What Is Tooling?

In simple terms, injection mould tooling refers to a steel mould or die that has two halves; a core and a cavity into which molten plastic is injected, held and then cooled.

Injection moulding is a fast and efficient way of manufacturing high volumes of parts using a very accurate and repeatable process.

Tooling refers to the process of designing, manufacturing and maintaining the tools used in various manufacturing processes.

It involves creating specialised equipment, such as moulds, dies, jigs, and fixtures, to shape, cut, form, and assemble different materials.

Tooling is essential in industries that rely on high-volume production and precision manufacturing, such as automotive, aerospace, and electronics.

The quality and efficiency of tooling can significantly impact the final product's cost, quality, and consistency. Therefore, investing in proper tooling design and maintenance can help businesses improve their production processes, reduce waste, and increase profitability.

Tooling Manufacturing Process

At Nordell, we are experts at managing your project from concept to manufacture.

Our teams have been manufacturing tools and moulding parts for over 50 years, so let us support and guide you every step of the way.

The Design

Every project starts with a design.

Ideally, you will have a technical drawing, a prototype and a 3D drawing we can use to manufacture your mould tool.

We will review the 3D drawing and convert it into a 3D tool design using our Solidworks design software.

Then, using our Mould Flow analysis program, we will ensure your tool can manufacture parts efficiently for your design.

We may suggest some minor design tweaks to mould your part successfully. We will guide you through the DFM (Design for Manufacture) process, where we will propose a tool design that will deliver high-quality components and an efficient and repeatable manufacturing process.

Expert Advice On Tooling Options

Depending on the stage of your project, we may suggest different tooling options that will deliver you a return on your investment.

Minimal volume requirements may be suitable for 3D printing. Nordell offers 3D printing services; however, in the main, these are to provide a prototype sample of your part.

Our modular tooling option may be the best solution if you have already established a low to medium demand.

Modular Tooling

Modular tooling systems can be a tremendous cost and time-effective way of creating high-quality, low-volume components.

You pay for the development and manufacture of a dedicated and owned mould insert which is inserted into a Bolster set owned by Nordell. This allows you to keep costs down before fully establishing your market.

Full Mould Tooling

Once the demand for your part achieves the required volume, you may wish to invest in a complete mould tool solution allowing you to manufacture parts over many years in high volumes.

A full mould tool allows you to get into very high-volume repeatable production. Mould tools can produce millions of parts over many years. When we manufacture your parts, they will be regularly inspected, cleaned and serviced as part of our tool support programme.

We will build a steel mould tool to your specification in the grade and hardness of steel you require. The cost of the tool will depend on the complexity of the moulding and the grade of hardened steel you need.

Our team of engineers will make recommendations on the design of your mould tool and the type of injection feed.

How We Manufacture Tools

Most modern mould tools will be built with a hot runner or a cold runner system.

Whilst the two systems differ in several ways, one of the key differences between the two injection systems is that hot runners can inject plastic directly into the cavity where the sprue and runners remain hot throughout the injection process, only moulding the part without a sprue resulting in a fast cycle time.

The increased cycling time and reduced plastic waste make hot runner systems ideal for high-volume production.

In general, hot runner systems are more expensive than cold runners. However, there is less waste on a hot runner system as no Sprue bush is moulded. Nordell will make recommendations, and we will explain the strengths and weaknesses of both systems.

A hot runner system delivers liquid plastic to the mould cavity in order to create a plastic product. A hot runner system uses a heated manifold to keep plastic molten. The heated plastic travels from the machine nozzle via channels called runners and can be delivered directly into multiple cavities simultaneously.

A cold runner injection moulding system consists of two or three plates for the mould used to inject plastic through the sprue and feed the runners that lead to parts in the mould cavity. In essence, cold runners are unheated moulds and channels used to inject molten plastic into a mould tool cavity.

Moulding Cavities

Nordell will also recommend the number of moulding cavities depending on your forecasted demand.

Although making multi-cavity tools has a higher upfront build cost, this will soon be returned through an improved part price as multi-cavity tools will reduce the overall cycle time of each part.

Our Tool Manufacturing Facilities

Nordell can manufacture your tool in the UK or at our China site in Xiamen.

Nordell Xiamen offers a cost-effective solution with a lead time from design sign-off to tool delivery of around 12 weeks.

When your tool is built and ready, we will trial the tool on one of our mould presses to mould the first parts for evaluation, dimensional accuracy and sign-off.

If any minor changes are required, we will make the necessary adjustments to the tool so that the parts exactly meet your specification.

Our Vision measuring machine will check parts, and a full dimensional report will be completed before volume manufacture. If required, Nordell can offer full PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) as an additional assessment process.

Find out more

You can find out more about our tooling facilities and capabilities in our Mould Tooling section.

Contact us by using any of the details below if you would like additional information from our team.