Tool and Die Making
Also: tool and die, tool & die, toolmaking, die making, mold making, tool room, stamping dies, jigs and fixtures, gauges, die repair, tooling shop
Tool and die making builds the stamping dies, molds, jigs, fixtures and gauges production runs on, in hardened tool steel ground and fitted to ±0.005 mm.
298 tool and die companies in the Noramark directory
Tool and Die Making shops by state
A tool and die shop builds the tooling that other processes run on: blanking, piercing, forming and progressive dies for stamping; molds for injection molding and die casting; trim dies, forging dies and extrusion dies; and the jigs, fixtures and gauges that hold and check production parts. Each tool is a one-off assembly of dozens to hundreds of precision components, designed in CAD, machined, hardened, finished, fitted by hand and then proved by making parts.
The routing is similar for most tools. Blocks of tool steel are rough machined soft and heat treated: D2 and A2 to about 58-62 HRC for cutting and forming sections, S7 somewhat softer where shock would chip them, and H13 to about 44-52 HRC for hot-work dies and hardened mold inserts. They are then finished hard: surface and jig grinding for flat and round fits, wire EDM for punch and die-opening profiles, sinker EDM for blind cavities and ribs, and hard milling for 3D forms. Die sets, guide pins and bushings, springs, mold bases and ejector pins are bought from catalog suppliers, so the shop's own hours go into the details that make the part. The cutting clearance between punch and die, typically 5-10% of the stock thickness per side in mild steel, is cut into the die sections.
A tool is finished when it makes good parts, not when it is assembled. Tryout runs the die or mold in a press, measures the parts and adjusts: stamping dies are spotted, shimmed and timed, formed features are recut to allow for springback, and molds are sampled and tuned over one or more rounds. The buyer normally owns the tool and should receive the design files, a first article inspection report on tryout parts and a list of spare and wear components. How long a die runs between sharpenings varies widely with the stock, the clearances and the die steel, so the quote should state the expected life and the maintenance plan.
Most tool and die shops also repair, sharpen and modify tools built elsewhere, and many run short production on the tools they build. A design change after the tool is built means recutting or replacing hardened sections, so the part design should be frozen, and proved with prototypes, before tool steel is ordered.
At a glance
| Typical tolerances | Tool components are held far tighter than the parts they make. Ground and wire-EDM details are routinely ±0.005 mm (±0.0002"), and ±0.0025 mm (±0.0001") with care on jig-ground bores and fitted punches; hard-milled 3D surfaces hold ±0.013-0.025 mm (±0.0005-0.001"). As rules of thumb, a fixture is toleranced at 20-50% of the part tolerance it locates and a gauge at about 10%. What the buyer accepts is the part, confirmed by first article inspection on tryout parts: typically ±0.05-0.13 mm (±0.002-0.005") on stamped cut features and ±0.05-0.1 mm (±0.002-0.004") on molded features. |
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| Size limits | Limited by machine travels, the grinding and wire EDM envelopes, the crane and the tryout press, all of which vary widely by shop. Many tool and die shops build tools from hand-sized up to about 1-2 m (3-6 ft) long and a few tons. Small-die shops try out on presses of about 30-200 tons; shops that build large progressive and transfer dies or large molds have tryout presses of 400-1,000 tons or more and cranes of 10-30 tons. Automotive body-panel dies and very large molds come from a small number of specialist shops. Wire EDM typically limits a one-piece die section to about 300 mm (12") thick. |
| Surface finish | Ground working surfaces 0.2-0.4 µm Ra (8-16 µin); wire-EDM faces 0.2-0.8 µm Ra (8-32 µin) after skim passes; hard-milled surfaces 0.4-0.8 µm Ra (16-32 µin). Forming and draw radii are stoned and polished in the direction of metal flow to prevent galling, and mold cavities are polished or textured to the SPI finish grade on the part drawing. EDM recast is ground or polished off surfaces that see sliding or fatigue. Punches and forming sections are often PVD coated or nitrided. |
| Lead time | Jigs, fixtures and gauges in 1-4 weeks. Single-station dies in 3-6 weeks and progressive dies in 8-16 weeks, longer for large or complex tools. Injection molds in 2-4 weeks for aluminum prototype tools and 6-12 weeks or more for production steel. Add tryout, sampling and first article approval. Repairs and sharpening are often turned in days. Design approval, steel and component delivery, heat treatment and shop backlog set the schedule more than machine hours do. |
Typical of U.S. job shops; confirm with the shop for your part.
Materials
Tool steels chosen by duty: D2 and A2 for cutting and forming sections, with D2 the more wear resistant and A2 the tougher; O1 for short-run and low-cost details; S7 for punches and sections that take shock; M2 high-speed steel and powder-metal grades for long-running punches; H13 for die-casting dies, forging dies, extrusion dies and hardened mold inserts. Mold cavities are P20 pre-hardened mold steel at about 30 HRC, H13 or 420 stainless; high-volume cutting sections are tungsten carbide. Die shoes, holders and fixture bodies are 4140, A36 or 1018 steel, or cast aluminum tooling plate such as MIC-6. Beryllium copper is used for mold inserts that must pull heat out quickly. PVD coatings such as TiN and TiCN, or nitriding, reduce wear and galling on punches and forming steels.
What drives the cost
- Design and build hours: a tool is priced as engineering plus machining, EDM, grinding, fitting and tryout time, and labor is most of the price
- Number of stations or cavities, and mechanisms such as cams, lifters, slides and in-die tapping or sensing
- Size: the die set or mold base, the weight of steel and the press the tool must run in
- Expected life: tool class, hardened or pre-hardened steel, carbide sections and coatings
- Part tolerances and material: tight tolerances and high-strength or abrasive stock need more stations, better steels and more tryout
- Tryout, sampling rounds, first article inspection, PPAP and capability studies
- Engineering changes after the design is approved, and spare components ordered with the tool
When to use it
- A part is moving to stamping, molding, die casting or forging and needs production tooling
- Jigs, fixtures and gauges for machining, welding, assembly and inspection
- Repair, sharpening, refurbishment or engineering changes to an existing die or mold
- Precision hardened details: punches, die buttons, inserts, wear plates and form tools
- Short production runs on the tool the shop built
When not to
- Volumes too low to repay a tool: laser cutting and press brake forming, machining or 3D printing make the part with no hard tooling
- Designs still changing: prove the part with prototypes or soft tooling first
- Standard punches, die components, mold bases and fixture hardware that catalog suppliers stock
- Simple holding fixtures that a machine shop or a 3D printer can make faster
Design tips
- Freeze the part design before ordering the tool, and send the 3D model, the toleranced drawing, the material spec and thickness, the annual volume and the program life.
- State the press or machine the tool must run in: tonnage, bed size, shut height, stroke, feed direction and any quick-change or sensor standards.
- Specify the expected tool life and the tool class or steel: hardened D2 or carbide cutting sections for a stamping die, or an SPI mold class for an injection mold.
- Ask for a strip layout or a mold design review before steel is cut, and approve it in writing.
- Define acceptance: the number of tryout parts, first article inspection, a capability study or PPAP level, and a run at rate if the tool must hit a cycle time.
- Put ownership, storage, maintenance responsibility and delivery of the tool design files in the purchase order.
- Order spare punches, inserts and wear components with the tool; they cost less while the programs and setups are current.
- Leave critical dimensions steel safe, so they can be tuned by removing metal after tryout.
Tools and guides
Frequently asked questions
- What does a tool and die maker do?
- Builds and maintains the tooling used to make parts in production: stamping dies, molds, jigs, fixtures and gauges. The work combines design, precision machining, EDM, grinding, heat treatment, hand fitting and tryout in a press. Many tool and die shops also repair tools built elsewhere and run short production.
- What is the difference between a tool, a die and a mold?
- Tooling is the general word for anything built to make or hold a specific part. A die cuts or forms solid material, usually sheet metal in a press; the word also covers forging, extrusion and die-casting tools. A mold shapes material that enters as a liquid or a melt, as in injection molding and casting. A jig guides a cutting tool, a fixture holds the work, and a gauge checks it.
- How much does a die or mold cost?
- It depends on size, complexity and expected life. As rough U.S. figures, a simple single-station stamping die runs $3,000-15,000, a progressive die $50,000-300,000 or more, an aluminum prototype injection mold $3,000-10,000 and a production steel mold $15,000-100,000 or more. Fixtures and gauges range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. Quotes for the same tool often differ widely, so compare the design, the steels and the life each one assumes.
- What tool steel is used for dies?
- D2 and A2 are the common cold-work choices for cutting and forming sections, hardened to about 58-62 HRC: D2 for wear resistance, A2 for toughness. S7 is used where shock would chip them, M2, powder-metal steels or carbide for long runs, and H13 for hot work such as die casting, forging and extrusion. Injection molds use P20 pre-hardened steel, H13 or 420 stainless.
- Who owns the tooling?
- Normally the buyer who paid for it, with the tool kept and maintained at the shop that runs it. Put ownership, maintenance responsibility, insurance and the right to move the tool in the purchase order, and ask for the design files and an identification tag on the tool. Terms differ by supplier, so do not assume them.
