Bal Seal Engineering, a manufacturer of custom seals, springs and contacts, has launched Seal Starter 3D supported by CADENAS PARTsolutions. Seal Starter 3D is an online product configurator suitable for mobile devices that simplifies the custom engineering process and helps designers find solutions faster.

"With Seal Starter 3D, our goal is to make it easier for people to experience longer life, more reliable operation, and many other benefits of custom seals," said Mark Halloran, Marketing Director of Bal Seal Engineering. "For this, we combined the convenience of the DIY interface with the experience and support of the engineering team."

Seal Starter 3D contains a series of popular Bal Seal spring-energized seals for rotating, reciprocating and static service. In its virtual CAD environment, users can choose a seal series in US or metric sizes and start customizing within a few seconds to meet specific requirements for size, temperature and media resistance, pressure and speed.

Based on hardware-related inputs, Seal Starter 3D’s built-in logic provides recommendations for sealing sheath materials, including PTFE, UHMWPE, PEEK and other high-quality polymers. The visualization toolbox enables users to change the viewing angle, rotate the seal concept 360 degrees, and even check the geometry of its cross-section.

“We built Seal Starter 3D for busy engineers who want to pre-qualify the sealing solution before engaging in deeper conversations, trading emails, or making phone calls,” Halloran said. "Once users download the interactive .pdf containing the sealed model and summary, they will connect with an experienced application engineer who can help them fine-tune it to get the best results."

Halloran explained that this "hybrid approach" simplifies the customization process, allowing equipment designers to quickly solve sealing challenges and achieve performance breakthroughs.