I was talking to the engineering manager at a good customer and he told me they were having huge quality and warranty issues with a zinc diecast gear they had been using. I told him of the success we had just had with another customer converting an assembly of components into a single high strength plastic part. I thought the material we used in that project might be a good candidate for their gear.
They thought this would be worth trying but were concerned if it didn’t work. I was condifent that the material would work so I made them a deal. I’ll make a prototype cavity with simplified geometry and provide samples for test. If the parts work they pay for the prototype and give me the molding business. If it fails to pass the life test I’ll eat the cost.
Over the next week we made the cavity and gave them samples. The customer built up products with the plastic gear and put them on test. A couple months went by and I made a visit to the customer to see how the testing was going. The engineering manager showed me the parts on the test rig with the products still on test. I asked him when he thought the test would finish. He told me that the parts had gone through two and a half tests so far and they were just going to keep the test running till they got a failure. I said that sounds great but maybe we should think about putting an end to the warranty issue and get this gear into production. He gave me this strange look and said you’re right.
It turned out it wasn’t that the plastics 45% glass reinforced Amodel was stronger than the zinc although it was plenty strong, the fact that the gear tooth form was much more accurate and did not create wear was what actually solved the problem. The plastic gear was less expensive, and did not wear out like the zinc gear.
A week later they finished the production design and issued orders for a production mold and parts
Over the course of the next year they introduced several variations of the gear, incorporating several items they would assemble to the zinc gear to provide product options. By doing this they eliminated all the extra assembly the zinc gear options required.
International Plastics specializes in the molding of all grades of engineering polymers. Including PEEK, PPS, Amodel, Radel, POM and LCP.
Contact International Plastics today to discuss your next project or to solve a performance problem in your existing