Services & Capabilities

Compression Molding

Compression molding involves pressing a heated rubber compound into a mold to create the desired shape. The process yields high-quality components with excellent repeatability, all at a cost-effective price. It is also a highly versatile technique, easily accommodating complex part geometries and non-standard materials.

In addition to standard compression molding, we are also equipped to meet specialized requirements. For instance, we offer dual-material molding to create parts from two materials including colors. We can also process parts in a Class 100,000 clean room to prevent contamination.

Transfer Molding

Transfer molding is similar to compression molding in that it uses heat and pressure to transfer uncured elastomers into molds. However, in transfer molding, the material must be pushed through a sprue and gate rather than being loaded directly into the part of the mold that has the parts geometry. This can provide greater control over dimensional tolerances and minimizes flashing.

Transfer molding has a reasonable upfront cost and can achieve rapid cycle times. For many projects, it offers the ideal balance of product quality, cost, and speed. Also, while transfer molding is cheaper to set up, injection mold services are often more efficient, so it often becomes the cheaper option at high production volumes. ETI’s team will help you balance these considerations and choose the right approach for your project.

Liquid Injection Molding

Liquid injection molding is one of the most efficient elastomer molding techniques available as it can be fully automated to minimize cycle times. In this process, a pump dispenses liquefied silicone rubber into a sealed mold to create a closed loop cycle. The molds often contain multiple cavities to create many components in a single cycle.

Apart from its high efficiency, injection molding also offers excellent accuracy and repeatability, even for complex geometries. Our injection molding presses feature precision-built tooling that tightly controls shot size, ensuring consistency across long production runs. Our 50- and 100-ton presses are also fully equipped for lights-out manufacturing, maximizing efficiency and throughput. These capabilities give us the flexibility to tackle jobs of any production volume.

Prototype Molding

Prototype molding services draw from other molding processes to create real, working prototypes at an affordable price. Accurate prototyping provides critical information about component performance and manufacturing logistics, making production cycles faster and more predictable.

ETI’s prototype molding services include:

• Pour Molding of RTV Silicone. Pour molding room-temperature-vulcanizing silicone is a quick and cost-effective method of producing rough working prototypes.
• Transfer or Compression Molding of HCR or Liquid Silicone. Transfer and compression molding are both excellent choices when a prototype needs to mimic the final product more closely. These molding techniques create high-quality parts in the material of choice, including high-consistency rubber silicone or other liquid silicone materials. When the design is finalized, clients can continue with transfer or compression molding, or they can invest in longer-lasting injection mold tooling.
• Injection molding can be used to produce highly accurate prototypes. Injection molding can be used to produce highly accurate prototypes. However, due to the up-front tooling costs, this is used toward the end of the design process for components that will be produced in high volumes.

Whether you’re seeking initial proof-of-concept or in-depth performance testing, ETI can help you develop a prototyping plan that fits seamlessly into your timeline and budget.

Die Cutting

Die cutting refers to a set of manufacturing services that use a die and press to cut or form shapes from flat sheets of material. It can be used with materials of all kinds, including plastic, rubber, foam, fabric, composites, paper, and metal. In addition to being versatile, die cutting is also extremely fast, and it offers a cost-effective means of producing large quantities of components.

At ETI, we use three different varieties of die cutting to accommodate diverse client needs:

• Traditional Die Cutting. Traditional die cutting is suitable for most projects, offering an affordable and customizable means of shaping parts.
• High-Speed Die Cutting. Our high-speed die-cutting services leverage automation to achieve rapid cycle times and decrease price per part. We offer high-speed die cutting to clients requiring large production volumes or rapid turnarounds.
• High-Speed Converting. We offer high-speed converting for clients seeking precision parts with tight control over dimensional tolerance. This process is also suitable for high-volume, high-speed production.

All of our die-cutting services rely on a comprehensive line of automatic Preco systems, clicker presses, punch presses, and traveling head presses. This versatile range of equipment allows us to fulfill orders with varied specifications, materials, sizes, and volumes.