Conformal-Cooled Inserts
Mould and die inserts with cooling channels that follow the cavity contour instead of being drilled straight, cutting cycle time and removing hot spots.
INDUSTRY · INDUSTRIAL TOOLING
Industrial Tooling & Machinery — Conformal Cooling, Jigs and the Part Nobody Stocks
The unglamorous work that decides whether a line runs: a mould insert with cooling channels that follow the cavity, a gripper that stops marking the product, a bracket for a machine whose manufacturer discontinued it in 2009. No tooling, small quantities, and a price that makes sense at one-off volumes.
±0.2 mmMetal tolerance
≥99.5%Metal density
1 pcMinimum order
3D-printedTooling without tools
OVERVIEW
Tooling is where printing earns its keep
A production line is stopped by the smallest things. A gripper jaw that marks a visible face. A fixture that was made for the previous version of the product. A sensor bracket for a machine that has not been supported for fifteen years. In every one of those cases the part is small, the quantity is one or two, and the conventional route — drawing, quoting, setup, minimum order, six weeks — is out of proportion to the problem. That is exactly the shape of job additive manufacturing is good at, and it is why a large share of the tooling work we do never appears in a catalogue.
The one place printing does something a conventional process genuinely cannot is conformal cooling. A mould insert normally has cooling drilled in straight lines, because that is what a drill does. The result is that the corners of the cavity run hotter than the middle, and that difference is where warpage and sink marks come from. Printed in metal, the channels follow the contour of the cavity — closer to the hot spots, constant distance from the surface, and in whatever cross-section the thermal calculation asks for. Cycle time goes down, scrap goes down, and the part stops being a compromise. It is the single strongest technical argument for printing a tool.
The other recurring job is the part that no longer exists. If a machine is still earning its keep and a component fails, the choice is often between printing one and replacing the machine. Send us the broken part or the drawing — we measure it, rebuild it as a model, and print it in a material that suits what it has to do. It is not always the right answer, and where a standard part exists we will tell you to buy it instead; but when nothing exists, printing one is a much better day than stopping.
FDM deserves an honest mention here too, because it is a different answer in a tool room than it is on a camera. It is cheap, it is fast, and it will put a jig or a guard in your hands in an afternoon — for a fixture that only has to hold a part in position while somebody works on it, or a large guard that nothing measures, that is a reasonable route and a sensible use of the money. What decides the answer here is the duty, not the shape. The moment a tool has to take load, hold a fit or run at temperature, the material decides the route, and the materials we print for industry — 316L, AlSi10Mg, copper, PA12 — are not what an FDM machine runs. It is not a process we offer here, so when a job genuinely belongs on one we will say so and point you at it rather than print you a metal part that did not need to be metal.
WHAT WE PRINT
What We Print for Industry
Seven recurring jobs. Most arrive with a photograph and a deadline rather than a drawing, which is fine.
Jigs & Fixtures
Assembly, welding, inspection and machining fixtures in PA12 or printed metal — made for one operation and modified when the operation changes.
Grippers & EOAT
End-of-arm tooling and jaws shaped to a specific product, in a soft nylon where marking is a problem and in metal where force is.
Replacement & Obsolete Parts
A failed or discontinued component, measured and rebuilt as a model, printed in a material matched to the duty.
Manifolds & Fluid Parts
Consolidated fluid blocks and manifolds that replace a brazed assembly of tubes and fittings, removing joints as leak paths.
Machine Guards & Brackets
Guards, mounts, covers and cable brackets for plant equipment — thin structure, no tooling, one-off quantities.
Low-Volume Production Hardware
The bracket or housing you need twenty of before, or instead of, committing to a tool.
See the parts gallery for examples across SLM, SLA and SLS, grouped by process.
PROCESS FIT
Which Process We Would Use
Tolerances and lead times are read from the process pages, so they cannot drift from what the quote engine works to.
| Process | Why it fits this sector | Typical tolerance | Typical lead time |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLM Metal 3D Printing | Tooling and spares that have to be metal. Conformal cooling, wear surfaces, thermal parts and anything that replaces a machined component. | ±0.2 mm | 7–10 days |
| SLS Nylon 3D Printing | Jigs, fixtures and grippers in PA12 nylon. No supports, tough, and cheap enough that a fixture modified next month is a non-event. | ±0.3 mm | 3–5 days |
These are typical values we hold routinely, not absolute limits — send us the drawing and we will confirm what is achievable on your geometry. Compare all processes, or see post-processing & finishing for what happens after the print.
MATERIALS
Materials for Tooling
The material usually follows the duty: 316L where corrosion and toughness matter, AlSi10Mg where weight or heat does, copper where the thermal path is the whole point.
Stainless Steel 316L
Tough, ductile and highly corrosion resistant — the grade that survives chlorides and food acids. Manifolds, process hardware, tooling and marine parts that cannot be serviced.
Full material data →Aluminium AlSi10Mg
Low density, useful strength and excellent thermal conductivity. The material for weight-critical brackets, heat sinks and RF housings in automotive, drones and electronics.
Full material data →Copper & Copper Alloys
Up to 100 % IACS electrical conductivity and ~400 W/m·K thermal, in three-dimensional geometry that machining cannot produce. The hardest metal to print — and quoted only after an engineer reviews the part.
Full material data →Nylon PA12
Tough, chemically resistant and dimensionally stable, and it prints with no supports to remove. The default material for functional prototypes, brackets, housings and low-volume end-use parts.
Full material data →Copper is the specialist option and the hardest to build well. For a thermal insert it can be worth the premium; send the geometry early and we will tell you whether it is realistic.
QUALITY
What Decides Whether a Tool Works
A tool that is dimensionally close but functionally wrong costs more than the part. These are the checks we take before and after the build.
- Mating faces, bores and sealing surfaces machined after printing — printed surfaces cannot hold a fit that matters.
- Stress relief on every metal part, which is what stops a large flat insert warping out of tolerance.
- Cooling channel geometry checked for powder clearance before the build starts, since a channel that cannot be cleared is a scrapped insert.
- First-article inspection on the first tool of a set, before the rest of the set is released.
- Build parameters and material lot recorded per part, so a repeat tool matches the first one.
HONEST LIMITS
Where We Would Point You Elsewhere
Industrial clients usually want the honest answer faster than they want a quote. These are the cases where we will tell you printing is not the route.
Strengths
- No tooling cost, so a one-off fixture or a single insert is economic
- Conformal cooling that no drilled channel can match
- Consolidated manifolds and blocks with no joints to leak
- Obsolete and discontinued parts re-made from a sample, not from a drawing that no longer exists
- Small quantities with a stable unit price — the cost is machine time, not setup
- Metal, nylon and finishing from one supplier, so a tool arrives ready to use
Limits to know
- Not competitive against a bought standard part — we will tell you to buy it
- Printed tooling has a different wear profile to hardened machined steel, and for long runs that matters
- Printed surfaces must be machined where a fit, a seal or a thread is needed
- Large inserts may need splitting and welding, and the joint has to be planned
- Fatigue-critical or high-cycle tooling needs testing we do not perform in-house
- If a part exists as an inexpensive catalogue item, printing it is a worse decision
FAQ
Industrial Tooling & Machinery — Common Questions
We do not have a drawing, only the broken part. Can you still help?
Yes — this is one of the most common jobs we take. Send the part itself (or good photographs with a ruler in frame if it is still in service) and we measure or scan it, rebuild it as a solid model, and print it. Since the geometry is rebuilt as a model rather than copied, it is also an opportunity to fix the feature that failed in the first place.
What is conformal cooling worth in practice?
It depends entirely on the part. Where a cavity has deep cores or thick sections, a drilled cooling layout leaves hot spots, and hot spots mean longer cycle times, more warpage and more scrap. Printed channels follow the cavity, so the mould runs cooler and more evenly. On the right part it pays for itself quickly; on a simple flat part it does not, and we will say which one you have.
Can you print a tool in tool steel?
No, and be careful with anyone who says yes without qualifications. What we print is 316L stainless steel and AlSi10Mg aluminium, hardened and machined afterwards where a wear surface is needed. For very long production runs, a hardened machined tool is still the right answer and printing is not a substitute for it. For inserts, prototype tools and low-to-medium runs, printed 316L works well.
How do you handle tolerances on a printed tool?
We separate the part into features that need to be accurate and features that only need to be approximately right. Mating faces, bores, seals and threads are machined after printing to a conventional tolerance. Everything else is printed, and the printed tolerance is the figure on the process page. That division is what makes a printed tool usable rather than a curiosity.
Can you make a set of fixtures, not just one?
Yes, and a set is often better value than a single part because the build plate is shared. Send the whole set with the operations they support and we will quote it as one job, which is usually cheaper than quoting them one at a time — and it means the whole set arrives together.
Do you supply the powder as well, if we want to run our own machine?
Yes. We supply titanium, 316L, aluminium alloy, copper and nylon powders in bulk with batch traceability, for clients who run their own SLM or SLS line. Metal powders are export-controlled in many jurisdictions, so run the destination through the eligibility checker on this site before you commit to a shipment.
GET STARTED
Send the Part, the Photo or the Problem
A drawing is ideal but not required. Send what you have and describe what the part has to do — load, temperature, cycle count, the surface it touches. We will tell you whether printing is the right route and what it costs.
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