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Tooling Vendors - A384

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Tooling Vendors
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Document Type Article
Document Identifier 384

Overview[edit | edit source]

This page offers an overview of companies that specialize in custom tooling for composite materials. The information is provided solely for informational purposes to assist users in exploring potential vendors. Please note that the Composite Knowledge Network (CKN) does not endorse, recommend, or certify any of the companies listed, and inclusion on this page does not imply any form of partnership or approval.

Companies that offer relevant products or services are invited to submit their information to ckn@composites.ubc.ca.

Vendors[edit | edit source]

Company Services Dimensions Materials Website Location
Harwood Custom Composties custom tooling, short timelines and modest budgets fibre reinforced plastic, tools for thermoforming harwoodcomposites.com BC, Canada
A-Team Composites custom tooling a-teamcomposites.com BC, Canada
General Plastics Manufacturing Co custom tools/molds foam www.generalplastics.com Washington, USA
Janicki tooling metal: up to 100x20x8ft composite, invar, steel, aluminum www.janicki.com Washington, USA
Coastal Enterprises custom tooling blocks (foam not machined) foam www.precisionboard.com California, USA
ACP Composites metal, composite and rapid prototyping molds metal, composite acpcomposites.com California, USA
Eastside Industrial Coatings & Composites custom tooling for RTM, open mould/hand layup, infusion fibreglass eastsideindustrialcoatings.ca Manitoba, Canada
Carlson Engineered Composites custom moulds for open and closed moulding processes, mandrel moulds www.carlsoncomposites.com Manitoba, Canada
Structural Compostie Technologies tailored fiberglass solutions fiberglass www.sctfrp.com Manitoba, Canada
RAMPF group precision tooling www.rampf-group.com Ontario, Canada
Calian custom tooling aluminum, steel, carbon composite www.calian.com Ontario, Canada
beSpline curved shapes, adaptive/reconfigurable mold (for one-off applications) www.bespline.ca Quebec, Canada
BHS Composites custom tooling, plugs, molds, jigs compositesbhs.com Quebec, Canada
Fibrotek custom tooling carbon fiber, kevlar, fiberglass, graphite, aluminum, steel, wood, plaster fibrotek.com Quebec, Canada
SMART Tooling custom www.smarttooling.com Ohio, USA
Prospect Mold & Die Co custom tooling steel, aluminum, stainless steel, high nickel castings, composites prospectgroup.com Ohio, USA
Radius Engineering designing and manufacturing custom tooling www.radiuseng.com Utah, USA
Composite Alliance Corp custom molds, can be autonomous and self-heated up to 33 ft steel, invar, aluminum, composites www.compositealliance.com Texas, USA
Fibreworks Composites tooling metal, foam www.fibreworkscomposites.com North Carolina, USA
GEISS AG custom thermoforming moulds www.geiss-ttt.com Seßlach, Germany
Gurit wind turbine blade moulds www.gurit.com Zürich, Switzerland

To learn more about tooling & consumables parameters navigate to the following link (note that more information is included in the level II tab).


To learn how tooling & consumables may influence manufacturing outcomes, click on the links below.





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About Help

Engineered materials (designed to have specific properties) made from two or more constituent materials with different physical or chemical properties. The constituents remain separate and distinct on a macroscopic level within the finished structure.

Resin transfer moulding (RTM) involves loading a preform into a two (or more) piece, matched tool, closing it, and injecting resin under pressure (~15-100 psi, or ~1-7 bar).

Well suited to small to medium sized parts, limited to large sizes due to injection pressure loads and tool cost.

Outcomes represent the range of response/sensitivity to factory system attributes. Those that fail to satisfy manufacturing requirements are known as defects. Examples of manufacturing outcomes include process parameter outcomes, material structure outcomes, and material performance outcomes.

Retrieved from "https://compositeskn.org/KPC/index.php?title=A384&oldid=7024"
CKN KPC logo

Welcome

Welcome to the CKN Knowledge in Practice Centre (KPC). The KPC is a resource for learning and applying scientific knowledge to the practice of composites manufacturing. As you navigate around the KPC, refer back to the information on this right-hand pane as a resource for understanding the intricacies of composites processing and why the KPC is laid out in the way that it is. The following video explains the KPC approach:

Understanding Composites Processing

The Knowledge in Practice Centre (KPC) is centered around a structured method of thinking about composite material manufacturing. From the top down, the heirarchy consists of:

The way that the material, shape, tooling & consumables and equipment (abbreviated as MSTE) interact with each other during a process step is critical to the outcome of the manufacturing step, and ultimately critical to the quality of the finished part. The interactions between MSTE during a process step can be numerous and complex, but the Knowledge in Practice Centre aims to make you aware of these interactions, understand how one parameter affects another, and understand how to analyze the problem using a systems based approach. Using this approach, the factory can then be developed with a complete understanding and control of all interactions.

The relationship between material, shape, tooling & consumables and equipment during a process step


Interrelationship of Function, Shape, Material & Process

Design for manufacturing is critical to ensuring the producibility of a part. Trouble arises when it is considered too late or not at all in the design process. Conversely, process design (controlling the interactions between shape, material, tooling & consumables and equipment to achieve a desired outcome) must always consider the shape and material of the part. Ashby has developed and popularized the approach linking design (function) to the choice of material and shape, which influence the process selected and vice versa, as shown below:

The relationship between function, material, shape and process


Within the Knowledge in Practice Centre the same methodology is applied but the process is more fully defined by also explicitly calling out the equipment and tooling & consumables. Note that in common usage, a process which consists of many steps can be arbitrarily defined by just one step, e.g. "spray-up". Though convenient, this can be misleading.

The relationship between function, material, shape and process consisting of Equipment and Tooling and consumables


Workflows

The KPC's Practice and Case Study volumes consist of three types of workflows:

  • Development - Analyzing the interactions between MSTE in the process steps to make decisions on processing parameters and understanding how the process steps and factory cells fit within the factory.
  • Troubleshooting - Guiding you to possible causes of processing issues affecting either cost, rate or quality and directing you to the most appropriate development workflow to improve the process
  • Optimization - An expansion on the development workflows where a larger number of options are considered to achieve the best mixture of cost, rate & quality for your application.

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