Plastic Prototype Methods

Amber Tool: Is like a rubber mold, except built with a super strong base material, extending the tool life to about 100+ urethane parts.

CNC High Speed Machining/Wire EDM: The CNC process is great for tight tolerance projects in any volume and in just about any material including: aluminum, zinc, magnesium, titanium, steel and most plastics. Additionally, our wire EDM service is designed for those very small, tight tolerance metal parts.

USA Cut Tools: We understand time to market and quality go hand-in-hand and all of our tools are built to this standard. Our prototype tools are just that - prototype tools that are built for speed and low volumes. We know they have a limited life, are not intended for high volumes and are not expected to last forever. This means we know how and where to help reduce costs and time without compromising the quality of the part. This time- and cost-saving method carries over to our production tools and parts.

K-Tooling: This is a cast method unmatched by any other. The parts have a great surface finish and are produced in production-grade materials, yet the tooling is about half the cost of a cut tool. Yet, you will be hard-pressed to prove these parts did not come off a cut tool. The more geometry there is, the greater the savings. This is a perfect method for low-volume projects.

Far East Tools: This is our far east connection for prototype and/or production tools/parts. Our partners have been chosen for their quality, speed and cost-savings. An additional savings option from the Far East is to build there, but only ship the parts to the USA, saving on tax and import fees associated with imported products. We have established relations in China, Taiwan, Korea and Mexico.

Rubber Molds: This is the fastest, cheapest and yet one of the best ways to replicate a plastic part. Normally an SLA is used for a pattern. Rubber is poured around it and after curing, the pattern is removed and urethane material is shot into the tool. There are hundreds of urethane materials to choose from that emulate your production material. Part size is not a factor.

Fiber Tools: Instead of a rubber mold, we cast a hard skin over the pattern and back the tooling out with fiberglass-like material. This extends the tool life ten fold. Again, there are hundreds of materials from which to choose.

Rotational molding: This is our answer to prototyping for rotational molded parts. We build an SLA, pour a skin over it and back it out. This sandwich mold is put into a small roto-type press and a urethane material is added and then starts the rotational press. This method does not require heat.

Fiberglass: Our fiberglass tools and parts are like most others – except we can turn them around much faster. We either shoot or lay up fiberglass.

Blow Molding: Our blow mold tools follow the same school of thought as our prototype injection molded tools – they are built for speed and cost reduction. They can be shot in a prototype urethane material or in a production-grade material.

Vacuum Forming: We build a pattern, lay a sheet of material over it and apply heat/vacuum to draw the material down and retain the memory of the pattern. This is used for large and fairly simple design parts. The tool can produce thousands of parts.