Custom Machined Components

Parts made to your drawing: lifter units, wear strips and wear plates, balance and parallel blocks, altered standard parts, and one-off replacements for a mould that is already in production.

What actually drives the price

Not weight. On mould components the cost follows the hardest thing to hold. A flat ground to 0.02 mm over 200 mm costs more than the block it sits on. A bore that has to stay concentric to an outside diameter after hardening costs more than either feature on its own. Long slender parts cost more than short thick ones in the same steel, because they need more setups and stress relief between them — a Ø1 × 200 mm pin costs roughly three times a Ø3 × 150 mm one. If a dimension does not need to be tight, saying so on the drawing is the cheapest cost reduction available to you.

Heat treatment decides the sequence

Whether a feature is cut before or after hardening sets both the price and the tolerance that is achievable at all. Through-hardened tool steel at 55 HRC and above has to be ground or EDM'd after heat treatment, which is slow but holds tight tolerances. Nitrided parts have a thin hard case over a softer core: they are finished before nitriding and cannot be reground afterwards without cutting through the case. Give hardness as a range and say where it is measured — surface and core are different numbers on the same part, and a drawing that says only "HRC 50" leaves that open.

Material substitution

Say whether an equivalent grade is acceptable. 1.2344, H13 and SKD61 are the same family under three standards; 1.2379, D2 and SKD11 are another. If your drawing names a grade that is normal in Europe but not stocked in Asia, one line saying "or confirmed equivalent, approve before cutting" saves a week of email.

Replacement parts with no drawing

This is a common case — the mould is down, the part is worn, and the original drawing sits with whoever built the tool fifteen years ago. A measured sketch is usually enough to quote, provided you mark which dimensions are functional: the ones that fit into something else, and the ones that carry load. Photographs with a rule or caliper in frame help. A worn part measured as-is will be undersize on the wear faces, so tell us what it should have been if you know.

Tolerances and inspection

Unmarked dimensions are taken as ISO 2768-m unless your drawing states otherwise. Tell us which dimensions you want on the inspection report — measuring everything is chargeable time, and on most parts three or four features decide whether the part works.

What to send

• Drawing and revision, PDF plus STEP or DXF where you have it
• Material, or the function if you want a material proposed
• Heat treatment, hardness range and where it is measured; coating
• Critical dimensions, datums and which features go on the report
• Quantity, likely repeat usage, and destination

Do not send third-party technical files unless you are authorised to share them. Drawings we receive are used for quotation and production only.