Silicone Rubber Keypads
Custom moulded Silicone Rubber Keypads offer more creative design possibilities than traditional two-dimensional keypad designs
Formed by compression moulding of Silicone-based material, rubber keypads, also known as Elastomeric Keypads, are used extensively in consumer, medical and industrial electronic products due to their design potential, reliability and low cost.
Diamond HMI has extensive experience in the design and manufacture of Silicone rubber keypads as stand-alone products or as part of an innovative, integrated switching solution.
Why use Silicone Rubber Keypads?
Silicone rubber Keypads allow product designers to add shape, colour and 3D form to any keypad design. With low part cost keypads manufactured from silicone rubber offer wide operating temperature range, Long life, and robust sealing capabilities, along with the ability to tune tactile response to match end user’s expectations.
How do Silicone Rubber Keypads work?
The compression moulding properties of Silicone Rubber allows the formation of an angled webbing around a switch, which uniformly deforms when actuated to produce a tactile response. The web returns to a neutral position once pressure is removed, giving positive tactile feedback. The electronic switch is created using a carbon or gold pill placed on the underside of the switch which contacts onto a PCB when the web has been deformed.
Why use Diamond HMI?
Diamond HMI’s experienced keypad design team are available to support customers in the UK and Europe looking to create Rubber keypad designs for a new electronic product or looking to enhance a current keypad design. We have experience in taking designs from initial concept through prototyping and on to volume production.
During the design process, we can advise on the overall construction of a final product using a Silicone Rubber Keypad, how to secure the keypad to ensure reliable operation and selection of a suitable tactile response for each switch. We can also demonstrate how to illuminate keys and key legends plus add unique finishes to the keypad to enhance a product’s overall appearance.
On completion of a rubber keypad design, we can offer keypad life testing to simulate a product’s environment, as well as worldwide logistics support for offshore manufacture.