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EFI Custom Injection Molding
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Tooling

The tool decides the part. EFI builds precision injection molds matched to the program they have to run.

03  Mold making

Complete mold-making, from prototype tools through large-scale production molds.

EFI provides complete mold-making solutions built around the specific requirements of each program - handling everything from prototype molds through large-scale production molds.

Because the same company builds the tool and runs the part, tooling decisions get made against real molding conditions rather than handed across a supplier boundary.

Tooling at EFI Custom Injection Molding

Prototype to production

Two kinds of tool. One standard.

EFI builds the tool the program is ready for — a prototype tool to prove the part, or production tooling to run it for the life of the program.

01Prototype tooling

Real molded parts, before the big commitment.

A prototype tool puts true injection-molded parts in your hands for development, testing, validation and design iterations — in production material, off a real press — before the program commits to full production tooling.

  • Fit, function and assembly checks in the real material
  • Design iterations without re-cutting a production tool
  • Early samples for validation and customer sign-off
  • A faster, cost-effective way to move a program forward

02Production tooling

Built to run the whole program.

Production molds are specified around the volume, part complexity and tool life the program actually needs — up to large-scale production molds, with multiple cavities where the volume justifies them.

  • Large-scale production molds
  • Multi-cavity tooling where volume supports it
  • Complex tooling with slides, lifters and inserts
  • Production-ready, built around the customer’s requirements

Many programs use more than one step:

  1. 3D-printed samplessettle geometry
  2. Prototype toolvalidate in real material
  3. Production toolbuilt for the volume
  4. Production moldingon EFI’s floor

Interchangeable inserts

One mold base.
Many parts.

Interchangeable inserts let one common mold base produce different parts or part variations. The frame, ejection and cooling stay put — the cavity insert is what changes.

Lower tooling investment
Variations share one base instead of each needing a complete mold.
Built-in flexibility
A new configuration can mean a new insert, not a new tool.
Simpler variation management
Change the part by changing the insert, not the whole mold.

Where it fits, for example

  • Left- and right-hand versions of the same automotive bracket
  • A housing offered with and without a mounting boss or connector opening
  • Trim-level or model-year variations of one component
  • Part-number, date-code or logo changes on an otherwise identical part
Interchangeable insert tooling A single mold base with one cavity pocket. Three different cavity inserts, A, B and C, each fit the same pocket and each produce a different variation of the part. A B C Common mold base frame, ejection and cooling stay put ALeft-hand BRight-hand CWith boss Swappable cavity inserts one pocket, several part variations
Illustrative — insert geometry is designed per program.

Tooling engineering & design

Engineered around the part.
Not just purchased.

EFI works through the tool with you before steel is cut — reviewing the part for manufacturability and making the tooling decisions that set quality, cycle time and cost.

Your part design stays yours. EFI’s input is manufacturability and tooling — not product design.

Injection mold cross-section Simplified cross-section of a two-plate injection mold showing the parting line, draft on the part walls, the sprue and gate, cooling channels, ejector pins and plate, a side-action slide, an angled lifter and a replaceable insert. Numbers match the list beside it. A-side (cavity) B-side (core) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Simplified two-plate mold — illustrative, not to scale.
  1. 1

    Parting line

    Where the mold halves meet. Placement sets the witness line, flash risk and how the part releases.

  2. 2

    Draft

    Taper on the walls so the part ejects cleanly, without drag marks or distortion.

  3. 3

    Gating

    Gate type and location decide how the cavity fills, where knit lines land and how cosmetic faces look.

  4. 4

    Cooling

    Channel layout drives cycle time, warp and dimensional consistency from shot to shot.

  5. 5

    Ejection

    Pins, sleeves and plates placed to push the part off evenly without marking it.

  6. 6

    Slides

    Side actions for undercuts and side features that can’t pull straight off the tool.

  7. 7

    Lifters

    Angled cores that free internal undercuts as the part ejects.

  8. 8

    Inserts

    Replaceable details for wear areas, part variations and future changes.

  • Wall thickness & ribs
  • Material & shrink
  • Tolerances vs. process
  • Cosmetic surfaces & texture
  • Venting
  • Tool life vs. volume

Materials & construction

The right build for the volume.

Expected volume, material, part complexity and budget decide how a tool is built. The construction is matched to the program — not the other way round.

Rapid prototype tooling

Parts in hand, fast.

Simplified, speed-first tools built to get molded parts into testing quickly, ahead of production tooling.

Best for first parts · fast validation

Aluminum tooling

Quick to cut. Easy to change.

Faster to machine and simpler to modify — well suited to prototype tools, design iterations and lower-volume programs.

Best for prototypes · iterations · lower volumes

P-20 tool steel

The production workhorse.

Pre-hardened tool steel and a long-standing choice for production molds — durable, machinable and able to take a good finish.

Best for production programs · long runs

Tooling + production under one roof

The tool is built for the press it will run on.

EFI doesn’t hand you a mold and walk away. The team that builds the tool is the team that molds the part — from first shots through production.

Issues surface earlier

Molding experience reviews the tool before it’s built, not after the first shots.

Cleaner launches

Sampling and production release happen in the same company that built the tool, so launch timing isn’t split across suppliers.

Designed around the real process

Gating, cooling and ejection are set for the press and process that will actually run the part.

ADVANTAGES

01

Prototype through production

Tools scoped to the stage the program is actually at.

02

Built by the molder

The tool is designed by the company that has to run it.

03

Program-matched construction

Mold specification driven by expected volume and part requirements.

04

On time, on budget

Delivered against the program timing the customer is working to.

Applications

Where this shows up.

  • Prototype and bridge molds
  • Production molds
  • Multi-cavity production tooling
  • Interchangeable-insert tooling
  • Over-molding tools

In the program

This capability is one stage of the route EFI runs from concept to delivery.

  1. 01Concept & Review
  2. 02Prototype & Validate
  3. 03Tooling
  4. 04Sampling
  5. 05Production Molding
  6. 06Marking
  7. 07Assembly
  8. 08Delivery
See the full process

RELATED CAPABILITIES

01

Injection Molding

Production molding for programs that run from first article to millions of parts a year.

Explore Injection Molding
04

3D Printing

Sample parts, low-volume production and design validation before steel gets cut.

Explore 3D Printing
02

Over Molding

Bonding a molded material directly onto a substrate to combine functions in a single part.

Explore Over Molding

Start a project

Have a tooling program? Send the print.

Quotes come back from people who run the presses, not a form queue. Send a model, a drawing, or a description of the part.

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