How to make silicone earbuds/earphone cases?
This article mainly introduces the advantages, production equipment, production process, etc. of silicone earbuds/ earphone cases. If you want to create your own silicone earbud/ earphone case brand or business and clearly understand the advantages, application areas, design, and production process of silicone earbud/ earphone cases, please go through this article.
What is the silicone earbud/ earphone case?
Silicone earbud/ earphone case is a protective cover made of silicone material, mainly used to protect Bluetooth headsets, especially AirPods.
The main features of silicone earbud/ earphone case include:
- Material: The silicone earbud/ earphone case was made by silicone so it is soft, non-slip and wear-resistant.
- Function: It can effectively prevent the headset from being bumped and dusted during daily use, protect the headset from damage, and keep the headset beautiful and clean.
- Design: Most silicone protective covers are designed to fit the headset and are not easy to fall or loosen. Some designs also have 360-degree rotating locks for easy angle adjustment and use.
- Additional functions: Some protective covers also have dustproof, non-slip and other functions, and can even be used as a mobile phone holder to increase the convenience of use
What are the advantages of silicone earbud/earphone cases?
Safety and eco-friendly, the raw material is food-grade silicone, which is guaranteed to be non-toxic, harmless and odorless. The silicone earbud/earphone case is processed at high temperature during the production process, so it will not volatilize harmful substances to the human body. The silicone earbud/earphone cases products can pass environmental tests such as FDA, ROHS, SGS, LFG, etc.
Durability and protection: Silicone is highly elastic, wear-resistant and tear-resistant, and can effectively absorb impact, reduce the risk of damage to the earphones due to collision or falling, and thus extend the service life of the earphones.
Comfort: Silicone is soft and skin-friendly, and can fit the ear contours closely, reducing discomfort when wearing. In addition, silicone has excellent breathability and perspiration-wicking properties, making it suitable for long-term wear, especially keeping the ears dry and comfortable during exercise.
Beauty and personalization: Silicone is easy to color and shape, and can be made into shells of various colors, patterns and textures to meet the personalized needs of different users. This design flexibility makes the earphones more competitive in the market.
Easy to clean: The surface of the silicone material is smooth, and stains can be easily removed by wiping with a damp cloth, keeping the earphones clean and tidy.
Z.S.R offers various custom silicone earbud/earphone cases with different shape and colors for different industry used such as kitchenware, homeware, baby, cosmetic etc.
Materials, Tools, Equipment
According to the molded silicone earbuds/earphone cases products making process, there are 5 ways of silicone molding process: silicone rubber compression molding, LSR injection molding, silicone Drip molding, silicone Extrusion Molding, silicone Calendaring molding. Here in Z.S.R, For silicone earbud/ earphone cases, we only have 4 molding process capacity. The different molding process need the different material, tools and equipment:
Silicone compression molding
Silicone Compression Molding
The main materials required for the production of silicone brushes/scrubbers include silicone raw material, crosslinking agent, catalyst, filler and additives. These materials work together to get the silicone brushes/scrubbers. Usually, silicone rubber raw material, crosslinking agent and filler are made into one component, and the catalyst is a separate component.
Therefore, mold silicone products are also called two-component vulcanized silicone products. In Z.S.R, All the silicone raw material we use is FDA or LFGB-approved 100% Food Grade silicone rubber. The crosslinking agent and catalyst is Platinum if needed.
The solid silicone rubber silicone earbud/ earphone case cost is relatively low. The silicone earbud/ earphone case produced can also reach environmentally friendly food grade, with high-quality Food Grade material, which is the choice of many consumers from USA, Australia.
Material preparation: Choice the correct standard material according to your products function and test standard, such as FDA or LFGB material.
Silicone rubber mixer: The silicone rubber material mixer is used to mix raw materials with additives such as vulcanizers and color paste. used to add vulcanizer, masterbatch and other auxiliary materials to the raw materials, and refine the raw rubber into usable raw rubber.
Z.S.R have 2 Silicone rubber mixer workshop and machine to mixed the material for your silicone earbud/ earphone cases.
Silicone Rubber Cutter: cuts the refined silicone material into the required size and weight for making products. Z.S.R have 2 silicone rubber cutting machine to cut the material for your silicone earbud/ earphone cases.
Electronic scale: Weight the cutted silicone rubber mixed material to ensure that the product is within the error range. We have more than 60 Electronic scales for each silicone compression molding machine.
Mold preparation: Before the silicone earbud/ earphone cases making, Make the corresponding mold according to the product design requirements. The shape and size of the mold determine the shape and size of the product. The mold material is usually Steel or aluminum alloy (prototype tooling).
Z.S.R International Group (HONG KONG) CO., LIMITED in-house tool shop consists 6 sets of advanced CNC machining centers and 3 sets of EDM spark machines for tooling; So, we can make most of the silicone earbud/ earphone case tooling and repair the silicone earbud/ earphone case tooling in our factory to catch up your time needed.
The complete mold work shop can help you develop your new design silicone products and offer the creative silicone earbud/ earphone cases OEM & ODM service for you.
Molding stage: Install the prepared mold on the vulcanizer to ensure that the mold fits well and is well sealed. the hydraulic compress molding machine (also known as the flat vulcanizer) provides the pressure, mold temperature and vulcanization time required for molding; After the mold is heated to the appropriate temperature, the prepared silicone raw material is placed in the mold for molding.
During the molding process, parameters such as temperature, pressure and time need to be controlled to ensure that the product is molded completely and the size is accurate. Z.S.R has 32 sets of silicone rubber molding machines to mold your silicone products.
The sandblasting machine is used to clean the molding mold and keep the production process clean.
Post-processing: The silicone earbud/ earphone cases need to be post-processed such as deburring, cleaning, and drying to improve the appearance quality and durability of the product
Quality inspection: Quality inspection is an important link to ensure the quality of silicone products, including appearance inspection, size measurement, performance testing and other aspects. Only products that have undergone strict quality inspection can be shipped out of the factory
Packaging and shipment: Products that have passed quality inspection need to be packaged and shipped. The selection of packaging materials should comply with relevant standards and requirements to ensure that the product is not damaged during transportation
Z.S.R one day mass production capability for 16000-69999/pcs silicone earbud/ earphone cases according to the structure and size with the 32 sets molding machines.
L.S.R injection molding
Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) Injection Molding
Liquid silicone injection molding mainly uses liquid silicone rubber (LSR) material. LSR is a two-component thermosetting material, usually mixed in the form of A/B components. Component A contains a platinum catalyst, while component B contains a cross-linking agent. LSR is in a liquid state before curing and becomes an elastomer after curing.
The liquid silicone processing is relatively high cost. It is processed with liquid silicone rubber with water-like silicone earbud/ earphone case material. The Liquid silicone rubber silicone earbud/ earphone cases feels more softer, has better rebound, and the parting line is smaller than that of solid silicone. However, the minimum order of the silicone earbud/earphone case is higher. And the LSR silicone earbud/ earphone case’s injection mold cost is higher also.
Material preparation: Choose the appropriate liquid silicone type based on a comprehensive assessment of the product’s purpose, properties, shape, etc. For example, the medical industry should choose medical-grade silicone materials, and infant products generally use highly transparent food-grade liquid silicone raw materials. Prepare the appropriate color paste so that it can be mixed to achieve the final LSR molded product color that customer needed.
Mixing equipment: It is used to mix the liquid silicone of components A and B to ensure accurate proportions and uniform mixing. Common mixing equipment includes static mixers and vacuum tanks, etc.
Vacuum pump: used to remove bubbles from liquid silicone to ensure that the surface of the molded product is smooth and flawless.
Mixing container and stirring rod: containers and tools used to mix liquid silicone to ensure uniform mixing
Silicone Injection Mold: The mold is the carrier for liquid silicone injection molding. Its design and manufacturing must consider factors such as the fluidity of silicone, shrinkage after solidification, and the shape, size and wall thickness of the product. The precision and durability of the mold have a direct impact on the quality of the final product.
Z.S.R have 12 experienced engineer will consider your molded LSR products structure and design your silicone injection mold with the correct parting line and gate. Then Z.S.R team will make your precision injection tooling in our one roof mold workshop.
Injection molding machine: The injection molding machine is the core equipment for liquid silicone injection molding, which is used to inject the mixed liquid silicone into the mold. Common types of injection molding machines include vertical injection molding machines and horizontal injection molding machines.
Vertical injection molding machines are suitable for small-batch production and automatic molding of complex products, while horizontal injection molding machines are suitable for large-scale production, especially in the production of products that require high precision and smooth surfaces.
Such as silicone baby nipple, baby pacifier or silicone medical products. The mold needs to be preheated to 170~200℃, and the liquid silicone is injected into the mold through the injection molding machine. The injection pressure and temperature need to be precisely controlled.
Curing: Liquid silicone undergoes a curing reaction at high temperature, and the catalyst accelerates the curing process
Demolding and post-processing: The cured LSR silicone earbud/ earphone cases needs to be demolded from the mold, and some products may also require post-curing treatment, cleaning and removal of impurities
Quality control: Products must undergo strict quality inspections, including tests on size, hardness, transparency and elasticity
Packaging and transportation: Products that pass quality inspections will be cleanly packaged and shipped to the location specified by the customer
Z.S.R own 7 sets LSR injection molding machine to put your LSR silicone earbud/ earphone cases on mass production.
Z.S.R one day mass production capability for 10000-69999/pcs silicone earbud/ earphone cases according to the structure and size with the 7 sets molding machines. Liquid injection molding is very friendly to silicone products with high precision, high requirements and large-scale production to ensure product consistency, and is the most suitable choice.
Silicone Dripping dispensing molding
Multi-Color Dripping Molding
Need prepare silicone as the main material for dispensing molding, usually liquid silicone (LSR) and solid silicone, color paste, vulcanizer, and also need silicone vacuum machine and automatic dispensing machine. As this kind of molding have two kind of molding process. We also call them co-injection molding. Mixed L.S.R material dripping from the automatic dispensing machine first, then heat and curing. Put the solid silicone rubber material on and close the molds put them silicone vacuum machine Vulcanization molding.
L.S.R Material prepared
Choose the appropriate liquid silicone type based on a comprehensive assessment of the product’s purpose, properties, shape, etc. For example, the medical industry should choose medical-grade silicone materials, and infant products generally use highly transparent food-grade liquid silicone raw materials. Prepare the appropriate color paste so that it can be mixed to achieve the final LSR molded product color that customer needed.
Solid silicone material prepared
Silicone rubber mixer: The silicone rubber material mixer is used to mix the raw materials with additives such as vulcanizer and color paste. used to add vulcanizer, masterbatch and other auxiliary materials to the raw materials, and refine the raw rubber into usable raw rubber. Z.S.R have 2 Silicone rubber mixer workshop and machine to mixed the material for your silicone earbud/ earphone cases.
The silicone dripping Molding process cost is higher than compression molding and LSR molding with manufacturing colorful silicone products.
It enables the combination of two silicone earbud/ earphone case materials, solid silicone rubber and liquid silicone rubber, into a single product stream and can get the multi-color and 3D effect silicone earbud/ earphone cases without any printed.
Mixing equipment: It is used to mix the liquid silicone of components A and B to ensure accurate proportions and uniform mixing. Common mixing equipment includes static mixers and vacuum tanks, etc.
Vacuum pump: used to remove bubbles from liquid silicone to ensure that the surface of the molded product is smooth and flawless.
Mixing container and stirring rod: containers and tools used to mix liquid silicone to ensure uniform mixing.
Silicone Rubber Cutter: cuts the refined silicone material into the required size and weight for making products. Z.S.R have 2 silicone rubber cutting machine to cut the material for your silicone earbud/ earphone cases.
Electronic scale: Weight the cutted silicone rubber mixed material to ensure that the product is within the error range. We have more than 60 Electronic scales for each silicone compression molding machine.
Mold: The mold is a key component of drop molding, usually made of aluminum mold, brass mold, electroplating or silicone mold. The design and production of the mold have an important impact on the quality and appearance of the product.
The Z.S.R team has rich experience in making silicone drop molding molds, from Bing Dwen Dwen colorful ribbons to Disney characters, they can be perfectly reproduced.
Drop molding machine: This is the core equipment for silicone drop molding. It is mainly used to move the dispensing needle of LSR material that has been vacuum scheduled to the specified position of the drop molding mold, and control the amount of dispensing by controlling the time of extruding the paste resin and the speed of the needle moving.
The drop molding machine is mainly composed of two parts: the control system and the machine structure. Commonly used control systems include LOGOSHOP, CRS-DriptMold, etc.Adjust the glue dispensing speed, glue dispensing position and glue dispensing thickness of the glue dispenser according to the requirements of the product. Ensure the normal operation and glue dispensing effect of the glue dispenser. After debugging, conduct a trial run to ensure that the glue dispenser can work stably and accurately.
Molding stage: Place the mold under the glue dispenser, control the glue dispensing position and speed of the glue dispenser, and accurately drip the silicone mixture onto the mold. According to the needs of the product, glue can be dispensed multiple times until the required thickness and shape are achieved.
Heating equipment for silicone curing: During the drop molding process, heating is required to make LSR resin react chemically and become solid. Therefore, heating equipment is essential. Place the glued product in a constant temperature area to cure the silicone in few minutes.
Second Molding stage: Put the cutted mixed solid silicone rubber material on the curred LSR, then closed the mold and put the mold to hydraulic compress molding machine (also known as the flat vulcanizer) provides the pressure, mold temperature and vulcanization time required for molding; The vulcanization temperature and pressure are adjusted according to the silicone raw material and product requirements. Z.S.R have 16 sets silicone dripping molding line to molded your multi-colored silicone products.
Cooling and demolding: After the vulcanization is completed, remove the mold from the vulcanizer, open the mold after cooling to room temperature, and take out the silicone earbud/ earphone case.
Post-processing: The silicone earbud/ earphone case is trimmed, deburred, and other treatments are performed to achieve the ideal shape and surface quality.
Z.S.R own 16 sets dripping molding line to put your multi-colored silicone earbud/ earphone cases on mass production.
Z.S.R one day mass production capability for 12000-39999/pcs silicone earbud/ earphone cases according to the structure and size with the 12 dripping molding lines. Silicone dripping molding is very friendly to silicone products with multi-colored, 3D effect, IP and cute products to ensure the products with colorful and 3D effect without post printing.
The customization process for create your private silicone earbud/earphone cases
In Z.S.R, we can custom the silicone earbud/earphone cases shape, size, color, pattern, brands, logo by silkscreen printing, full-color printing, or laser engraving for your silicone products, if you would like to custom your brands silicone earbud/ earphone cases contact Z.S.R.
Appearance (shape, color): Shape can be round, square or creative shape by developing the new tooling. The color can be white, blue, black or use the pantone book number to customize. You also can get mixed color, marble color or double colored, multi-colored appearance.
Material properties: You can customization the material with HTV material or LSR material. The hardness you can choice from 5-80 shore A, Translucent to highly transparent, Safety level from Food Grade to Medical grade, tensile properties from ordinary to high level.
Mold type: Steel, Copper or Al
Molding method: LSR Injection molding, HTV compression molding, dripping molding
Labeling: Logo on the tooling and get the logo products. We also can Screen Printing, Laser Engraving, Heat Transfer Printing your logo on the silicone earbuds/earphone cases already.
Packaging: zip bag, back card PET box, color box
Shipping method: DHL, FedEx, Air shipping or Sea shipping
How to create your silicone earbud/ earphone cases brand or start your silicone earbud/ earphone cases business?
1. Design 3D structure of the silicone earbud/earphone case according to your idea
2. Make the silicone earbud/earphone case tooling according to the silicone earbud/earphone case design requirements (Signal color or multi color) use the different metal, such as steel, copper or AL to ensure the accuracy and durability of the tooling.
Z.S.R International Group (HONG KONG) CO., LIMITED in-house tool shop consists 6 sets of advanced CNC machining centers and 3 sets of EDM spark machines for tooling; So, we can make most of the silicone earbud/earphone case tooling and repair the silicone earbud/earphone case tooling in our factory to catch up your time needed.
3. Prepare the silicone earbud/earphone case raw material: Raw silicone material are the key to silicone earbud/earphone case’s products. Usually, silicone earbud/earphone cases meet certain environmental protection standards, so silicone earbud/earphone case material are no exception. Normally, environmentally friendly Fumed silicone rubber is selected for customized processing, while many manufacturers use Precipitated silicone rubber for processing.
Although the product is not greatly affected, it is still different Fumed silicone rubber from in quality after a long time. Mix the silicone color according to your silicone earbud/earphone case needed. Cutting the silicone earbud/earphone case material in the correct weight. The color matching principle of the silicone raw materials used in silicone earbud/earphone cases is basically the same as the color matching principle in art painting.
The white translucent silicone raw materials are combined with the addition of vulcanizers by adding color pastes of corresponding color proportions into them to mix and knead to obtain the corresponding required color. The color matching color is generally based on the international Pantone color card, namely PANTONE color or actual color samples.
4. Feeding the prepared silicone earbud/earphone cases mixed material on-Feeding the silicone earbud/earphone case material no matter the Liquid silicone rubber or solid silicone rubber in to the mold.
5. Curing the silicone earbud/earphone case: The silicone earbud/earphone cases material is feeding into the mold after mixing, and the silicone earbud/earphone cases material is filled into the entire space of the mold through heating and pressure. The temperature, pressure and time control of the molding process directly affect the size, shape and quality of the silicone earbud/earphone cases.
No matter the silicone earbud/earphone case was made by: Compression molding or silicone dripping molding or LSR molding.
6. Demolding: After the curing is completed, take the silicone earbud/earphone case product out of the mold.
7. QC the silicone cap: Quality inspection: Visually inspect the molded silicone earbud/earphone case to see if there is lack of silicone earbud/earphone case material, uncooked Ness, or impurities
8. Post-processing: Carry out the silicone earbud/earphone case and then do the post processing and treatment, such as trimming, grinding, polishing, spraying, inspection, etc.
9. Secondary vulcanization: Secondary vulcanization is a process that must be handled for any product that has passed the inspection. The main reason why silicone earbud/earphone cases have a certain smell is that they have not been subjected to Secondary vulcanization baking, and the catalyst of the raw silicone earbud/earphone cases material of the products has not been emitted.
At present, many silicone product manufacturers basically handle it, but the time and temperature of the Secondary vulcanization treatment are different. Bake in oven 2-4 hours to meet FDA or LFGB Standard. LSR silicone earbud/earphone case may do not need this process.
10. LOGO or Pattern printing on the silicone caps if needed: screen printing or laser engraving. Most of time, we put the silicone earbud/earphone case logo on the silicone tooling directly.
11. Final Quality control and testing: Final Quality control and testing: After all the silicone earbud/earphone case making process finished, we will arrange the final QC for the silicone earbud/earphone case before the delivery.
12. Package and Warehouse: Z. S. R offer custom packaging solutions you need for all your silicone earbud/earphone case packaging. Our custom packaging includes paper boxes, PE/PVC boxes, printed labels, hangtags, barcode stickers, etc to protect the safety of the silicone earbud/earphone case during transportation and storage, while ensuring the safety and aesthetics of the silicone earbud/earphone case.
In Z.S.R, we manufacture the silicone earbud/earphone case according to the client’s design and idea. We try our best to deliver the quality silicone earbud/earphone case to our customer
When you buy the silicone earbud/earphone case, should pay attention to:
When you would like to buy the silicone earbud/earphone case, you should comprehensively consider factors such as material, safety, brand, Function, and size to ensure a safe.
Conclusion
No matter whether you would like to create the silicone earbud/ earphone case with your logo or design for sales, promotional or events. Z.S.R high-quality customized silicone earbuds/ earphone cases are perfect for branding, and corporate and souvenir gifts.
Z.S.R. customized branded silicone earbud/ earphone case with your logo, design pattern, text may be your good choice.
In Z.S.R, all the steps from raw silicone earbud/ earphone case material selection to molding, curing, and quality control, each step plays a vital role in creating your silicone earbud/ earphone case that meets safety standards and performs well in their intended applications. Contact Z.S.R to brand your own silicone earbud/ earphone case by contract manufacturing.
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About Author: Z.S.R International Group
Z.S.R International Group(Hong Kong) co., Limited, is a one-stop supplier for molded silicone products and silicone products molding solution provider in the consumer products field. We offer OEM services from silicone product design to Silicone products contract manufacturing. We have the capability for custom silicone tooling, LSR(Liquid silicone Rubber) molded silicone products, solid silicone molded products, molded silicone multi-colored products. We also can custom molded silicone, custom molded LSR, custom molded dripping injection dispensing(co-injection) silicone multi-colored products.
