Injection Mould Tool Types
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Below are the most common injection mould tool types we can offer you. We also offer rapid production of steel and aluminium alloy injection mould tools. Hardened steel injection mould tools are very durable and capable of millions of parts, whereas aluminium alloy mould tools are capable of tens to hundreds of thousands of parts, are lower in cost and take less time to make.
We can offer you various mould tool options e.g. a family tool or separate automatic unscrewing tools, thus you can choose the type to match your project needs.
| Tool Type | Definition | Suitability / Comments |
| Core Pulling (Manual) | Makes part/s with side holes and features, but needs machine operator to manually remove tool parts to get finished part. | Low-medium quantities of more complex parts. Lower tool cost than automatic cp tool - moulding costs higher. |
| Core Pulling (Automatic) | Contains mechanism to automatically produce holes and features in part/s which otherwise could not be released from tool | Medium-high quantities of more complex parts. Higher tool cost than manual cp tool - moulding costs lower, larger amounts made quicker. |
| Family | Makes several different shaped and sized parts to produce set made in same material. and colour. | Low-medium quantities of kit type parts e.g. knife, fork and spoon set. |
| Hot Runner | Uses heated tool parts so standard. cavity feed not needed and only parts (no waste) are made. | Medium-high quantities of parts needing lower costs. Higher tool cost than standard tool. |
| Insert (Manual) | Makes parts with feature holes which enable metal inserts to be e.g. pushed in afterwards. | Low-medium quantities. Cost benefits or losses depend on job. |
| Insert (Semi-Auto) | Moulds around inserts put in tool by machine operator to make part/s inc. metal inserts. | Low-medium quantities. Cost benefits or losses depend on job. |
| Multi Impression | Makes several identical parts. | Medium-large quantities, higher tool cost than single impression, moulding costs lower, larger amounts made quicker. |
| Overmould | Moulds around parts put in tool by machine operator to make final part e.g. shaver plug. | Low-medium quantities of parts needing encapsulation. |
| Single Impression | Makes one part only. | Low quantities, tool cost lower than multi impression, moulding costs higher. |
| Thread manual unscrewing |
Makes part/s with screw thread/s, but machine operator needed to manually unscrew tool inserts to get finished parts. | Low-medium quantities of screw threaded parts. Lower tool cost than automatic unscrewing tool - moulding costs higher. |
| Thread automatic unscrewing |
Contains mechanism to automatically make and unscrew part/s with screw threads. | Medium-high quantities of screw threaded parts. Higher tool cost than manual unscrewing tool - moulding costs lower, larger amounts made quicker. |
| Universal | Gate position offset or moved to enable parts to be made in e.g. small machine and split position. | All moulding quantities. Part and tool costs lower than standard. due to machine efficiency. |
| Upgradeable | Larger than if made to make e.g. just 1 part, only 1 or more impressions produce parts, with others blank, but upgradeable in future. | Where moulding quantities may increase in the future. Higher tool cost than if tool made to make e.g. just 1 part. |
