Our Design and Engineering department takes the fabrication of our seams very seriously. Depending on the product you select, we utilize a combination of up to 7 main types of seams in the production of our products. Following are our seam descriptions to better help you understand just how serious we are about building the best quality inflatables found anywhere in the world.

Typical Seam

This is a standard type seam that we use in all areas with low impact, or non-impact requirements. Typically found on side walls and upper areas of the game.

Floor Strips

Many of our floors use floor strips for additional reinforcing in high traffic areas. These seams are particularly strong as they can incorporate as many as 8 rows of stitching per run.

Glue Spots

While we try to engineer all of our games to reduce failures, there are just some points that need to have an extra touch of reinforcement. Some FEC applications will utilize glue spots per the customers request, or as the needs dictate.

Heavy Duty

This seam adds an extra layer of material to all high impact areas of a game. It is typically found on entrances, side walls that meet floors, slide paths, climbing lanes and around any type of protrusions from a wall or floor. It is very strong as it lets the thread have a stronger bite into the material, and at the same time gives high impact events a larger area to dissipate energy, thereby reducing stress from the target area.

Heavy Duty with Glue Strips

This is our strongest seam. Typically it is found on water games primarily to reduce the amount of water that will penetrate into a game. This seam is also found on entry and exits to our slides. By gluing a strip to both panels, the amount of stress put on the threads of a sewn seam is greatly reduced. The strip will pull on the panel in a shear direction and add a tremendous amount of strength to the overall connection. This seam is also found on many of our Gator Mouth™ connections.

Gator Mouth™ Seams

This seam is a very strong seam that is found on the entrances and exits of our slides, and most places that a middle wall is placed on a game. The Gator Mouth™ moves the seam back up to 8” from where the normal point of impact would be. All Gator Mouth™ seams use a Heavy Duty seam method, and some also incorporate our Glue Strips method.

Hot Air Welding

Hot Air Welding is a method of making a seam that forces hot air between 2 layers of material and fuses them into one. This is a very strong seam when used in certain applications. Our typical welded seam is 2” and is only used on applications where the force of direction on the seam is in the shear direction. The Hippo™, slide cover sheets, and some of our other products utilize hot air welding.

 

Standard Features & Benefits

All of HEC Plastics Manufacturing products incorporate the following features as standard items where applicable on all of our inflated games. It is important to us that our customers feel confident that the products they purchase will withstand the stresses of daily use by building these features in at no additional charge. Our games are built to last for years of use.

All units are stitched with double needle machines. No raw edges. All seams are hemmed where it is applicable. Trim binding on all outside seams ensures a finished look. All games have reliable hook and loop deflation flaps.
Hook and Loop closures on all inflation tubes. All covered games include an Emergency Exit. All high stress points are reinforced where it is applicable. All games include wear pads on jump through points.

 
All holes include a hole liner to reduce wear and tear. Game straps come with all games All high stress points are reinforced where it is applicable. Trim binding on all outside seams ensures a finished look.
Outside view showing how tie-down is anchored into the floor panel for greater strength. All games include sewn on tri-fold brochure and business card holder. Many games include extra hook & loop and/or rings for hanging signage and banners. All obstacle games include a hook and loop strip for attaching steps.

All games include a backflow flap to slowdown the escape of air from a game in the event of blower failure.