Custom Tooling Expertise: Elbex’s Precision from Start to Finish

Katie Schupp • March 28, 2025

In manufacturing, precise tooling is an absolute must, especially when creating custom extrusions. Outsourcing tooling may seem like a good idea, but this can often lead to delays and poor quality control. Instead, working with Elbex, which offers in-house tool and die design and custom tooling capabilities, can ensure you get the efficiency and quality you need.


The Elbex Advantage: On-Site Tooling for Unmatched Efficiency


In-house tooling provides several noteworthy advantages for your project. First, doing everything in-house eliminates outsourcing costs, which can result in significant cost savings. Doing everything in-house also streamlines the production process, dramatically reducing lead times, minimizing delays, and improving the overall project workflow.


All of this enables us to improve the delivery schedule for your finished products and ensure that deadlines are met. Perhaps most importantly, however, doing everything in-house allows us to maintain meticulous control over the entire process, ensuring that finished seals and gaskets meet quality standards.


Elbex’s Tooling Capabilities: From Design to Production


At Elbex, we offer a wide range of custom tooling capabilities that benefit the entire manufacturing process. We use AutoCAD to create precise 2-D models, which are the foundation for accurate tooling. Our engineers also leverage their industry expertise to optimize tool and die design for specific materials and profiles.


During production, we use wire EDM to create intricate shapes and complex profiles with exceptional precision, as well as sinker EDM to create complex cavities and shapes in dies and molds. Precise cuts and finishes enabled by these processes ensure consistent quality for rubber seals and gaskets, even with intricate designs.


The Elbex Process: A Seamless Experience


By keeping everything in-house, we offer a streamlined experience from start to finish. We begin by assessing your needs and defining tooling requirements during an initial consultation. After this, our engineering team gets to work, using AutoCAD to design and model the tooling.


Once the design phase is complete, we can begin manufacturing in-house, using wire EDM, sinker EDM, and other processes as needed to achieve custom tooling. Rigorous quality control measures are implemented throughout production so that both tool and die design, as well as finished seals and gaskets, meet all necessary quality standards.


With our on-site custom tooling capabilities, Elbex can deliver a seamless experience at every stage of the project, while achieving the consistent quality you need. Contact us today to discuss your custom tooling and extrusion needs.

By David Garman September 12, 2025
Across industries, reliable seals that can handle water, air, and temperature fluctuations are essential. As an expert manufacturer of rubber bulb seals and specialized silicone rubber seals that can be used as bulb gasket seals, Elbex helps you create superior barriers for a wide range of manufacturing applications. The Unique Design and Sealing Power of Bulb Seals Bulb seals get their name from their unique design, which includes a mounting mechanism (base), as well as a compressible bulb section. After it has been put in place, the bulb section compresses against the surrounding surface area to fill a void or gap. This creates a tight, powerful seal that blocks air, dust, water, and other contaminants. Elbex's Expertise in Custom Bulb Seal Manufacturing Elbex’s custom bulb seal manufacturing expertise ensures that your rubber bulb seals meet all performance requirements for strong, durable results. This starts with our knowledge of which rubber materials work best for different applications and environmental factors. For example, silicone rubber seals work well for applications requiring extreme temperature resistance, flexibility, and resistance to environmental factors. Our custom design and engineering capabilities enable us to accommodate nearly any application, ensuring a perfect fit and reliable performance based on your unique specifications. Comprehensive quality control further ensures that your rubber seal will meet and even exceed expectations, achieving proper compression while resisting issues like compression set. Versatile Applications Across Industries Rubber seals are found in many different industries, highlighting the versatile nature of these components. For example, rubber seals are most commonly used around doors, windows, and hatches to provide a tight seal against air, sound, and dust (including in vehicles and appliances). However, bulb gasket seals are also used to create tight water barriers in marine applications, outdoor electrical enclosures, and storage compartments. Silicone rubber seals can also help contain extreme heat or cold in industrial mixing, processing, and food service applications. Why Elbex is the Premier Choice for Bulb Seals If you need bulb seals, make Elbex your manufacturing partner. With unmatched customization options, comprehensive material expertise and engineering support, and guaranteed quality, our team will help your application succeed. Contact us today to discuss your specific application needs and learn more about the sealing power of our custom-designed seals.
By David Garman August 29, 2025
Today’s appliances need to perform at a higher standard than ever – and seals and gaskets play a vital role in making that possible. Specialized appliance gaskets and appliance seals deliver reliable barriers against heat, cold, and other hazards. As a leading provider of high-quality appliance rubber extrusions, Elbex’s custom extruded rubber gaskets for appliance manufacturing will provide the performance you need. The Essential Role of Rubber in Appliance Performance Gaskets and seals create a reliable barrier that keeps appliances functioning properly. These barriers fill a wide range of roles, such as preventing leaks in washing machines and dishwashers, helping refrigerators and ovens maintain desired temperatures, and securing components and eliminating vibrations in washers and dryers. Notably, these extrusions must be able to perform with exposure to water, extreme heat and cold, and other hazards. Elbex's Expertise in Custom Appliance Extrusions At Elbex, our team takes a collaborative approach in creating custom appliance extrusions for your business. We draw on our deep knowledge of different rubber compounds to select materials that meet industry and regulatory standards. For example, while silicone is best for high heat/food contact, EPDM is better for weather/water resistance. Materials expertise is paired with an advanced extrusion process, which forces uncured rubber through custom dies to create precise, fully cured profiles. Rather than carrying an inventory, we custom-manufacture every product to meet your exact requirements, ensuring superior stability and performance. Versatile Appliance Applications & Custom Profiles Appliance gaskets (which are static surfaces) and seals (which are moving parts) fill many roles in the appliance industry. Formed hoses and water resistance seals in washing machines and dishwashers, air barrier seals in refrigerators and ovens, and even blender lid seals provide necessary containment for appliances. Gaskets and seals can also eliminate vibrations and secure components. Our custom profile options include extruded gaskets and seals, bulb seals, custom extruded rubber d-sections, and custom extruded ribbed profiles. Each of these options can aid with filling voids, creating seals/barriers, reducing vibration, and more. Elbex's Unwavering Support and Resources Working with Elbex means you get a team that is committed to the success of its customers. Our team is ready to assist right from the start, offering guidance on materials selection and design assistance (including additional technical resources) to ensure the design and finished components meet your performance requirements. By doing all custom tooling in-house, we can also deliver our results faster and cheaper than if the work was outsourced, even while maintaining extremely high quality standards.  With our extensive expertise in high-quality appliance rubber extrusions, including appliance gaskets and appliance seals, you can count on Elbex to help ensure that your appliances are reliable and compliant for your own customers. To learn more about our custom extruded rubber gaskets for appliance manufacturing, contact us today.
By David Garman August 22, 2025
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