Cast Silicone Medical Device Saves Oreo the Goat

This Spring, RapidMade teamed up with New York-based nonprofit Woodstock Farm Sanctuary for a special project to help a goat named Oreo deal with a unique medical condition.

As reported by the Shawangunk Journal, Woodstock Farm Sanctuary rescued Oreo from a petting zoo in 2015 where she had been neglected. After three happy years at Woodstock, Oreo was hospitalized in 2018 because of a buildup of abdominal fluid.

The issue flared up again this year, and veterinarians found that a tumor was preventing her stomach from functioning properly. When they recommend euthanasia for Oreo, however, Woodstock director Hervé Breuil refused to give up on her.

To help Oreo, Woodstock Farm Sanctuary recruited Dr. Isabelle Louge to develop a valve that would allow fluid to be released from Oreo’s abdomen. The only problem was that such a valve would need to be cast from rubber, which, using traditional technologies, would have been prohibitively expensive and time consuming to manufacture.

Cast Silicone with 3D Printing Tooling

RapidMade was able to help Oreo by deploying a combination of 3D printed tooling and rapid silicone casting. Instead of creating traditional tooling for the injection molding process, we used our Multi Jet Fusion 3D printer to quickly create a 3D printed master pattern. We then used this pattern to create a silicone mold that let us to cast a valve for Oreo in medical-grade silicone.

Not only did this allow us to deliver the valve in a fraction of the time and cost of injection molding, but it also made it possible for Woodstock Farm Sanctuary to create multiple iterations of the valve in a timely manner. Ultimately, we were able to create a product that met Oreo’s needs and was durable enough to stand up to the rough-and-tumble life of a goat.

Quickly Produce High-Quality Cast Rubber and Plastic Parts

Silicone and urethane casting are great options for small- to medium-volume productions that require the versatile materials and finish quality of injection molding. By combining these technologies with 3D printed master patterns, we can create high-quality plastic and rubber parts faster that would otherwise be possible and at less cost. This can benefit clients seeking to produce end-use parts or to create prototypes and first articles during their product development.

If you have a project that you think could benefit from 3D printing or cast silicone, reach out to us to learn more about our services or get started right away with a free quote and project analysis.

When Are Casting and Molds Better than Injection Molding or 3D Printing?

It's important to remember that 3D printing is a means to an end, so we always have to ask ourselves, based on what a client wants to achieve, what's the best path to take to get there.  Sometimes, the answer isn't 3D printing.  One alternative is casting and mold making which is worth considering when you want:

• Low to medium part quantities - from 10s to 1000s
• Production-quality finishes with the look and feel of injection-molded parts
• To spend less -
  • Typically lower unit costs than direct part printing
  • Fraction of the tooling cost required for injection molding
• To cut lead time from months to weeks for tooling compared to injection molding
• To select:
  • Food-grade and medical-grade materials
  • Elastomers to rigid plastics ranging from 20A - 90D durometer
  • Other materials such as silicone, plaster, concrete and other composites
• To create electronics housings, gaskets, cosmetic parts, displays and low volume production

To see if this approach is suitable for your project, check out these Design Guidelines.

The Deadliest Cast - 3D Scanning, 3D Printing and Manufacturing Crabs

Click image to read case study.

One of the juicier projects we've had involved 3D scanning real 10-lb crabs to recreate life-like replicas for Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour.  The captain and his crew take tourists out on the high seas in the summer to watch them work.  Unfortunately, they were losing much of their inventory recreating their catches - this was both costly and unsustainable.

Once we 3D scanned the real thing, we 3D printed a master pattern which was used to create a mold.  The mold allowed RapidMade to cast the crab look alikes in urethane rubber.  See the results here.

Stop Waiting and Paying for Expensive Tooling to Test Your Rubber Products.

Decrease R&D cycles and save money by direct 3D printing with RapidMade.

How do you prototype or fabricate small batches of rubber, urethane or other elastomers products when?

Soft elastomers won't machine.

Fabrication by sheet lamination and gluing is inaccurate, weak and ugly.

Injection molding and other casting methods can take weeks to months and require expensive tooling.

Instead, 3D print your next rubber product design. RapidMade has successfully manufactured hundreds of gaskets, connectors, covers, plugs and other rubber products for a myriad of industries.

Advantages of using RapidMade for prototype and small-batch rubber product fabrication includes:

Fast turn around - Printed rubber products delivered in as little as 2 - 3 days.

Inexpensive low volume production - 3D printing has no tooling. Order as few as one part on short notice.

Multiple material options - Our 3D printed Thermoplastic Urethane rubber comes in shore 40 and 70 A durometers and a wide range of colors. Find our more about our SLS TPE material.

Multi-material prints - Using our polyjet technology, embed gaskets and other rubber materials directly inside of a rigid plastic assembly. Mix plastics to get over 100 digital materials ranging from shore 20A to 85D hardness.

During and After Prototyping - RapidMade offers expert engineering and design services as well as competitively priced urethane casting and injection molding options for larger volume production.

Fill out our Quick Quote form to get your inquiry started today!