Minnesota Rubber and Plastics recently released its latest design guide for planning component and assembly designs. Available now in USB business card format, this design guide has hundreds of pointers on designing and manufacturing custom-molded rubber and plastic parts.

The purpose of this 115-page design guide is to better understand processes, materials and technical considerations to improve product performance while achieving better control of costs.    

The design guide is divided into seven sections: (1) Designing Rubber Components, (2) Designing Plastic Components, (3) Elastomer Materials, (4) Plastic & Thermoplastic Elastomer Materials, (5) Standard Rubber Products Including Seals, (6) Glossary Of Terms and (7) The Company Behind The Parts.

Within each of the seven sections are references to specific subjects of interest. These include how to build a prototype, selecting the mold, understanding material properties, and more. Colorfully illustrated and designed to be easy to read throughout, the design guide is meant to be one of the industry’s most comprehensive references.

The design guide content is the result of Minnesota Rubber and Plastic’s more than 60 years producing high performance components and assemblies.