Flexifoil Dual Moulded Barend
The barend is a dual moulded component used to join the steering line of a kite to the end of the control bar. The barend was designed to offer protection to the riders hand from the rope and provide a way of storing the flying lines when not in use.
The styling played an important role in the design of this product to ensure that the look appealed to the target image conscious kitesurfing market. The inner load bearing part was injection moulded in a coloured nylon 6 material and then overmoulded with a soft (shore 60A) black TPU.
This manufacturing method meant that the component colour could be matched to colours on the control bar which was important for keeping continuity in the product.
The barend was manufactured by a Taiwanese injection moulding company with factories in China. We visited the factory to check over the mould tools and inspect the first shots out of the mould. This proved a useful visit as it meant that several issues relating to the plastic mould flow were addressed quickly.
Key Project Features
- Aesthetic styling to match rest of the product
- Dual injection moulded design
- Design for volume manufacture
- Prototyped using SLS and soft tooling
