About Us

A toolmaker is a highly skilled craftsman who uses several complex machines to make a mould that molten plastic is injected into to form a plastic component.
Toolmakers also are precision machinists who can make practically anything from a drawing or a computer model.
They take great care with their work as the tiniest error can have very bad effects in the end result of tool or component. An Injection Mould, or other device is also called a tool, hence the name toolmaker.

All mass-produced plastic parts are made in some kind of mould. It may be an injection mould (most intricate shapes), an extrusion mould (long sections like tube and channel), a blow mould (bottles), or a vacuum mould (large thin parts).

Depending on the complexity, a mould will take from 2 weeks to over 8 weeks to begin producing the first plastic parts.

For a very basic part you would be spending $3,000 up to over $40,000 for a complex multi-cavity mould made to run fast and for a very long time.

We can make a low cost prototype mould that will easily make several hundred parts. Or for just a few, they could be machined from solid plastic.

Often they can be made in the one ‘Family Tool’. If they are similar sizes then that would be an ideal solution. There are many options in this area best detirmined by carefully analysing the parts required.

Smaller parts cost only a few cents each, especially if they are made in a multi-cavity mould. For eg, if there are 6 cavities, 6 parts are made at once. Larger parts may cost a few dollars each. The more we make, the cheaper they get.

Most parts are made in a moulding cycle of 10-20 seconds, some take much longer because of their thickness or large size…maybe even a few minutes.

There are many plastics that are suitable for all kinds of purposes. Some are especially good outside, some have a very high wearability, and others can be clear and very strong. Only a careful examination of the product and it’s intended use will help decide which plastic is the most suitable and cost effective.

Often a computer model will suffice to ensure the part is correctly designed. However there’s nothing quite like holding a prototype in your hands and making decisions based on how it feels, and will it cope with the intended task?

Usually you, the customer, will own the tool. Although, to reduce start up costs for small quantities, we can arrange a shared ownership where you would own the mould components that are explicitly used to make your plastic parts and we retain ownership of the rest of the mould for use with other moulding products.

A prototype can be made to enable a life-like replica of the part you have designed. This is an excellent way to ensure you have thought about all possible uses of the product and that it is well suited to the task in mind. A prototype may only cost a few hundred dollars, and is money well spent before you commit to a mould.

Practically any colour you can imagine is available. Some colours and styles are more expensive, like metalic and fluorescent. A mould can produce parts in any colour you choose – so long as the quantity for each colour is sufficient.

Plastic parts can be machined from solid plastic if only a few are required. We can use solid plate, block, tube or rod, or fabricate the part from several components and weld, glue or fasten the pieces together.

The best approach is to give us a call and discuss your requirements – this will only take a few minutes. You will be advised on the next steps to take – especially if you need to protect your new idea.
We can discuss with you what tooling you would need, it’s approx. cost and the time to have a prototype made or the mouldings from a tool. We can also advise on the part design and any post moulding processes like assembly, printing or metalising etc.

It’s a great place to start. We can work from that, and with some discussion we can develop your ideas into a fine product and design the mould at the same time.

We have a long track record of supplying the ongoing parts for many customers once the mould is designed and commissioned. That’s why our slogan is ‘Concept Art to Final Part’.
We take great pride in helping our customers through the complex and often unfamiliar route to getting a new product made. We know plastic tools and moulding.

Several different machines are used. Each has a particular feature not found on the others. We use CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) milling machines, lathes, Electrical discharge machine (EDM), grinding machines to name a few. The basic process is to remove the metal from a solid block of special tool steel by very hard cutting tools. The EDM uses copper electrodes to erode the cavity for the plastic component with electrical current.
After machining is finished, there is often considerable hand work to do to polish, fit moving parts together accurately, and prepare the mould for a special heat-treatment process to ensure the mould will work smoothly for a very long time.

Potentially it could make millions if treated well and maintained. Some plastics are abrasive or chemically aggressive so the tool needs to be designed with that in mind to ensure longevity.

Once it is placed in the moulding machine, it is hydraulically clamped shut and plastic is injected at high pressure to ensure it flows to all parts of the cavity formed by the closed halves of the mould.
The water cooled mould remains closed while the part cools from over 200 degrees down to approx 30 degrees and as the mould opens, the firmed part is ejected from the mould and falls into a box or is grasped by a robotic arm.

Firstly, the machines that we use are often hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Then each mould may take several weeks to produce by highly skilled craftsmen. Lastly, the materials and components we use are also quite expensive. An injection mould has to be very acurate in order to produce, and keep producing a fine plastic component. All this takes considerable time, skill and resources.

With the latest software, CNC machinery and other toolroom machines we can make just about anything from all kinds of materials.

This might happen in China, but not while it’s in our care! You have exclusive right to the product from your moulding tool.

Yes. There are many ways to alter a mould in order to change the part details. Some changes are quite simple, others can be very complex.

– a quality mold will last for decades if maintained and treated with respect.