Originally Posted by
LeeWay
Lots of stuff is overmolded.
I have a side project injection molding some knobs. They will include a flanged nut in the first mold for each knob. That molding retains the nut in the colored plastic. It could be transparent as well. It will have raised letters. Then these parts are mounted into a second mold. This molding will inject a rubberized layer around the knob except for the raised letters.
The problem with this method is that you really need to make a bunch of them to make it cost effective. Thousands. You would be needing two molds for each button.
If you could place all the buttons in a single mold, that would certainly help. Just inject the silicone in one cavity at a time. You would need a way to secure the buttons for the second injection, but it is very doable using silicone. Would probably take a day dry time before you open the molds.