Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

What is the difference between Ester & Ether Urethane?

Our primary choice of prepolymer material is Ether-based due to its superior physical properties above 90A hardness and that it does very well in wet or cold conditions. Ester urethane based products do very well against abrasion resistance and handle heat and chemicals better than ether’s but do very poorly against moist humid conditions. At Plan Tech we stock all durometers of each base polyurethane material.

 

What is the difference between injection urethane vs hot-cast urethane?

Hot cast urethane products are often handmade and an easy way to reproduce medium to high volume parts with physical properties superior to injection molding for a lot less in up-front tooling cost.

 

Do you have high rebound urethane?

Yes, we carry low and high rebound urethane for any applications in any hardness or color.

 

How does spin casting work?

By using rotational force we are able to produce parts complete with no secondary operations. Our biggest demand for spin casting is for precision urethane sheets with tight tolerances.

 

What are your compression molding abilities?

Sprockets, gaskets and bushings can all be easily reproduced via compression molding with parts up to 18’’ square. We will design a hinged split mold where each half will be poured with polyurethane material. Once the material starts to set up it will be closed and placed under pressures upwards of 50 tons in a heated press.

 

Can you test the hardness of an existing part?

We offer free durometer hardness testing in A and D scale durometer measurements are most common in OEM or replacement urethane products.

 

Do you offer replacement part design from a sample part?

We offer mold designs from a simple sketch to OEM sample parts. Our mold making design will determine how the replacement urethane part will be reproduced.

 

How much is a quote?

At Plan Tech we offer fast free quoting of any urethane part needed with lead times less than 2 weeks on most production parts.

 

Are your sheets level from side to side?

Plan Tech’s ovens and molding tables are adjusted continuously to hold tight tolerances on all replacement urethane products.

 

Do you have automatic machines?

Over 30 years Plan Tech has perfected many custom one off automatic machines dedicated to urethane products. Every department has been reviewed and upgraded with automatic machines to ensure consistent high-quality urethane products.

 

How do you process your material?

We have a dedicated batch department team specializing in material handling for consistent urethane products. Having a batch department allows us to handle high volume orders with short lead times.

 

Do you vulcanize custom urethane parts to metal?

No, we have a state of the art clean room setup to process and degrease any type of metalcore before casting. All parts will be media blasted before a coat of bonding adhesive will be applied directly to the metal. Using bonding adhesive yields a tear strength greater than the urethane eliminating the concern of delamination in urethane products.

 

Do you offer business discounts?

We price each order by quantity required to complete the order. We offer net 30 terms for business with approved credit.

 

Can I get a copy of the inspection report?

Yes! Just ask upon placing an order and we will include the inspection report with the shipment.

 

Does urethane match or exceed OEM quality?

Hot Cast TDI urethane has extremely high physical properties often times exceeding OEM standards. We often times test OEM parts for failures vs our custom urethane parts.

 

Can you strip a worn out roller with a similar coating?

Yes, we have an in-house machine shop able to strip any roller application. We also have several high-tech ways to heat strip parts to reclaim steel cores that would be costly to reproduce.

 

I need two custom urethane rollers, do you cast short runs of parts?

Yes, we can make 1 or 100,000 parts often times cheaper than OEM replacement parts with elevated physical properties.  

 

Am I limited to any hardness or color?

We stock all hardness material from super soft 20A to rock hard 75D available in all basic stocked colors.

 

Do you ship worldwide?

Yes! We offer prepay and add shipping costs to all parts or collect accounts.