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The Unimatic rings and cap would really be best reproduced by molding them from a silicone or other pliable rubber material.

All one would need is a really nice original and a mold could be made. It is simply a matter of casting replacements. Once the mold was made multiple rings could easily be cast.

A molded replica could be nearly identical, although color matching may be tricky. Even the lettering would transfer.

3D printing a part like is not desirable. First you will need a scan and secondly you will see the grain that most all 'affordable' 3D printers leave behind. They just aren't all that accurate yet. Finally you would be limited to the materials that a 3D printer can melt and print with.
 
The Unimatic rings and cap would really be best reproduced by molding them from a silicone or other pliable rubber material.

All one would need is a really nice original and a mold could be made. It is simply a matter of casting replacements. Once the mold was made multiple rings could easily be cast.

A molded replica could be nearly identical, although color matching may be tricky. Even the lettering would transfer.

3D printing a part like is not desirable. First you will need a scan and secondly you will see the grain that most all 'affordable' 3D printers leave behind. They just aren't all that accurate yet. Finally you would be limited to the materials that a 3D printer can melt and print with.
 
Only JoeL knows what these are~

~

Or who manufactured them, or where they came from. They work so well I wouldn't remove it for anything. Look how pretty, amber and somewhat translucent around the edges,
and working well for 8 years.

Joe Lippard to the enlightment chair please. ;'D

mickeyd++3-14-2017-12-19-26.jpg
 
The tricky part of the pulsators/energy rings are the metal collars inside. 

 

Years ago I contacted an outfit to see if they could "rebuild" the pulsator using a method this company had in place to recondition typewriter platens and rubber rollers for printers, etc.  They would first strip down the pulstators by removing all of the old rubber from the metal collar and vulcanizing new rubber over the collar and turning it down to shape using a lathe. 

 

Life distracted me and I never got around to sending a sample in.  I should pick up the pieces and see if the outfit is still willing to look at this.

 

Ben
 
Hey, all. Sorry about the delay. I had trouble finding this post again.

Right now, we're in the experimentation phase. We're about to start work on plastic and rubber casting in plaster, which is going to make it much easier to do larger pieces and color matching.

For ease of tracking, if you would like a part reproduced, please contact me at [email protected]. I cannot do any work without an example part, or at least measurements to go off of. We will be creating a website to list which parts are available once we begin building our archive, and I'll post a link to that once it's live. In the meantime, we're working on a case by case basis as we build up our equipment. I'm not asking anyone to pay or send anything until we're ready to start, and we're taking absolute care not to damage anything.

As for concerns about 3D printing rubber, don't worry, we aren't. We are 3D printing some molds, and casting rubber in either silicone putty or liquid silicone. It should allow us to more easily match hardness and color. 3D printing is mostly an intermediate step, but it can work for smaller plastic pieces.

If someone has the rubber agitator parts they'd be willing to loan to us, please contact me. I think those would be an excellent candidate for testing.
 
In regards to the part you're looking at, Joel, I believe we can make that work. It's large, but it's fairly thin. If you'd like to talk about reproducing it, please shoot me an email.
 
Those pulsators are an original equipment replacement part from Frigidaire that I purchased in a parts lot from Ebay. I sold most of them to fellow club members but kept a few in case I needed them. I have them with the "D" hole for the regular Frigidaire's and the large round hole for the 1-18 Models.
 
Follow-up

Just posting to update this old thread.

Back when this thread first appeared, I jumped at the chance to talk to this Josh guy from George Mason University who was soliciting the idea to send him parts to reproduce. He was wanting to start a small business of rubber and plastic parts reproduction. I just wanted fresh agitator parts to finish a washer restoration project. Anyways, after several phone conversations, I sent him my agitator cap and rings for a '62 Frigidaire. After receiving the parts he would elaborate how the process was going and talked at length how he was getting tooling and experimenting with resins. After 5 months of nothing but hem-hawing and just talk, I finally got him to admit he hadn't done jack. Hadn't even began to make the mold for a single part. Today I feel lucky he actually returned my parts back to me!

After this brick wall experience, I started calling around and found 2 companies that were interested in taking on reproducing old rubber parts. But both had the same stipulation .... they wanted the rights to the final mold or at least a copy of the final mold. What that means is they would have the right to produce the part at will and sell the part if they wanted to. I was told I would not own the final parts since I did not design/create the original part! WTH! You want me to spend $4200 just to create the injection mold, for the agitator cap alone, and then I don't have exclusive rights to said mold? Turns out $4200 was the cheaper of the 2 bids, the other company wanted $6400. Then to top it off, the first company had a minimum 100 parts run at $27 per part. So just to get a cap repro'ed .... $2700 + $4200 = $6900. So we are talking $69 per cap. PFFT! And the possibility of selling 100 is like zero, especially if the price was greater than cost.

Bud
Atlanta, GA
 
Well Bud,

re inventing the wheel is always expensive. However, those of us who plan on using our machines into the future are going to have to pay for that luxury. It has never been a cheap hobby.
And, without Energy Rings and Tub Support Mechanisms, we will all be dead in the water eventually.
So even if these parts are expensive we still have to have them. We will just have to pay it.
 
Apologies and Information

Hi all,

First of all, I'd like to reach out to apologize to anyone who felt that this was anything malicious. There was never any attempt on my part to scam or misrepresent what I was doing. Unfortunately, as I was attempting to do this project at the same time that I was finishing college, I ended up far over my head with the amount of research that it would take to ensure that I could successfully make a mold without risking any damage to the parts I was given.

I'm much happier that I was able to return the parts undone, than return an unsuccessful mold along with damaged originals.

That being said, I've done some research myself, and would like to offer you that information so you can reproduce parts yourself, if you so wish. I've found a tutorial video here () and had purchased the parts I was originally experimenting with from Smooth On, which can be found with a quick google search. You'd need to color match with dyes that they sell, and use a durometer (a specialized tool) to measure the hardness of the original rubber so it can be matched.

I hate to see that some of you feel I had attempted a scam here. That is absolutely not the case. I simply did not have the time I had intended to, which can be chalked up to a lack of experience, and was very careful to keep any parts I had been sent safe to avoid damaging them while I was waiting. In fact, when I realized that actually creating the molds would take longer than I had initially anticipated, I reached out to anyone who had sent me parts to inform then and give them a chance to ask for their return.
 

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