Clamp pads are those necessary pieces of equipment warehouses and distribution centers can’t live without. These forklift attachments are made of steel or aluminum and coated with a rib-designed rubber that allows for easier handling of rolls, barrels, boxes and about anything else that needs to be moved.
So when these powerhouses of the manufacturing industry wear out, they need to be replaced; it is an expense you can’t put off. Using worn-out clamp pads is never a good idea as you risk damaging the material you’re being paid to move. But, the good news is you don’t have to spend as much as you think!
Some companies will simply replace an entire clamp pad, metal and all, when it wears out. Consider how much you use clamp pads and that cost can add up quickly. Instead of replacing an entire clamp pad, Sioux Rubber & Urethane can recover them back to original condition using a higher quality rubber. There is no need to buy a completely new set. Having clamp pads recovered by Sioux Rubber & Urethane saves money, downtime, and makes them last more than twice as long.
"The substrate will always outlast the rubber," explained Jordan Langley, Sales Manager. "Some companies will throw out the entire clamp pad, substrate and all, when the rubber wears out. They either don't care or don't know the pads can be recovered. We can strip the old rubber off and put brand new on. It's essentially a brand-new clamp pad for a fill third of the price that it costs new."
The savings you'll see by recovering your clamp pads instead of replacing are real and immediate. For example, a customer wanted to know what it would cost to buy a brand-new clamp pad versus what it would cost to recover existing pads. It cost $200 less to recover FOUR clamp pads than to buy TWO new complete pads, said Derek DeGroot, Sales Manager. And the process is simple to do.
We use your existing substrate when we recover your clamp pads. Send us your entire clamp pad and we'll burn the existing rubber off. "We heat the existing rubber up to a certain temperature so it melts away, leaving the substrate intact," he explained. "We then prep the substrate, as if it was a new part, with our bonding primers. The part gets molded with new rubber by hand; we add the rib design and then put it in the autoclave to cure. The recovered clamp pads are then trimmed and shipped back to the customer. Each liner is done to the customer's specification or by our recommendation. We add the rib design and ship them back."
The entire process is fast; turnaround time is about two to three days, compared to weeks if a new part must be made. Because we're a small shop, we can guarantee a better lead time than that of a larger OEM. We get your clamp pads back to you quickly, minimizing your downtime.
Clamp pads are recovered with a 3/8-inch, 60-durometer, SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber). In fact, Sioux Rubber uses its own proprietary blend of rubber called Endurawear Rubber. This rubber is a much higher-quality product than anything the OEM will use, making the recover last longer, about twice as long. "The OEMs are basically selling that clamp pad to wear out," said Derek. "Our product is a much higher quality rubber."
Sioux Rubber & Urethane ships nationwide and to Canada. Request a sample of our Endurawear Clamp Pad product here!