In the last 70 years, Sandro Mentasti dedicated important resources of solution planning for the contrucition of particular “soft”, setting itself as a goal to make the experience gained in this specific production area available to its business and consumer customers.

With the new Ariete 8K line, we wanted a highly performing product, able to overcome the experience of our previous goggles, in addition to a unique and storngly identifying design.

Starting from these ambitions, technicians of Sandro Mentasti designed a large frame, extremerly flexible and light, able to guarantee an unprecedented comfort for the wearer of the goggle, even in the most extreme conditions.

The project 8K required significant investments starting form the contruction of the mold, created to realize a frame with complex geometries and at the same time researching new solutions to reduce construction and operating costs; a great challenge for the “little big company” Made in Varese able to compete on international markets with giants of the caliber of Oakley, Scott and 100percent.

With this in mind, the mold follows a rather traditional constructive approach for the Metodo Mentasti, both for the injection and for the extraction part. The movable part in however characterized of a special “attachment” in hardened steel, which supports the piece during the extraction phase (the movable male of the mold). Thanks to this solution, the frame doesn’t suffer any deformations, not even in the post-cooling phase and can therefore be extracted correctly by the operator. The presence of undercut areas doesn’t allow in fact an automatic gripping of the piece which is therefore managed by an operator in charge of the production island.

All the movable parts of the 8K mold are built with high quality steels and with a strong presence of the interchangeable blocks. These are the fundamental for the correct management of the maintenance of the same and for its maximum duration over time.

A further and significant detail in the extraction mechanics is the presence of the self-lubricating guide bushings with graphite inserts, an innovative solution that has allowed us to increase the smoothness of the mechanical parts and to work generating low friction, therefore less wear of the parts and less need of interventions during the whole life of the mold.

The study of the injection deserves a discussion entirely in itself, on which a large part of the outcome of the molding depends. In this case, the position chosen for the injection point is the central one, directed int the figure of the frame, for optimal flow control, given the strong molding pressures involved.

The Ariete 8K frame is extremely accurate in detail, let’s find out which ones.

It must be remembered that using “soft” materials it is always very complicated to work on the details, such as on the interference and the grafting of the frame with all the other parts of the mask assembly. The 8K frame is the result of a study that starts from the choice of particularly stable materials, capable of extraordinary mechanical and elastic performance.

The material used throughout the 8K line is a new generation TPU with very high elongation and breaking values. It has an excellent shape memory and this makes it particularly suitable for a comfortable “fit” on the face. Also excellent resistance to abrasion, solvents and glues, to ensure excellent adhesion to the frame with a sponge component used for the assembly of the mask.

The interference between the frame and the lens is another of the fundamental aspects for the 8K goggle. The lens must remain bound to the frame even in the event of an impact with high-speed particles, but at the same time, the characteristic of the polymer used must give the frame sufficient elasticity for its fast interchangeability. It is therefore important to respect functional dimensions in the area of ​​attachment of the lens, obtained thanks to a production process that requires accurate phases of gelling and extraction of the piece.

In this way, we were able to further reduce the thicknesses involved, creating a “reticulated” geometry that acted as the supporting mechanical structure of the frame and that reduced its weight. In addition, additional ribs have been studied in some areas of the frame for greater structural strength.

Obviously we could not fail to emphasize and appeal also to the aesthetic quality of the 8K frame, adopting advanced technologies for surface processing. In the case of the small central logo, given the size and precision of its graphic details, we have used laser technology. Thanks to this completely digitized choice, we were able to highlight very pleasant aesthetic contrasts between mirror finishes and machine finishes.

This is how a new generation of very high performance goggles was born, with the passion needed to climb higher and higher peaks.

This is the real reason why for more than 70 years our customers have chosen us to overcome their biggest challenges.

And now you just have to discover the new Ariete 8K collection, because you are the one and only great hero of our history. Ariete is you!