Tooling

Production tooling for manufacturers, including Ontario automotive suppliers: injection molds, compression molds for composites, jigs and fixtures, rapid tooling, stamping dies and CNC tooling.

Injection Mold Tooling

Prototype, bridge and production molds, from aluminum tools for a few thousand parts to hardened steel for high volumes and glass-filled resins. Tell us the resin and how many parts you expect over the product's life, and we'll recommend a mold class and steel. For the trade-offs, see aluminum vs steel injection molds. Before a part goes to tooling, check it against our injection molding design rules, and see what drives the cost of a mold.

Compression Molds for Composites

Matched molds for pre-preg compression molding, plus patterns and molds for other composite processes. It's the same kind of tooling behind our carbon fiber SSD Enclosure 1. For help with the part design, see carbon fiber.

Jigs and Fixtures

Machining fixtures, welding jigs, and assembly and inspection fixtures. A good fixture locates the part the same way every time, loads quickly and stays out of the operator's way. We design them around your part, your machine and your cycle time. If you're unsure which you need, start with jig vs fixture.

Rapid and Bridge Tooling

Faster, cheaper tools that make real parts while production tooling is built, or that cover a short run that will never need hardened steel. Useful when the design is still changing.

Stamping Dies

Blanking, piercing, forming and progressive dies for sheet metal parts. Material, thickness and yearly volume decide whether a simple single-hit die or a progressive die makes sense. Forming simulation during die design catches splits and wrinkles on screen instead of on the press.

CNC Tooling

Cutting tools and tool holders for CNC machining, matched to your materials and machines.

Tooling Guides

• Tooling: molds, dies, jigs and fixtures
• Hot runner vs cold runner molds
• Choosing the number of mold cavities
• Mold steels: P20, 718H, NAK80, S136 and H13
• Injection mold gate types and where to use them
• Injection mold cooling and cycle time
• Mold trials: T0, T1 and final approval
• Compression molds for carbon fiber parts
• Progressive vs transfer dies
• Springback in stamped parts and how dies fix it
• Checking fixtures for automotive parts

From Prototype to Production Tooling

Start with prototypes or a bridge tool, then move to production tooling once the design is proven. To get a quote quickly, see what to send, then use the form below.