Rubber bumpers for enclosure panels - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: jarl93rsa
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 09, 2021, 01:23:27 am
content: Howdy all,Essentially I was wondering if anyone here has found a supply of rubber grip bumpers or similar on aliexpress or whatnot.After something along the lines of the attached image.I'm fully aware those would all be custom made for the products, I'm not after anything terribly complex, just for a home project, and thought perhaps a company out there made similar bumpers in several sizes (even non-molded 2D stamped would be suitable).Failing that, would 3D-printing a mold and casting silicone be a viable option?Cheers

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2021, 02:14:36 am
content: What about pre-cast (flat) silicone sheets, cutting them to size and gluing them on somehow (with more silicone)? I have some bits lying around I cut up from a cheap tablet case. If you're making your own enclosure then you would offset the surface inwards so that the final rubber appears flush with the surface.QuoteYou can 3d print directly with flexiable filaments.The most common I've read about is TPU, but I have never tried it. I bought a roll of"PLAflex"as an experiment and because it's cheaper than TPU, but it's a pain to print in because it takes forever to freeze (you have to print very slowly otherwise you get a molten mess).

author: jarl93rsa
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 09, 2021, 02:39:43 am
content: Yeah buying a flat rubber / silicone sheet and fabricating a cutter is a good idea. Would either need to find the punch with a profile I wanted or get a sheet soft enough that a print could be used to stamp it.For attaching it i'll just use the super super thin double-sided tape all those rubber bumpers seem to be stuck down with.I've done a fair bit of printing with TPU, it's great for flexibility but the surface finish doesn't have any of the sticky qualities of the rubber that I'm after. Would certainly be worth looking and seeing if a rubbery type filament is available now though cheers!

author: Kean
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 09, 2021, 03:33:25 am
content: Not sure what dimension you are after, but maybe look at silicone bumpers intended for bathroom useSomething likehttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002434250106.htmlOr just get some silicone sheet from ebay/AliExpress, cut them to shape with a hobby knife using a template, and then add thin double sided tape to the back.If it needs high dimensional accurraccy or you are going to be making more than a few of them, you could possibly use a Silhouette Cameo deep cutting blade to cut the shapes. You'd probably need to cover the surface with paper to ease the blade movements. I do something like this with neoprene sheet rubber for connector gaskets.

author: jarl93rsa
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 09, 2021, 04:28:49 am
content: Quote from: Kean on October 09, 2021, 03:33:25 amHa now that is an avenue I didn't think to explore! I reckon that might turn up some candidates, cheers!Wouldn't be doing any real quantity at the moment to justify an automated cutter, but the rubber/silicone sheet and template cutting / stamping might end up being the way to go

author: sandalcandal
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 09, 2021, 07:52:53 am
content: You could try RTV Silicone putty?Sugru is the  expensive hobbyist/maker brand but they have lots of pretty visual material on how to use RTV silicone puttyhttps://sugru.com/AFAIK it's just a fancy RTV silicone putty so you can probably find something cheaper if you just look around for an appropriate durometer RTV putty.

author: jarl93rsa
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 09, 2021, 09:33:49 am
content: Interesting will check it out cheers