Track Wheels Recovered for Agricultural Customer

Successful Rubber Moulding Project for Agricultural Industry

We were recently approached by a customer in the Agricultural Industry to re-cover his existing John Deere Track Wheels.  These large wheels undergo heavy usage on his farm, and he wanted to overcome the maintenance expense associated with a full replacement of the track system.  

It is not necessary to replace the complete wheel once the tyre becomes worn.  In 90% of cases only the tyre is worn, and the steel hub is perfectly re-usable.  Therefore, the customer wanted to get them re-covered rather than buy totally new wheels.

Once we’d received the wheels at our Production Department, the team got to work straight away stripping off the old, degraded rubber and shot blasting the wheels in preparation for the new tyres.  The wheels are hand fabricated by our Production Department before being vulcanised in one of our large autoclaves. 

We always use a very high-quality natural rubber for our solid tyres that has been formulated specifically for use in these types of applications.  The result is a high grade, abrasion resistant tyre with good tear strength and longevity.

At Clifton Rubber we cover all types of wheels found on agricultural machinery and can offer bespoke finishes to meet customer requirements.    Track systems we work on include Case Quadtrac, Challenger Mobil-trac, Claas Terra Trac, John Deere Track, New Holland Smarttrax.

With over 50 years of experience in covering wheels in both rubber and polyurethane materials across a range of different industries, we provide a one-stop shop for all wheel covering requirements and our investment in the latest roller covering and precision engineering equipment means we offer a complete in-house wheel covering manufacturing service.  

The customer was delighted with the outcome saying: “Using Clifton Rubber was the right choice.  They were able to make and replace the old tyres to my exact specifications, so I didn’t need to replace the whole track system.  It has saved us a lot of money and we will definitely be re-covering with them next time.”

Testimonials

  • “Using Clifton Rubber was the right choice.  They were able to make and replace the old tyres to my exact specifications, so I didn’t need to replace the whole track system.  It has saved us a lot of money and we will definitely be re-covering with them next time.”

    Agricultural Customer

A Rubber Diaphragm for a Leading Pump Manufacturer

Successful Rubber Moulding Project for Water & Sewage Industry

We were approached by a leading pump OEM to manufacture an advanced rubber diaphragm for their new range of diaphragm pumps.  These diaphragms serve as a flexible sealing membrane in mechanical pumps to prevent the transfer of either liquids or gasses between two locations. 

The rubber diaphragm forms a key element in their pump design, and it is required to withstand a wide range of pressure differentials while remaining durable and flexible.  The nature of the design meant that a high level of manufacturing accuracy and material quality would be required. 

Once the design was finalised and materials specified, our in-house toolmakers manufactured the production mould tools.  Having this capability in-house ensures we maintain very competitive lead times and costs for our customers while ensuring our high levels of quality are consistently achieved.

Once the tooling was manufactured, we could then provide our customer with an initial sample of the rubber moulded diaphragm for testing and approval before progressing to the ongoing batch production.  

The customer’s mould tool will be safely stored in our dedicated mould tool warehouse and will undergo regular inspections by our engineers to ensure high quality products can be produced as and when our customer demands.

We have a long history of manufacturing rubber diaphragms for various industries.  Our rubber moulded diaphragms are used in a wide range of industries including, Oil & Gas, Water & Sewage, Leisure for Pools & Spas, Food & Drink and Mining & Quarrying.

Phi Holt, our Sales Executive commented: “We were able to work with the customer to provide a cost-effective solution that met their quality standards. The diaphragms have now become integral to all their pump designs.”

Testimonials

  • “We were able to work with the customer to provide a cost-effective solution that met their quality standards. The diaphragms have now become integral to all their pump designs.”

    Phil Holt

Wheel Covering Project for Vintage Fire Engine 

Successful Rubber Covering Project for Vintage Machinery

At Clifton Rubber we cover all types of wheels, some of which can be found on vintage machinery.   

We help customers to restore their machines using high-quality rubber to enhance the functionality and lifespan of historical equipment, all helping to preserve our industrial heritage for people, for many years to come.   

Our employees particularly enjoy working on such projects and we were recently approached by a customer who had a vintage fire engine that he was refurbishing. 

The wheels needed some attention, so he got in contact with our sales team, and we arranged to have the wheels delivered to us.   

Our Rubber Covering production team were delighted to help to restore the wheels back to their former glory and help the satisfied customer to carry on with his restoration project.

Solid tyres for wheels can be used on various modes of vintage transport for example, fire engines, traction engines, horse drawn carriages, vintage cars, steam roller wheels and model traction engines.

Testimonials

  • “We received the wheels today and I wanted thank you for an excellent job. We are looking forward to fitting them onto the fire engine”

    Wheel Covering Customer

Quality Wins a New Rubber Moulding Customer 

Quality Wins a New Rubber Moulding Customer 

We were recently approached by a long-established UK manufacturing company to produce a rubber collet which was bespoke to their needs.   

The company is a market leader in the manufacture of variable rate spraying equipment, and their products are used across a range of global industries and applications.

The rubber collet they required acts as a valve to control the flow of liquid in variable rate sprayer nozzles.  To achieve accurate flow rates the customer required a high-quality rubber nozzle which was durable, uniform in shape and of the correct material hardness.  Unfortunately, the parts they had been receiving from a foreign supplier had not met these requirements and they were getting more than a 60% failure rate, which was simply not acceptable.

The customer approached the Clifton Rubber team at a trade exhibition and asked for help.  He needed a reliable supplier.

The customer issued us with a drawing of the part against which our estimators could confirm costs.  Prices were quickly agreed, orders received, and our design engineers set about designing the mould tool, which was then manufactured in-house by our dedicated toolroom engineers.  We quickly had a first off sample produced for our customer to inspect, test, and approve, before we went into full batch production.

The new rubber collets proved to be a success. They are fully tested by the customer before use and since switching to Clifton Rubber there has been significant improvement in quality with a minimal failure rate.  This has helped the customer achieve consistently accurate flow rates whilst saving costs.

The customer’s Sales Manager commented: “Quality is key.  It must be top notch.  It looks simple but it’s a very technical part and precision is of the utmost importance.  We needed to source a new supplier who were reliable, and UK based.  

Clifton Rubber made us some samples and we simply couldn’t believe how good they were.  The quality was second to none.”

Testimonials

  • “Quality is key. It must be top notch. It looks simple but it’s a very technical part and precision is of the utmost importance. We needed to source a new supplier who were reliable, and UK based. Clifton Rubber made us some samples and we simply couldn’t believe how good they were. The quality was second to none.”

    Bespoke Rubber Project Manufacturing Customer

Bespoke Polyurethane Manufacturing Project  

Successful Bespoke Polyurethane Project for Manufacturing Company

We were recently approached by a company enquiring if we could manufacture a very specialised, bespoke polyurethane product for them.  The company is an industry leader in their field, but their existing supplier was no longer able to supply them parts,.  Therefore, the company was looking for a new supplier who could manufacture their polyurethane product in the UK.

The product is a complex inflatable polyurethane bladder with an integrated stainless steel inflation valve, which would also need to be manufactured by our in-house precision engineering department.  Following an initial meeting, and inspection of the item, we discovered not only would this polyurethane bladder require a slightly different polyurethane casting process, but each part would also need to be fully tested to ensure it maintained a specific pressure for a fixed duration.  

After spending some time investigating best manufacturing methods, we carried out extensive trialing in conjunction with our customer, to ensure parts met their strict quality requirements.

The trials were successful, and we are now processing regular orders of polyurethane bladders for our customer and recently received the following commendation:

‘We received the bladders today and I wanted to give you some feedback. Please can you congratulate your guy who makes these as they are the best we have received, not saying the others are bad, but these are almost perfect in every respect, so congratulations on a job well done. keep it up!’.

Testimonials

  • “We received the bladders today and I wanted to give you some feedback. Please can you congratulate your guy who makes these as there are the best we have received, not saying the others are bad, but these are almost perfect in every respect, so congratulations on a job well done. keep it up!”

    Polyurethane Bespoke Project Manufacturing Customer

Enlightening Polyurethane Moulding Solution 

Enlightening Polyurethane Moulding Solution to meet Customer Specification

We have recently put into production a new product for a leading UK lighting manufacturer.

We were recently contacted by a manufacturer of external lighting who were determined to find a product solution to protect their lampposts from corrosion and impact damage at the base, where the lamppost is most vulnerable. 

They came to Clifton Rubber with an initial design concept for a polyurethane base protector, with the aim of replacing the traditional cast iron products and increasing the longevity and appearance of their lamppost products while in use.  

Our Sales Executive dealing with the enquiry and Engineering Manager met with the customer to discuss their requirements and provide input into the design and material specifications to ensure the final concept was suitable for use and designed for manufacture.  After initial prototyping and sample trials the moulded polyurethane parts were deemed a success and put into production.  

We now regularly manufacture batches of these parts for our customer on a make to order basis, consistently meeting their expected lead times and quality requirements. 

Phil Holt, Sales Executive for Clifton Rubber commented: 

“We are delighted to assist in the design and manufacture of a moulded polyurethane product for this company.  Our design and production teams worked closely with the customer to provide a solution that met their requirements.”

PU Moulding Lighting Project

Testimonials

  • “Clifton Rubber produced bespoke polyurethane mouldings for us to our design and worked closely with us to develop our product. We’re very happy with the end result and would recommend them to others”

    Polyurethane Bespoke Project Customer

Polyurethane Solution for Lifting Equipment

A Polyurethane Solution Provides a Quieter Working Environment

We have just completed a successful polyurethane moulding project for a Maintenance company specialising in Lifting Equipment.   

The company use carriage wheels on a metal track for lifting equipment in their workshop. However, the sound of metal on metal is quite loud and distracting for those working with the equipment below.  They wanted a more silent solution. 

The company approached our in-house design team who looked at whether we could come up with a solution whereby the wheels were covered in rubber, to see if this would make things less noisy.  

Design Team Input

Our design team looked at a few options, both rubber and polyurethane.  The decision was made that a polyurethane covering would be a more cost-effective solution.

Our polyurethane production team set to work to create a new mould for the coating.  We then created eight samples – enough for one of their lifting trolleys, so the customer could run a trial.

This resulted in a very happy customer.  There was a noticeable reduction in noise and the poly covered carriage wheels will be put in place across the whole workshop.

We now have a second batch of 28 units in production with more to follow.

Phi Holt, our Sales Executive commented: 

“We were able to work with the customer to provide a solution that was cost effective and created a safer working environment for their workforce.  Our in-house design and production teams were able to produce some prototypes for trial and then we worked together to create the final product for introduction into their workshop.”

Testimonials

  • “Clifton Rubber produced bespoke polyurethane mouldings for us to our design and worked closely with us to develop our product. We’re very happy with the end result and would recommend them to others”

    Polyurethane Bespoke Project Customer

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