LSR injection moulding
Two-part liquid silicone metered, mixed, injected cold and cured hot. The cleanest route we have for medical, wearable and electronics parts at…
See the serviceProject record · Consumer audio · LSR
A consumer audio brand's ear tip production.
Small, soft, colour-critical parts that customers hold to their heads for hours. Hand-cast pilot samples proved the design; production tooling had to hold the feel and colour across millions.
The brief
Ear tips that had to feel exactly the same, batch after batch, in three sizes and two colours.
A consumer audio brand had validated a headphone product with hand-cast silicone ear tips. The pilot samples had been made in small numbers by another supplier, and had gone through several rounds of feel and fit testing before the design was signed off.
For production, they needed the same tip geometry in three sizes (small, medium, large) and two colours (matching the two headphone colourways). Annual volume expectations were in the hundreds of thousands per size. Feel had to be indistinguishable from the pilot samples the design had been signed off against.
They came to us to plan and execute production tooling — cavity count, colour matching, batch consistency, and packaging into the finished product boxes.
The problem
The pilot samples had been made by hand, and the design had been signed off against them.
Hand-cast pilot samples don't feel identical to LSR-moulded production parts, even in the same grade. Cure conditions differ; surface finish differs; internal residual stress differs. Moving to production without addressing that would produce ear tips that met the drawing but didn't feel like what had been signed off.
We proposed making a set of LSR sample parts in the intended production grade, at the intended production cavity finish, and comparing them to the pilot samples. Any discernible difference would drive an adjustment to grade or finish before the production tool was cut.
Colour matching was the other challenge. The customer's two colours were subtle — a warm off-white and a soft charcoal — that photographed differently under different lighting. Matching had to be against physical chips under standard lighting, then held stable across every batch.
What we changed
We prototyped in LSR, matched colour against chips, then tooled for volume.
The pattern was: prove the production route matches the signed-off feel, lock colour, then commit to tooling.
LSR sample parts in production grade
Sample parts in the intended grade and finish. Direct comparison with hand-cast pilot samples. Two minor grade adjustments identified.
Colour matching against physical chips
Two colours matched against physical silicone chips, not against Pantone. Signed off by the customer's product manager. Pigment recipes recorded.
Three-size, six-cavity production tool
Tool designed with three cavity sizes on one base — three sizes per shot. Efficient tooling amortisation across the product family.
Cold-runner LSR for clean release
Cold-runner tool design meant essentially no witness on the ear tip surface. Critical for a part that goes into an ear.
First article against pilot reference
First production ear tips signed off against the retained pilot samples. Feel confirmed. Colour confirmed. Production released.
Packaging integrated at our end
Ear tips packed into finished product boxes at our facility. Boxes shipped direct to the customer's distribution warehouse.
The commercial shape
Tooling investment absorbed across a multi-year programme.
Six-cavity LSR tooling with in-tool colour separation is a significant investment. The programme was scoped for three years of volume at forecast, with the tool paying back inside the first eighteen months.
Per-part cost dropped substantially versus what hand-cast pilot production had been costing. The customer's total landed cost dropped further through consolidated packaging — one supplier delivering ear tips already in retail boxes.
The colour recipes are now locked. Two years into the programme, ear tips still match the original signed-off chips under inspection lighting. The programme has since expanded to a fourth size, added on a shared tool base.
“The tips out of the production tool felt like the ones we'd signed off. That mattered more than any spec sheet number.”
Services used
How this programme was actually delivered.
Wearable and consumer silicone
Silicone parts for products people wear, hold, or wipe every day — ear tips, straps, grips, sleeves, applicators. Made to a colour and feel you sign…
See the serviceBranded part manufacture
Silicone products moulded, finished, packaged and labelled to your brand — ready to ship into your retail, e-commerce or wholesale channel. Your…
See the serviceMore project records
Other programmes worth reading.
A precision electronics maker's keypad batch
A silicone keypad mat for a hand-held industrial device. Buttons that had to feel decisive without being noisy, conductive contacts that had to make circuit…
Read the record
An automotive tier-2 supplier's moulded seal
A rubber sealing component supplied into a tier-1 that fits it into a vehicle. Not exotic; not complex; just needs to arrive when the build schedule needs it.…
Read the record
A haptics brand's silicone diaphragm
A precision-shaped silicone diaphragm that generates haptic feedback in a small consumer device. Prototype casting proved the design; production LSR held it…
Read the recordNext step
If your project rhymes with this one, get in touch.
The commercial shapes described in our project records are examples of what's worked, not prices we're quoting today. Every programme sizes differently based on part geometry, annual volume, material family and paperwork requirements.
For a first conversation about whether we'd be the right supplier for your part, send a drawing or a sample with your rough annual volume. That's enough to know if the fit is real.
Designed and developed in the UK. UK moulding capability, with some higher-volume production placed with trusted partners where that's the right commercial answer.
Get in touch
Tell us the part, the volume, and the timeline.
Rough annual volume, target unit price, and any deadlines. That's enough to work out whether compression, LSR injection or something else is the right tool.
Real people, a real workshop
You deal with the people who make it.
No call centre and no middlemen. When you contact TCI Products, you speak to the team who design, build and check your mould.
- A real Warwickshire workshopUnit 15, Waterloo Park, Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester B50 4JG.
- Real people on the phoneCall the team on 01789 224228, Monday to Friday.
- The same team on every jobDesign, production and aftercare come from the people you see here.
- Part of TCI GroupFive specialist brands, one engineering team. Visit TCI Group.
Thomas LaneManaging Director
George PrestonDesign & Project Manager
Kelly BallingerHead of Partnerships
Jim AndertonProduction Manager
TheodoreEmployee Welfare