News and Events

Contact Rubber Corporation Introduces New Web Site For Its GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ Services
11/14/2008

New web site features wide array of services for low cost, high quality elastomeric and plastic components

BRISTOL, WISCONSIN - For nearly fifty years, Contact Rubber Corporation has been the leading supplier of standard and custom contact wheels, contact expanders, contact mandrels, contact rollers, and other abrasives accessories for abrasives tool and equipment manufacturers across North America and the world. As the company grew, CRC offeringshave expanded to include castable urethane products, low and medium volume custom molded rubber components, specializing in rubber-to-metal, rubber-to-plastic, and rubber-to-various other substrates, including fabric reinforcement of components.

Introduced in 2006, GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ is your global sourcing solution low cost, high quality elastomeric and plastics components. You know what you need, we know how to get it. GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ is committed to making the global marketplace easily accessible by partnering with twenty trusted international suppliers and manufactures in ten countries. We have access to the highest quality and most cost-effective rubber and plastic products available around the world.

Contact Rubber Corporation and its GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ services are committed to providing “world-class” sourcing solutions for OEM companies and clients.

The GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ resource is focused on servicing small and medium-sized businesses not having the advantages and benefits of established international purchasing offices (IPO’s) throughout low-cost areas of manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific, South Asia, and South America.

Any OEM manufacturer looking to reduce their costs without sacrificing quality now has easy access, through GSi™’s global procurement expertise, to purchase the highest quality rubber and plastic components in the global marketplace. GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ strives to make your procurement easy, seamless, and cost-effective, while maintaining a single point of contact here in North America.

All GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ manufacturing partners meet and exceed quality requirements and standards. Quality certifications include AS 9100,  FDA cGMP CFR 21 Part 820, ISO 9000, ISO 13485, ISO 14000, QS 9000, and TS 16949. Products manufactured meet a wide-array of standards including ASTM, DIN, FDA, JIS, Mil-Spec, NSF, and WRAS.

GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ rubber product services include standard components, custom molded and extruded rubber, including Class VI medical grade materials in silicone, LSR, and TPE’s. Transfer, compression, injection molding, and extrusion processes are available. A full range of engineering-grade polymers are available.

GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ plastic product services include single injection, double injection, two-shot injection, and insert injection molding. Other component types include compression molding of thermosets, cast component molding, blow molding, extruded profiles, machined plastics, name plates, rotational molding, thermoforming, and vacuum forming. A full range of engineering-grade plastics are offered.

The list is virtually endless.

Other GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™ services include product design and development, rapid prototyping, in-mold decorating and in-mold labeling, contract manufacturing, class 10,000 and class 100,000 manufacturing and packaging, sterilization, assemblies and subassemblies, turn-key and special packaging, and private labeling.

GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™… “Providing the best components the world has to offer.” 

For more information contact:
Contact Rubber Corporation
GSi™ - Global Sourcing International™
8635 198th Avenue
PO Box 97
Bristol, WI 53104 USA
+1.262.857.2361
Fax +1.262.857.9483

info@globalsourcing-intl.com
www.globalsourcing-intl.com

Premature Edge Wear On Coated Abrasive Belts
7/30/2007

Issue:
A Wisconsin-based foundry came to Contact Rubber Corporation (CRC) with a premature belt edge wear problem.

Background:
Many CRC products are intended for use along with coated abrasive belts and bands. The support that the wheel gives the coated abrasive helps determine the grinding efficiency of the belt.

In a grinding application, when large amounts of material need to be efficiently removed, a coarse grit belt with a hard serrated contact wheel is typically used. The minimal resiliency of hard rubber along with the increased unit pressure created with the serration, allows the abrasive belt to rapidly remove stock as the wheels is rotated at a high RPM. Grey iron and aluminum foundries are an example of where this type of application is found.

One of the problems with aggressive off hand grinding is that the edges of the abrasive belt will wear prematurely. This occurs because grinder operators tend to use the edges of the belt more than the entire belt width in their grinding efforts.

The serration in the rubber covering helps create most of the unit pressure that is required for fast stock removal, and since the operator is using the edges of the belt more often than the entire width of the belt, the belt edge will wear at a faster rate than will the center of the belt.

Our Challenge:
Design a contact wheel which will give the abrasive belt the necessary support for aggressive stock removal, yet at the same time minimize edge wear on the belt edges.

Solution:
The result of our efforts and experimentation was the development of the J72 serration. We are able to serrate the middle three quarters of the face of a contact wheel and leave an area of about 1/4 inch wide on both edges of the face without any serration!

By eliminating the serration on the edges of the wheel, the unit pressure exerted against the belt is minimized and edge wear on the belt is significantly reduced.