custom Rubber Corp.'s commitment to our customers and our employees is to continuously upgrade our equipment to make sure every machine we run is dependable easy for operators to use.
     

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber Corp. continues to add new products and customers

    Custom Rubber Corp. continues to add new products and customers.  The website is a catalog of success - successes organized by industry and by application-product usage.  Some of the recent additions are in Automotive, Protective Cases, Rubber to Metal Bonding, Electronics, Round Gaskets and Seals, and more.

    Read More
  • More Part Examples Posted

    Custom Rubber Corp. has added two more part examples to the website.  Read on....

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber Corp. adds new Videos to YouTube channel

    Custom Rubber Corp. added five new videos to the company's YouTube channel.  All the videos will be used for instructional purposes during the shift-start meetings that take place every day. 

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber - Second Place, Educational Outreadh

    Custom Rubber Corp. won Second Place for the ARPM's Educational Outreach Award in late 2019.

    Read More
  • "Engineer for a Day" Tour

    On February 22, 2019, Custom Rubber Corp. hosted high school students for a day-long exposure to Engineering.  The event is organized annually by Cleveland State University and Custom Rubber Corp. has participated the last three years.  
    The tour event was also the first time Custom Rubber Corp. used a new audio tour guide system.  After winning a $750 prize associated with the "Educational Outreach" award from ARPM (Association for Rubber Products Manufacturers), CRC purchased a system of 10 receiving headphones and a microphone transmitter.  
     

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber Corp.'s Innovative Use of Vision Technology

    John Bellett presented at the Industry Benchmarking conference about Custom Rubber Corp.'s innovative use of vision technology, both for part inspection and also for mold safety. (Photo Courtesy of Creative Technology)

    Read More
  • Developing Next Generation

    Custom Rubber Corp. presented at the annual industry Benchmarking conference in Indianapolis back in October about their efforts to attract the next generation of folks to the manufacturing industry.

    Read More
  • Rubber News article: Custom Rubber Corp. hosts ARPM Tour

    The October issue of Rubber and Plastics News has a two page article discussing Custom Rubber Corp.'s approach to manufacturing employment and some technological investments the company has made.  The entire article is available here....

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber Corp. Tour

    On September 26, 2018, Custom Rubber Corp. hosted a tour of High School students from Warrensville Heights High School.  The students are in an Engineering and STEM class.  The students learned a bit about what makes manufacturing in general exciting and also some specifics about molding rubber.  At the end of the tour, the students were given a project....

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber - Building the Next Generation

    Custom Rubber Corp. is facing the same challenges many other companies are facing: Where can we find additional, dedicated employees who have some training?
    At Custom Rubber Corp., there is a movement to do something about it....

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber Corp Upgrades Quality Capabiltieis

    Custom Rubber Corp. has added significant quality inspection capabilities that utilize the latest in automated vision inspection equipment.

    Read More
  • Great Place to Work

    Custom Rubber Corp. released a new video sharing the experiences of employees.  Potential employees can watch to find out what kind of work environment Custom Rubber offers and see the type of work.  Custom Rubber Corp. is now hiring, $11.85 starting wage for night shift.

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber Corp. article in Inside Rubber Magazine

    Custom Rubber Corp. was featured in an article in the most recent Inside Rubber Magazine.  The article discusses the continuous improvement approach that Custom Rubber Corp. is taking with Mill Drills and Safety.

    Read More
  • Molded Round Seals / Molded Round Gaskets - How To

    Custom Rubber Corp. just updated and added information to the Round Molded Gasket / Round Molded Seals page.  The information includes the three primary ways to produce a round gasket or seal and what the advantages and drawbacks are to each.  Also discussed are three primary technical issues that are important to selecting the right type of round gasket and/or round seal.

    Read More
  • Colored Rubber Molding - How To

    Custom Rubber Corp. added content to its website with a host of information about molding colored rubber.  The information includes five reasons why Custom Rubber Corp. is one of the leaders in molding colored rubber products and four reasons why product developers, engineers, and companies in general should consider specifying a color other than black for their next rubber molded component. 

    Read More
  • Custom Rubber Grommets - How To

    When desigining a custom molded grommet, there are a number of things to consider.  Custom Rubber Corp. recently added detailed information regarding the issues or questions that need to be answered and an outline of how to work through the steps.

    Read More
  • Protective Case Design How-To

    Custom Rubber Corp. has added detailed, step-by-step information regarding how to design a custom silicone rubber protective case for your electronic device or instrument.

    Read More
  • Rubber Bellows Design How-To

    Custom Rubber Corp. added information related to designing molded rubber bellows and molded rubber convoluted boots.  Information is now available on the five steps or questions that designers need to consider when developing a custom molded rubber boot or bellow.

    Read More
  • New Look For Molded Rubber Products Website

    We're very excited about the recent launch of our new website. Much of the content is carried over - our old site had excellent illustrations of the types of products we make and customers we serve - but the look and feel of the site is much more up to date. We've included some larger photos showing some of our employees at work and have updated many of the product pictures.

    Read More