High Temperature Molds
Solid Carbon Fiber or Fiberglass mold face sheets for production capable of 425F.
- Solid Carbon Fiber or Fiberglass Egg Crate backing structure for extra high tolerance molds.
- Steel space frame backing structure provide a rigid base and reduce cost.
Direct Machined Molds and Master Tools
Aircraft Tooling has been a pioneer in the development of application techniques and tooling concepts using seamless paste. We have been a go to beta tester for Cass Polymers/Adtech for paste products.
Solid Tooling Board- Allows for the maximum high tolerance of the CNC machine without the distortions which result from the layup and post curing process.
High Temperature Epoxy Tooling Board for higher temperature performance (250F) and accuracy.
Room Temperature Polyurethane Tooling Board molds and masters for low cost and high tolerance prototyping molds or master tools.
- Seamless Paste- This versatile, robust material provides many solutions. We have approved materials to 180F but the materials are gaining capability all the time and we test higher temperature pastes regularly. A universal benefit of seamless paste is a cost savings on all tools which have a lot of vertical height change. Tools don’t require costly stack ups of expensive material or instability which comes with hollow tools. Our proprietary LCTC seamless paste process produces a tool with a high density and very stable yet relatively thin hard outer face sheet applied over a solid, low cost low density substrate which renders a very high performance tool with substantial cost savings.
Direct molds – This allows for molds which produce parts with no “witness lines” caused by bond lines from the CTE mismatch of the adhesive to the tooling board.
Seamless paste mandrels – These types of tools are our favorite use of the LCTC paste process. With this proprietary process, we produce nickel mandrels which require almost no ballast to submerge the mandrel in the nickel deposition tanks. This dramatically reduces the distortions created by super buoyant foam mandrels where buoyancy pulls the mandrel up and the hundreds of pounds of heavy steel ballast pulls the mandrel down to submerge the mandrel which twists and distorts the precision machined tool face. Furthermore (and maybe even cooler), because the nickel deposition tanks are heated to 120F, seamless paste mandrels do not suffer from witness lines. This is because there are no bond lines which are an inescapable characteristic of mandrels made from tooling boards which are bonded together. The result is a nickel mandrel which is more accurate than fiberglass mandrels for the price of a foam mandrel (and sometimes less depending on the shape).
Master tools – If a master tool is even a few feet tall, seamless paste can save money and produce a high temperature mold which requires less finishing time. Why, you guessed it! NO BOND LINES! Bond lines are the nemesis of anyone who performs the finish work on a master tool because somehow they always find their way into the surface of a mold. Except when the master is made of seamless paste.
