After ten years of using liquid silicone rubber we were frustrated with paying a premium for silicone that didn’t really match our needs. One material would be the right firmness but too thin, another would be too firm but have a great viscosity. On top of that, batch to batch variations meant one set of 00-30A was closer to 00-40 and a month later the next batch was coming out closer to 00-25. It was driving us crazy for more than half of our over head to be going into purchasing material we just were not happy with!

So, we set out to figure out how to do it ourselves! Dozens of recipes, trips all over the world talking to raw materials suppliers, and more than 14,000 lbs of test silicone later and we decided that the solution was to micro batch. Instead of using huge reactors that handle thousands of pounds we produce only a few hundred pounds at a time. Smaller batches let us dial in new materials fast and keep fresh stock shipping out as soon as its produced rather than warehousing for months at a time to let components settle and age.

And, by the way, we don’t have any components that settle in our mix. Open up a bucket and its ready to go. No sticky chunks on the bottom!

Over the last year we have been testing with just a handfull of

Currently we are in closed beta testing. This is where we stress test our materials by putting them into the hands of more people with more varied ways of doing things. Like “yes I know the material works when I do it the way I have always done it but what happens when you do it your own unique way?” There is also a sweet spot to hit here, we need enough people using these products that we uncover as many of its secrets and can fix as many of its bugs as possible but we also need few enough people that we can provide maximum technical support.  During this time we will still be varying our recipes and we there will be options to either use an established recipe or ask to try out something more experimental. We will also be developing all the documentation needed for the open beta during this time.

Open Beta – By this time we have our process locked down and several materials locked in and ready to go. People who participated in the open beta will also have access to customization requests for new materials. This is a scale up phase for the supply chain so there will probably be some bumps in the road waiting for raw materials or getting additional batching equipment online.