EPS Tooling

EPS Tooling Commodore is a world leader in the design and manufacture of tooling for EPS foam. Our engineers have extensive experience in our industry, and our customers benefit directly from this expertise. We use the latest in three-dimensional modeling software from Unigraphics, so our designs are as accurate as possible. Important features such as a tray nesting, lid to tray fit, and hinge lid accuracy can be modeled and presented electronically. For final approval before the manufacturing process begins, you will receive a package containing multiple views and a full analysis of your foam part. This step allows you to completely understand what you can expect from your new tooling prior to receiving it.

Out on the shop floor, our toolmakers have decades of experience. In fact, some of them have been making precision thermoforming tools for over 30 years. Our commitment to maintaining a first class machine shop ensures that we have the resources to make your tool as efficiently and accurately as possible. From the NC programming to the CNC machining, from part finishing to final assembly, each and every piece of your tooling is produced with the utmost care. We know from our experience that you need tooling that works, and works well, right from the start.

We specialize in getting you to market quickly with your products because we're more flexible than the larger manufacturers. When you need a new foam tray, we can provide you a three-dimensional product drawing in a few days. Want some prototype parts to show your customers before committing to a production tool? No problem. We can produce your prototypes in as little as two weeks! Once you have determined that the product suits your needs, we can deliver the high-quality Commodore tool in as little as three weeks.

Another unique Commodore benefit is our ability to test your tool in our foam plant. This allows us to ensure that your foam part forms and trims as expected. We can even send you samples from your tool for approval prior to shipping it to you. If you are in a rush for large quantities of parts, we can schedule a production run of the completed product, allowing you the additional convenience and time to set up your machines.

In the foam industry, the ability to maximize profits is dependent on many factors, but arguably none as important as your tooling.

Molds

Your foam trays need to be designed and built with the utmost care to ensure that you can make trays that are strong and lightweight. Part spacing is crucial in reducing scrap. Tray features such as wall angle and thickness can alter stack heights (and therefore shipping volume) by as much as 30%. Why take chances with inferior tool designs? Our experience, combined with cutting-edge design software, ensures that your tooling will make foam parts that are strong and light, with minimal scrap and small stack heights.

All of our molds are made from 6061 aluminum, which offers benefits including light weight, durability, and optimal heat transfer. Commodore has pioneered reform technology that eliminates the need for clamp bars on the mold, reducing your tooling cost and minimizing downtime associated with traditional clamp bars. Alignment features and high-volume cooling plates are just a few more of the standard features on all Commodore molds.

Serrated Trim Tools

When you work with Commodore, you're partnering with some of the industry's most innovative experts. We continue to make technical advances that are shaping the future of the industry. Commodore invented the pass-through, serrated knife trimming system. Our latest patent pending trim tool, which features a urethane punch and serrated blade, is being adopted by other foam producers around the world because it cuts better than what they're now using.

Our serrated trim tools offer several advantages, including a cleaner cut than conventional tools, even as the thickness of the trim flange increases. Our trim tools eliminate the high-precision tolerance required in conventional tooling, making the tool less expensive, easier to use, and less costly to maintain. Our unique foam cutting process produces a clean cut with no angel hair, even on thick flange items. The trim tools are made from aluminum, not steel, so they're lighter, easier to handle, and quicker to change over than hard tools.

Here is a list of the benefits of our serrated steel rule trim tools compared to hard tools:

Less chaff
No angel hairs
Less expensive
Thicker, square edge flanges adds wall strength to tray
Lower maintenance cost
Quieter operation
Less loading of the press
Faster changeovers

Safer tool handling due to lighter weight
Longer bearing life due to less load on the guide pins
Less tolerance required on the press and tooling as accuracy required to 1/4 mm
Better grip on applications that may require a dome
Easier to make thick trays as the cut can be thicker, eliminating the need for coining

Hard Tools

For those that have a requirement for traditional punch and die hard tools, you will be happy to know that Commodore can design and build them for you. Our extensive experience in the industry has provided us with insights that allow us to produce hard tools for less than the competition. If you have to have a punch and die trim tool, then you owe it to yourself to see how we can help.