Medical Device Housings & Enclosures

Early Engineering Support

Prior to cutting tool steel, our team conducts a design for manufacturability review of the CAD model. The DFM evaluation covers wall-thickness variation, differential cooling, and draft requirements to reduce sink, warpage, dragging, and scuffing. Consistent molding also supports reliable assembly by maintaining snap-fit performance and dimensional uniformity between mating housing sections.

Material Selection for Medical Device Housings

Commodity plastics aren’t typically used for medical device housings as these resins do not have the strength and chemical resistance needed to withstand frequent sanitizing with aggressive disinfectant chemicals. For this reason, we often recommend polycarbonate blends and other resins formulated for reliable chemical resistance.

Powered medical devices have unique material considerations, as housing around a battery or circuit board may require a material rated for high heat. Parts that come in direct contact with a patient’s skin are usually produced using biocompatible resins.

Tooling and Scientific Medical Molding

Part of what helps our team at Westec Plastics create top quality medical plastic components is our in-house mold building solutions. Tool steel grade, mold configuration, and cavitation are all selected based on your production volume and application requirements. On the production floor, our engineers apply scientific molding principles to establish a robust process window, with validated parameters documented for each production run.

Many housings also gain functional features during the molding step itself. Overmolding, for example, is used to add a soft stop grip to handheld medical devices. Insert molding, on the other hand, can be used to place threaded brass inserts exactly where fasteners will go. Integrating features like these into the molding process can streamline final assembly and improve joint strength.