Custom Rubber Keypads

Design Mark’s industrial rubber keypads are manufactured from nontoxic elastic silicone rubber compounds that are processed from either compression or injection molding. The keypads can then be integrated with switch components such as printed circuit boards or membrane switches to create a versatile human-machine interface (HMI) device.

Jump to a section:

• Production quantity, prototypes & samples
• Applications & details
• Design process
• Manufacturing process
• Next steps

We’re ready to jump in and assist:

• Production Quantity: We specialize in both large and small production runs.
• Prototypes: We can provide prototype tooling and ramp up to production quantities after your initial design review and approval.
• Samples: We can provide samples. Just fill out this customer service form.

Design Mark is a leading manufacturer of custom keypads for many industrial and commercial applications. Example applications include remote controls for electronics and security systems, handheld terminals, and electronic test equipment.

3 Reasons to Choose Rubber Keypads:

1. They improve your human machine interface:

• Excellent tactile feel interface
• Extremely lightweight

2. They last a long time, even in harsh environments:

• Extremely durable and reliable
• Long operational life
• Stability over a wide temperature range
• Shock and vibration absorbent
• Water resistant

3. They’re an economical choice:

• Rubber keypads are less expensive than other solutions, like mechanical switches, dome switch keypads, scissor-switch keypads and capacitive keypad
• Tooling is relatively inexpensive
• Design flexibility – keys can be molded to almost any customer specification and shape

Visual and Functional Characteristics

The first step in the design of a rubber keypad is understanding what purpose it has and what it needs to look like. Design Mark’s graphic design team has decades of experience creating custom solutions for the use of rubber keypads. Here’s how this process looks:

1. Provide us with a detailed drawing of your product
2. If you don’t have a drawing, but have a sample part, we can replicate it. Just send it to us.
3. If you don’t have a drawing or a sample part, contact us, and we’ll walk you through the next steps.

Choose the Right Tactile Characteristics

After we understand the visual and functional characteristics of your product, we’ll work with you to determine the tactile characteristics.

When designing a silicone rubber keypad, the keypad’s tactile response and feel is one of the most important characteristics. This is the tangible and physical response that you feel when depressing a button or key on a rubber keypad. There are five main types of tactile key types:

1. Cone
2. Double cone
3. Bell
4. Double bell
5. Flat

An advantage of using rubber keypads is that this tactile feel can be customized to meet the design requirements of your project.

Our team will walk you through this complex process. It’s accomplished by manipulating the keypad’s actuation force, key travel, contact force, and return force to achieve the appropriate tactile feel (snap ratio).

For a detailed design guide for rubber keypads, contact us.

Complete Keypad Customization

During the design process, you’ll have the opportunity to further customize every detail, including:

• Conductive or non-conductive
• Multiple color options
• Phosphorescent “glow-in-the-dark” material additives
• Silkscreen printed keys
• Laser etched keys
• Hard coating
• Epoxy coating
• Environmental shielding options
• Printed or laser etched legends
• Printed circuit board assembly

After you sign off on the design, we’ll get started on the manufacture of your order. Lead times vary, but Design Mark offers full transparency of the when you can expect the delivery of your order.

To get started, fill out this contact form, call us at 800-451-3275 or email us at sales@design-mark.com.