A percussion massage gun is a motor in a tube, and the tube is moulded. The device is judged on three moulded things: the housing that carries the brand and the ribs everyone touches, the handle that has to stay in a wet hand, and the internal mounts that hold the motor against a reciprocating load. The failure mode in this category is not the shell cracking; it is the motor mount wallowing out under a season of percussion, and that is a moulding decision made before the tool is cut.
We mould housings, handles, battery covers and internal mounts for percussion massage guns and recovery devices, for fitness brands and device OEM programmes.
The housing: appearance and the rib field
The shell is a thin ABS part, usually 1.8 to 2.2 mm, with the brand surface on one half and a rib field on the other that the user's hand never sees but the assembly line does. The rib field carries the speaker grille pattern, the vent slots and the mounting posts, and the posts are the failure point: a post that is too thin strips when the screw is driven, and a post that is too thick sinks on the surface. Posts are cored with a defined wall and verified on the first article by a screw-strip test rather than a dimensional check.
The handle: overmould is the grip
The handle is a two-shot part: an ABS core with a TPE overmould that covers the grip zone. The bond is the specification, because an overmould that debonds in a wet hand is a warranty return, and the bond is set by the substrate preparation, the overmould shot window and the adhesion promoter in the TPE compound. We verify the bond per lot with a peel test on a sample and report the failure mode, because a clean peel at the interface is a process problem and a tear through the TPE is a material problem, and the two are fixed in different places.
Specification
| Housing | ABS, 1.8 to 2.2 mm, two halves, screw posts |
|---|---|
| Handle | ABS core with TPE overmould grip zone |
| Battery door | ABS with moulded seal groove, snap or screw |
| Motor mount | Insert-moulded brass or steel inserts |
| Vent | Moulded slots, sealed by internal membrane |
| MOQ | 1,000 pieces per part number |
| Lead time | 25 days after approval |
Motor mounts: the insert decision
The motor is held to the housing by inserts, and the insert choice is the cheapest durability decision in the programme. A plain ABS boss ovalises under the reciprocating load within a season; a brass or steel insert moulded into the boss holds for the life of the device. The insert has to be held in the tool without flash over the thread, the shot has to fill around it without a weld line at the root, and the part has to cool without pulling the insert out of square. First articles are pull-tested and torque-tested with the break mode reported, because an insert that pulls clean was under-supported in the tool.
Battery door and sealing
Devices that run on a removable pack need a battery door that seals, and the seal is a groove in the door that a gasket sits in, with the compression set by the groove depth. Devices that are charged through a port instead quote a sealed charge port cover with a living hinge, and the hinge is cycle-tested because a charge-port cover is opened daily and a hinge that cracks on the hundredth cycle is a flow problem in the tool. Where the programme targets the wet end of the market, we quote an IP-rated seal path with the gasket as a declared component.
Compliance and copy discipline
Housings declare to CE and RoHS for the device programme, with the compound declaration covering the ABS and the TPE separately. One discipline we hold on every quote in this category: no medical or therapeutic claim appears in the copy or on the part. Recovery devices are fitness products in every market we ship to, and a claim that crosses into treatment changes the regulatory file the buyer has to hold, so the moulding programme stays on the fitness side of that line and the buyer's marketing owns the rest.
Related reading
Our fitness grip programme covers the manual half of the category, and the fitness and wellness category lists the full range.
