Customer: Elastostar Rubber Corporation | Columbus, Ohio
Industry: Custom Rubber Gaskets and Profiles
Application: Waterjet cutting of rubber gaskets, custom die tooling, aerospace-grade profiles
Machine: FlexJet Waterjet (standard and 10,000-series nozzle configurations)
When Elastostar Rubber Corporation needed tighter tolerances on complex rubber gaskets, traditional hand tooling kept falling short. Switching to a FlexJet waterjet cutting machine didn’t just solve the quality problem. It eliminated a costly bottleneck that had quietly been slowing down every custom order they took.
The Challenge: Complex Designs, Inconsistent Results
Elastostar manufactures custom rubber gaskets, silicone extrusion profiles, O-rings, closed-cell sponge moldings, and rubber-molded parts for customers in the aerospace, food processing, and automotive industries. Many of those parts require tight tolerances and complex geometries. For years, the shop relied on traditional hand tooling to cut rubber profiles and gaskets.
“It was not good quality,” says Jim Dungrani, Industrial Application Engineer at Elastostar. “We were always looking for some kind of solution.”
The team explored waterjet cutting as a potential fix. That search led them to FlexJet.
The Decision: Confidence Before the Open House
Bryan, a FlexJet sales representative, visited Elastostar early in the evaluation process and walked the team through exactly how the machine worked and what it could do for rubber fabrication. By the time Elastostar’s president attended a FlexJet open house, the decision was already clear.
“We were pretty sure with FlexJet because Bryan told us everything,” Jim says.
The Unexpected Win: In-House Die Tooling
The most significant benefit Elastostar gained from the FlexJet wasn’t what they originally anticipated. Before the purchase, the company had to outsource the die tooling needed to manufacture extruded rubber profiles. That meant explaining specs to outside vendors, waiting on lead times, and managing back-and-forth revisions every time a design changed.
The FlexJet changed that entirely.
“Now, after the waterjet cutting machine, we manufacture tools ourselves, which is quite expediting for us because we don’t need to rely on an outsourced company for the toolings,” Jim explains.
Today, when a customer places an order for a custom profile, Elastostar can cut the die tooling in-house and move directly into production, often the same day.
“We can manufacture very precise tooling as required, and we do not need to explain to anyone how we need it. We do not go back and forth for tooling designing.”
Aerospace Precision: Cutting with a 10,000-Series Nozzle
One of Elastostar’s most demanding projects put the FlexJet through its highest-precision test. A custom profile for an aerospace customer required extremely fine cuts using ultra-fine abrasive through a 10,000-series nozzle configuration. The abrasive, Jim says, was as fine as flour.
FlexJet applications specialist Chris Ashworth worked directly with the Elastostar team on the project from the start.
“Chris is a genius guy. He gave us very complex solutions which were very difficult for us to maintain, but they solved it like it was a piece of cake for them,” Jim says.
The aerospace profile met the customer’s exact specification. That customer is now a main source of ongoing business for Elastostar.
Results After 18 Months
Elastostar has owned its FlexJet machine for approximately a year and a half. In that time:
- Faster lead times on custom profile orders due to in-house tooling capability
- Higher part quality from waterjet precision versus hand tooling
- Reduced vendor dependency for die tooling fabrication
- Expanded capability to serve aerospace customers with tight tolerance requirements
“We found it provides much more precise and high-quality products,” Jim says. “I will definitely recommend FlexJet.”
About Elastostar Rubber Corporation
Elastostar Rubber Corporation is a custom rubber manufacturer based in Columbus, Ohio, founded in 2017. The company specializes in silicone extrusion profiles, O-rings, rubber-molded parts, and closed-cell sponge moldings using food-grade, metal-detectable, and X-ray-detectable compounds. They serve customers in aerospace, food processing, and automotive industries.
For more information, visit https://elastostar.com/ or contact them directly.
Interested in what FlexJet waterjet cutting can do for your rubber, gasket, or tooling operation?
Contact the FlexJet team to talk through your application.
