Plastics

At Blue Ring Technologies, we have created a highly unique business in which we cater to all industries that require plastic parts. Clients typically have a general idea of the kind of plastic they want to use, but we go the extra mile to introduce all the varieties of plastics that are available. I thought that a great blog topic would involve talking about the wide range of plastics that we use at Blue Ring Technologies. If you’re ever confused about what plastic to use in your product, this is a great condensed look at the different families of plastics.

(PP) Polypropylene:

This is a very common plastic used in toys, household products, bottles, etc. It is an ideal plastic if you wish to have a very flexible part without breaking or sheering, while also providing impact resistance. Also, if living hinges are necessary, it is highly recommended to use polypropylene. Some of the downsides of this particular plastic are that they break down under strong UV radiation and require very high tolerance in part design. The plastic tends to create voids and sinks that are deeper than some other plastics.

(HDPE) High-Density Polyethyelene:

We highly recommend HDPE when creating any marine or water product. The main reason is that HDPE has a high UV rating, as well as good flotation properties. Similar to PP, it creates deep voids and sinks that are more pronounced than in other types of plastic.

(ABS) Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene:

ABS is a highly desirable plastic, as it looks and feels much better than some other plastics on the market. It has high heat resistance, high gloss, and a good weight-to-strength ratio. Overall, ABS is a very good default plastic that we like to work with. However, it comes at a relatively high cost as compared to PP or HDPE

Acrylic:

Acrylic is used in products that require transparency or needs to be translucent. It is usually used to replace anything that was originally made of glass. It has a number of desirable properties, including being chemically resistant, non-toxic and slow burning. Some of the downsides of this plastic are that it tends to crack easily and does not have good impact resistance.

Polycarbonate:

Like acrylic, polycarbonate plastics are used in products that require transparency or need to be translucent. It does have two advantages over acrylic, namely that it has higher impact resistance and better scratch resistance. That being said, it will crack when too much force is applied and it has a relatively high cost compared to Acrylic.

Nylon:

Nylon is our go-to plastic if strength is critical in the product application. It is a difficult plastic to work with, but it’s essential for some applications. When dealing with nylon, processing fees are usually higher, due to certain issues with moisture pick-up and stability during processing.

(TPE) Thermal Plastic Elastomer:

At Blue Ring Technologies, we are very excited about TPE. We see it as a strong alternative to rubber and other flexible materials that could not be injection-molded in the past. We are seeing strong benefits of this material for industries coming from a compression-molding method that want to change to injection-molding methods in order to significantly reduce their unit cost.

All in all, this blog represents a very short list of common plastics used at Blue Ring Technologies. If interested, do not hesitate to give us a call so that we can recommend a family of plastic that’s ideally suited for your product.

We live in a truly amazing time of innovation and ideas. In the past, in order to get a prototype working, you would find yourself in the garage drilling, sanding, and grinding stock material until you got the desired shape. However, with the advent of new technologies, such as 3D Printing, CNC Milling, and Mold Casting, we can offer our clients a wide variety of ways to create their prototypes at a very affordable cost. The end goal of prototypes is to be manufacturable and mass-produced, something that we fully understand and strive to offer our clients at Blue Ring Technologies. 3D Printing: 3D Printing is obviously one of the hottest topics in the manufacturing world. It is a tool that slices your part and creates many layers (think of bread slices at a microscopic scale). It is the single most affordable way to create prototypes. We offer our clients two choices when 3D printing their prototype: Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) or Polyjet. FDM is used when the desired parts can tolerate specifications of .007 inches. This is usually acceptable for many of our clients and is the most affordable route.

Polyjet technology is similar to a household paper printer, in which droplets of material are used to create a part. Polyjet is used for clients that need prototypes with ultra-precision, somewhere in the realm of .002 inches. The great thing about Polyject technology is that it allows for a wide variety of materials from which to produce the prototype. The material options include ABS, PLA, Rubber-Like, Transparent and many more.

CNC Milling: Before the explosion of 3D Printing, the go-to method for creating a prototype was a CNC machine that would carve the desired material stock. There are many advantages to using a CNC machine prototype over a 3D printed one. One benefit is that the stock material matches the structural integrity of the final product more than in any other method of prototyping. I usually recommend CNC milled prototypes whenever liquid or pressure is involved. CNC milled prototypes are sometimes indistinguishable from the real thing and can even be used for functional testing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6WL5YP7mGM

Mold Casting: Mold Casting is a great way to create complicated organic curve products. More specifically, products that require extreme flexibility and elasticity should be formed using a Mold Casting method. Mold casting is usually done with either a metal or plastic mold, where a resin is poured into the mold to create the desired shape. Our clients have been thrilled with the results, as we have provided a unique solution to a common problem that has not easily been found anywhere else. At Blue Ring Technologies, we will find a solution to your prototyping needs, no matter how complex the project might be. 3D Printing, CNC Milling and Mold Casting are the typical rapid prototype methods we use, but technology is always moving forward. We are constantly researching, experimenting and testing different manufacturing and prototyping methods to provide you, our clients, with a full range of innovative options that you expect from us.

As we await the passing of tropical storm Ericka, I kept wondering, with all the technology we have at Blue Ring Technologies what can we create to help us prepare for the storm?….Light bulb turns on…3D printed Bottle Opener. In this blog I want to you show the highlight of all the steps that occur when a simple idea is presented from concept to prototype. The first thing I thought about is that bottle openers are made usually of metal…for good reason. When plastic rubs against metal, plastic loses its shape and chips or breaks away. Therefore, a So a simple plastic bottle opener would not work well. This is when another idea struck…boom!!….I remember seeing a simply penny to open a bottle cap. What if we integrate a penny slot into a 3D printed bottle opener?…Ding..Solution!!!!…Having this basic concept in place we commence the 3D engineering drawing. First, we start with the basic outline of the bottle opener. The measurements were taken from several bottle openers found online. Second, after the outline we must assure we give the part proper thickness so that the opener does not break after applying force.

The next feature in the design was to make a slot in which we can insert the penny that is going to lift the bottle cap. These measurements are critical in order to make the part work.
After all the major features are done, we still want to add a little marketing material to the bottle opener and make sure there are no sharp edges to the design.
Lastly, once the design is finalized it then goes to the 3D printer. The steps included are as followed: We first set the 3D printed plate and wait four hours for the parts to complete the first phase of the 3D printed parts…talk about rapid prototyping. It then goes through a wash in which all the support material is dissolved.
From the 3D printer comes out a perfect part and ready to do its job. Now Jake (my dog) and I can enjoy a nice coke bottle and wait till the storm passes through.

Startup Spotlight: Blue Ring Technologies a one-stop-shop for inventors

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article30455706.html
Company name: Blue Ring Technologies Headquarters: 2240 SW 70th Ave., Suite J, Davie. Concept: Blue Ring Technologies, a startup manufacturing company, specializes in helping entrepreneurs and businesses develop their ideas, manufacture their products and realize their dreams. Story: Blue Ring Technologies began when its founder, Jay Prendes, was creating his own product, the Jayster, a keychain and app that used Bluetooth technology to find lost valuables. Having tech manufacturing experience with IBM and Motorola and a firm understanding of the development process, Prendes, a computer engineer, set out to assemble the necessary professional services to help bring Jayster to life and manufacture it in South Florida. Yet he found a lack of affordable engineering services that can help to prototype, design and manufacture plastic parts for small businesses within the immediate area.

 

How Injection Molding Works If there is one machine that never fails to impress, it is our Injection Molding Machine. These huge pieces of equipment are true engineering marvels. Essentially, this machine injects plastic material at high pressure into a mold or cavity to create a useful plastic part. Simply look around at the products and items around you… the importance of this process is clear.

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An injection molding machine consists of four major components: The Base, The Hopper, The Barrel, and the Clamping Unit. The base of the injection molding machine supports all the other components, as well as the electronics for all the control systems needed to run the machine. The electronics on this machine have to regulate a range of heaters, hydraulics, and sensors, as well as the injection pressure. The Hopper is where the plastic material is poured into the machine before the injection molding process can begin. The Hopper usually contains a dryer unit to keep moisture away from the plastic material. You will also find that it contains small magnets to prevent any harmful metallic particles from entering the machine. From the Hopper, the plastic material is poured into the next major component –the Barrel. The Barrel is the part of the injection molding machine that heats the plastic material into a molten state. This allows the plastic to flow through the barrel, where the screw inside the barrel injects the plastic into molds or cavities in the Clamping Unit. The temperature in the barrel needs to be properly regulated to maintain the appropriate temperature for different types of plastic material. For example, a Nylon base plastic will require a higher temperature than an HDPE plastic. Finally, the process reaches the Clamping Unit. The clamping unit consists of two large plates that hold the actual mold. A mold consists of two steel parts that are fastened to each of the large plates on the clamping unit. When the Injection Molding machine is ready to inject plastic into the mold or cavity, the clamping unit closes the two independent plates and allows the plastic to flow into the cavity to create the part. The plastic part is then cooled into a solid. Once the plastic is cool enough, the clamping unit simply opens the mold and the part falls out, to be collected in a bin. At Blue Ring Technologies, we are one of the only companies with our own full service in-house injection molding machines serving the greater Fort Lauderdale and Miami area, including Davie, Cooper City, Plantation, Weston, Sunrise, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Dania, Aventura, Coral Springs, Hialeah, Coral Gables, West Miami, Westchester, Sweet Water, Miami Lakes, Kendell, Homestead, Doral, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Opa-Locka, Palmetto, Pinecrest, and Sunny Isles. Example of our own Injection Molding Machine:

When our clients need speed we will use this machine:

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New Blue Ring Technologies Website! We’re proud to announce our brand new website for Blue Ring Technologies. Given the exponential growth of our company, we want to make sure that our storefront window to the world matches our dynamic progress. Our company started with the simple idea of “Concept to Finished Product” and we believe that our website should reflect this message. We are the only company in South Florida that can deliver an idea to the marketplace and manage every step in the process. Blue Ring has its own in-house design team, prototype equipment, and manufacturing facility to service all of our clients’ needs.

As you browse through our new website, check out our new gallery pictures, which include some of the cutting-edge engineering drawings drafted by our design team. You’ll also find a range of our products manufactured with our injection molding machines, as well as innovative prototypes created by our 3D printers.

Our old website lacked a lot of crucial elements for our business. Clients struggled to navigate the site and it didn’t properly feature what we wanted to focus on – Blogging! We want to put a major emphasis on our ability to periodically inform clients and the general public about all the unique things happening at our shop. Our company represents a new concept that we are coining as “American Neomanufacturing”. Our manufacturing facility is affordable, nimble, and accessible and these advantages have been essential to our phenomenal success. We needed a website that would showcase how we accomplish this, while also educating and inspiring inventors, entrepreneurs and business professionals throughout our community. This website was collaboratively designed by highly creative and talented individuals who understand and support what we’re trying to accomplish. I would like to personally thank Trey Opp Trey@bodytekfitness.com for spearheading the redesign of this website, as well as Jesse Azueta for his creative images and one-of-a-kind artistic style. I would also like to thank Leah McNaughton for establishing the foundation of this site and supporting the complex backend development that gives us the flexibility and functionality that we need. So come check us out: www.blueringtechnologies.com

3D Printing is one of the hottest new technologies in the manufacturing and DIY markets. However, the history of 3D printing actually stretches back to the 1980s. The 3D-printing world started with an SLA (Stereolithography Apparatus), which uses ultraviolet light to cure a resin and ultimately result in your desired shape or part. Then came SLS (Selective Laser Sintering), which employed a laser as the main technology to provide the fine bonding between different layers to create more complex parts. Ultimately, FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) came on the scene, which is a technology we all love, as it provided the market with entry-level 3D printers, making them much more affordable than the earlier versions. FDM technology consists of a plastic filament being placed layer by layer until a complete model is created. At Blue Ring Technologies, we utilize a professional-grade FDM printer with ultra-high resolution and ABS plastic filaments, which is the most common type of plastic that our clients use for Injection Molding. Unlike entry-level 3D printers, our professional-grade option has two essential advantages: repeatability and support material. By repeatability, we mean the ability to create an engineered plastic part with a .003-inch degree of accuracy many times over. Most entry-level 3D printers will create slightly distorted or even incorrectly sized parts, resulting in a major lack of consistency. Support material is the second crucial advantage, particularly when creating parts with overhanging features. This is simply something that entry-level 3D printers cannot deliver, whereas our cutting-edge printers masterfully shape these complicated elements. As a result of our innovative technology at Blue Ring Technologies, we provide clients with an engineering-level quality of rapid prototyping that is both timely and affordable. We can go through several iterations of a part within a single day to meet every one of our client’s specifications. Check out a few of our 3D printed projects that we have created for clients over the years:

We just finished a new project called the “Brittlet” with local entrepreneur Brittany Lammon. It’s an innovative hair tool that saves you time by securing bobby pins on your wrist with a magnetic band and easily opening the bobby pins with a plastic clip on top. Brilliant!  From the start of the project, I knew that Brittany was a smart, forward-thinking individual, namely because she already had the innovative bobby pin opener designed and manufactured. When a client shows up with a prototype, minor modifications are usually needed to make the piece moldable and affordable. However, the Brittlet required no modifications to the original design.

At Blue Ring Technologies, we have a straightforward way of creating a mold for a client. We first use our in-house CNC machine to make a graphite mold, which accurately duplicates the item to within .001 of an inch. The graphite is conductive so by using an Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) manufacturing process we get the desired shape through electrical discharges. Once the graphite is ready, we then use our EDM machine to slowly etch out the cavity into our mold. Once the mold is completed, we place it into our in-house Injection Mold Machine. The plastic parts can then be created by the hundreds or even thousands. Simple, right? Not quite…there is actually extensive engineering and years of experience behind the process to perfectly duplicate what our clients have worked so hard on. Not only were we able to create the final pieces of the Brittlet, but we also did it in record time to meet her Launch Party deadline! We were delighted to be invited to the launch party to celebrate this new, innovative product with Brittany. Seeing the final product firsthand, I was very impressed by its overall quality and usefulness. In other words, if you’ve ever had bobby pin frustrations, then this simple hair tool is the solution you’ve been waiting for. For more information, check out the website at http://www.brittlet.com/   

January 5, 2015 – Davie, FL. – Blue Ring Technologies, a start-up tech company in Davie, Florida, recently opened its doors for the public use of its Rapid Prototyping Services. A South Florida company, Blue Ring Technologies, has begun to fill a manufacturing and prototyping commercial niche. Inventors and entrepreneurs looking to develop their products and innovations have a new resource in the journey from dream to concept to reality. Blue Ring Technologies now offers state of the art prototyping services ranging from design to fabrication. Inventors can find help in every step of the advancement of their product from advice, tweaks, troubleshooting, and construction of a prototype. Blue Ring Technologies is an innovative product design firm owned by Engineer/Inventor Joaquin (Jay) Prendes. This design and development firm is a one-stop shop for product development that uses the latest in design and manufacturing technology. “We are excited to bring prototype services to our rising local technology companies right here in South Florida,” said Prendes. “Our vision is to bring high-tech manufacturing back to the United States and provide a much needed engineering development center to the South Florida area.” With over 20 years of combined experience, the team of professionals at Blue Ring caters to the needs of entrepreneurs and businesses alike in the development and manufacturing their products and ideas. Blue Ring Technologies is the only dedicated provider of professional 3D printing, rapid prototyping, software design, tooling, injection molding, electronic design, and PCB fabrication services under one roof. Prototyping is Blue Ring’s specialty and with an experienced team and broad selection of technologies, Blue Ring is uniquely able to create products in a fast and affordable way. The team at Blue Ring has also devoted itself to developing a number of useful, popular products, including Bluetooth Smart Key chains, iBeacons, Smart Aquarium products, plastic cases, plastic pet products, and many more. To learn more about the exciting services and offerings from Blue Ring Technologies, visit https://blueringtechnologies.com  BlueRingTech_PR_Jan

How quickly Jayster has grown in a single year. When we look back at our original idea and see what Jayster has become, we feel nothing but pride.
The original idea for Jayster consisted of a simple iOS app that was able to locate a small Bluetooth-powered device. We were initially planning to use a 3D-printed case with a CR1025-powered battery. However, looking back at all the knowledge that we’ve gained over the past year, it is very obvious that our original plan would have been an absolute disaster. That was Jayster in its first infant steps. Back then, we built our own 3D printer; although it was very accurate, it wasn’t reliable enough to produce material for paying customers. Also, when it came to the CR1025 battery, it had a rated capacity of 30 mAh, which would be insufficient for this application.
During that amazing Kickstarter campaign period, we were able to directly brainstorm with our Backers. This provided great conversations and priceless feedback from our supporters, who would also be our users. We quickly began to realize that Android is just as important as iOS, so we needed to create the apps in parallel. 3D-printed cases were fine as prototypes, but backers really wanted it to be made of strong, sturdy ABS plastic. In terms of batteries, we wanted our backers to a have a seamless experience with our app. They wanted a very “Apple-esque” product, meaning that using the Jayster app is so simple that anyone can quickly use it without reading the manual. In order to achieve this, we needed a large battery capacity, so we went from having a 30 mAh battery to a 620 mAh battery. This was when our infant idea of Jayster really began to pick up steam and walk around the nest a bit, trying to find its place in the world… …But look at us now! We have sold over 2000 Jaysters! We have a feature-rich Jayster App for iOS and Android, and we have a professional 3D printer that we use to print the faceplates. We are continually improving our battery life and we have even assisted our backers in using our Jayster for home automation. We have improved our Jayster packaging and storage design to make the entire user experience even better. We have our very own in-house manufacturing facility and we keep finding ways to keep the costs low! That being said, we’re not done yet. After all, this is only our 2^nd year and we’ve barely gotten our feet wet in the industry – we’re ready to dive in! We have drawers full of ideas and features that we want to add to Jayster to make it even better for our users.
Even with all of our success that we’ve enjoyed this past year, the one thing that Jayster needs to remember is to “listen to our backers.” Again, to all of our backers, if you have any feedback/suggestions or simply want to shoot us an email telling us how awesome we are doing, please don’t hesitate to send us an email at support@blueringtechnologies.com.