GPS Golf Wrist Strap for Shotscope

Shotscope are a company that have designed and manufactured a best-in-class Golf GPS device. Using the in-built GPS in combination with an RFID reader, the watch is able to identify which club the golfer has in his hand and the GPS location at which the club strikes the ball. From this information and a library of mapped courses, the watch builds a picture of the golf round. Once complete the data can be downloaded to the user account and the game analysed and compared against previous games by the user. This provides analysis on each club and can also compare performance against other golfers.

This is a fascinating and high-tech product and when Shotscope approached TCB-Arrow to manufacture the Liquid Silicone Wrist straps for the device, we were very keen to get involved and apply the experience we have built up over many years moulding Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR).

The part design itself involved significant challenges, as we needed to overmould a flexible RFID antenna with the LSR. The board itself is over 100mm long and can only be supported at the ends, so we needed to ensure that there was a consistent section thickness of LSR moulded over its surface. We overcame this challenge by creating a 2 stage moulding. The primary overmould was designed to provide a skeletal perimeter to the board that could then be held more rigidly in place in the second overmould.

In addition to this challenge, the customer had the requirement for a moulded seal to prevent water ingress at the point the flexible PCB enters the watch housing. We suggested that this could be overmoulded directly onto the board in the primary overmould process. This we achieved using a secondary runner from main moulding to feed the seal. The seal can be seen as the green component in the 3D image below; the primary overmould is the blue area over the flexible circuit board (in brown).

This was an exciting project to work on, and we are always open to considering even the most unusual and complex plastic moulding projects! Don't hesitate to get in touch on 01276 679394.