Minneapolis, Minnesota: Custom rubber and silicone molded parts and assemblies utilizing unique material formulation chemistry is the answer to many of today’s medical device manufacturer’s requirements. With facilities and dedication designed to serve the demanding needs of the medical community, Hiawatha Rubber is a “must visit booth” at MD&M ’06.
Hiawatha Rubber is an ISO 9001:2000 certified custom rubber and silicone solutions provider with over 50 years experience. Included in its expertise are very close tolerance, medical-application-specific molded rubber and silicone components, bonded rollers and assemblies requiring special formulations and surface finishes.
Hiawatha Rubber offers a full range of custom formulated and compounded elastomers to meet correct functional, environmental and finish requirements of a bonded assembly. Virtually any medical industry requirement can be met with these custom compound formulations, including resistance to heat, cold and harsh chemicals. Specific performance requirements such as hardness, fluid resistance, abrasion resistance, shrinkage, elongation, modulus and cost are addressed.
To achieve the right medical component and assembly design, Hiawatha Rubber engineers, chemists and technicians partner with a medical customer’s design group to develop a solution that best meets the required design criteria. This includes selecting the right rubber compound, then developing the correct molding and bonding process, followed by accurate finishing where required to the correct dimensional and surface finish for highest level performance.
In addition to material formulation chemistry, Hiawatha Rubber offers CAD design tooling, injection transfer molding, CNC grinding and CNC machining.
A key area of Hiawatha Rubber’s expertise includes the manufacture of custom rollers for medical applications. These include rollers for CAT scanning systems, dry laser imagers, defibrillators and a range of medical systems requiring rubber rollers and assemblies with related components. Special surfaces that range from ultra smooth (polished) to extremely coarse (crepe) and custom formulated and designed materials solve unique applications. Manufacturing these rollers can include services such as bearing assembly, plastic or metal gears, drilling and tapping components, precision journal grinding, plastic-to-rubber bonding, rubber-to-metal bonding and segmented roller assembly.
