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Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc
I have had several emails with the potential manufacturer and he's committed to doing the R&D once he receives the sample. My understanding of the process is first he will study the shape, going just on memory from when I sent mine to Charles there is a shape to these seals it's not like it's a giant o-ring. So a die or possibly multiple dies might be needed. Then the rubber type/compound will have to be determined, my goal is to have them made out of a compound that hopefully won't turn to mush. I know all of the seals I purchased from this vendor for my previous Porsche after 3 years were as good as when I installed them they weathered very well. The next item that will need to be determined is can he manufacture a complete one piece seal or will it be more like a rope and the end user has to glue the seam ? And finally after all this is determined what will the end user price be ? I'm already talking group buy we'll have to see what the min qty buy will be for him to cover tooling and first run costs. I'm cautiously optimistic this will become reality but we'll have to let it run it's course.
Charles/Fred any idea why the OEM seals turn to mush ? Is it the heat/UV from the sun or is it the wrong compound chosen by Porsche or ??? I want to provide as much tribal knowledge from the 986/996 community to the manufacturer to increase the possibility of getting these right the first time !
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Agree of letting this run its course. However if your friend is making these commercially, chances are he has those gigantic machines and presses. Seen those before... it is disturbing mate believe me. Our problem is min. qty to for him to break even (you can't say NO to a friend!). We'll need to buy min 500pcs of this small seal just so he can at least cover the cost of the energy required for heating his machine's rollers (used to melt the rubber). Molds cost are not included yet... those can go up nasty as well even if they are made of aluminum.
RE material; they will be most likely made of EPDM rubber. Or request for them to be (please
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The alternative:
Someone (Charles, you there?) to buy the casting kit and do them at home. Perfect for a small qty run. Doesn't require much to get this done in less than 48hrs (for someone that never done casting before). You just need a pint of casting silicon + catalyst and some modeling clay (plasticine?) to do a two-parts mold. Tutorials all over Youtube (I've just checked).
The rubber is also sold by the same sellers selling those DIY casting kits. They come in a liquid form with curing time ranging from 6 ~16hrs. Silicon rubber being one of the best and most used although not the cheapest. You can colour this stuff using plain dyes (black, gray, red, pink, whatever). Very high heat resistant... not sure about discoloration under UV however (might turn white, but after ten years).
Molding/Casting/Replicating a part is as easy as making a chocolate cake in all honesty. Today you can find resins in liquid form of any sort (silicon based, rubber, epoxies, acrylics, plastics, what else....)
Youtube "casting two part mold" type search. I've done a lot of that in the past (custom gaskets, o-rings, little plastic gears, anything really). Very fun and relaxing hobby