Manufacturing Process

Valley rubber offer complete solutions to engineering problems and we welcome the opportunity to discuss projects with you.

We innovate where necessary and thrive on a challenge.

We can develop new processes and materials to optimise your products and achieve significant performance and cost gains.

Our dedicated team of engineers and rubber technologists have over 25 years experience in processing both thermoset and thermoplastic rubber. Our case studies, featured throughout this website, show the range of industries we have developed prodcts for and supplied solutions to.

We fully understand the customers need to achieve a quality product for a cost-effective price, delivered on time.

We offer a very wide variety of processes including:

Plastic Injection Moulding

At Valley Rubber ???

Compression / Transfer Moulding

Here at Valley Rubber we have 10 compressions / transfer process. This type of manufacturing is used for mouldings that require more than a 1 litre shot weight. Compression or transfer mouldings tend to be less intricate than injections mouldings. Although the manufacturing process and mould manufacture is simpler, the same high quality of product can be achieved. We also have a bank of 3 small prototype compression or transfer presses used for rapid prototype projects - customers therefore have the option to purchase cheaper prototype tooling for trials before production tooling is necessary.

Compression Moulding - Up to 500 tons and 2.25m x 1.25m for larger mouldings, lower volume and one-offs.

Transfer Moulding - Up to 280 tons for rubber to metal bonding and lower/medium volumes.

Injection Moulding

We have 5 injection presses. Injection mouldings tend to be more intricate than compression mouldings and this typeof manufacture is typically used for much higher volumes of work. press turnaround time is much quicker and with the right mould design, high volume work with excellent quality can be achieved.

Thermoset rubber - Up to 500 tons for larger volume production

Thermoplastic rubber - up to 190 tons for very fast cycles and large volumes

Autoclave Curing

This is the largest area of production capacity at Valley Rubber. We currently use autoclave curing for most of the hoses in production. We produce a bespoke stainless steel former which the relevant rubber compound is then pushed onto and depending on the wall thickness and material of the hose, a cure time is set. When parts have gone through this process, they are then de-moulded using high pressure air lines. We currently supply hoses world-wide with customers including JCB, Aston Martin and Jaguar. We also autoclave cured hoses for Aqualungs for deep sea diving and fire fighting breathing apparatus.

Die Cutting and Extrusion

Valley Rubber have 2 extruders, both hot and cold fed. We currently extrude tubes from 4mm bore to 100mm bore which can be cured in straight lengths, in coils or used to produce formed hoses. We also manufacture profiled extrusions with all die cutting being carried out using spark eroding equipment.

Silicone Hose and Mouldings

Valley Rubber also offers silicone hoses and mouldings and supply to JCB worldwide.

Most of our competitors manufacture either rubber of silicone but not both. At Valley Rubber we produce both, enabling us to offer all our customers a complete solution.