December 22, 2021
Sealing Santa’s Sleigh
The engineers at Apple Rubber have 50 years of experience behind them, but that’s nothing compared to the hundreds of years that Santa’s team of expert elf engineers must have. Still, what if our engineers were tasked with getting the big guy’s sleigh ready for its annual trip around the world? Let’s see if the Apple Rubber team would be up for the job.
Making a List
Before getting started on any project, our engineers need a clear idea of what will make a sealing solution right for a given application. Having someone from the workshop up north get in touch with our design engineering department would be a great first step, since we have engineering capabilities like:
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Computer aided design
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Expertise in polymer technology as well as plastics, metals and other materials
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Prototyping to reduce design and development cycle time
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Immediate access to the industry’s broadest seal inventory
Getting Certifications, Checking Them Twice
All Apple Rubber products meet international manufacturing standards as a rule, but adhering to these standards is especially important when making parts that need to travel all around the world. Checking in with ASTM International and ISO for their recommendations for flying sleighs would be a must.
We also know how much Mr. Claus likes to double check for accuracy — we feel the same way. We ensure product, process, and service safety, reliability, and quality in everything we do. And, because everyone we work for requires different quality documentation, Apple Rubber tailors the documents we provide to meet even the most specific requests. That means Saint Nick can check and recheck the quality of our products to his heart’s content!
Helping Santa Claus Get to Town
As with many of our clients, the details of how Santa’s sleigh technology works are, of course, confidential. That said, we have a few recommendations and considerations to offer based on what we do know.
Apple Rubber has a broad selection of o-rings and other sealing products in our inventory. We’d recommend seals that are cold resistant and able to withstand the freezing North Pole temperatures without becoming brittle. Something made from silicone or nitrile would work well for this application. Global weather patterns are also a consideration, so our seals would need to perform well in a variety of temperatures. Fluorocarbon (Viton®), silicone, fluorosilicone and TFE/P (AFLAS™) would offer the greatest resistance in variable conditions.
Another consideration is flight. We’re not sure how far into the atmosphere reindeer can travel, but Apple Rubber is AS9100 certified, meaning we have an aerospace quality process that is both consistent and robust — perfect for work on a flying sleigh. We’d pull from our selection of vulcanized seals to find options with ozone resistance.
Lastly, we know that finding good stocking stuffers can be a pain. We’d like to suggest our Seal Design Guide as an option for all the engineers on Santa’s flight path. But if you happen to find coal in your stocking, you can always access our guide for free online.
Happy Holidays!
Our team at Apple Rubber hopes you have a happy and healthy holiday season! Let us know if there are any projects we can help you with in the new year by contacting us here.
Apple Rubber
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310 Erie Street, Lancaster, NY 14086
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P 1 800 828 7745 P 1 716 684 6560