Tooling Reliability

We have a state of the art toolroom with its own design facility that assists customers with prototypes and best material utilisation. We are able to offer high accuracy modular design for high volume and SMED activities, as well as, bespoke ‘standard’ tooling for high accuracy mid volume.

Tool Design:

• Hexagon 3D CAD CAM software from initial concept design through to full tool build and CNC manufacture
• Supported by Auto CAD Stations and Solid Works

Toolroom :

• 5 x WEDM
• 2 Agie Charmilles Form 20 EDM
• 2 x high speed EDM Drilling Machine
• 1 Sarix SR-HPM CNC Hole Drilling Machine with 10 Electrode Auto-changer Range 0.17, 0.2, 0.3 & 0.5
• Haas 20 Station Machining Centre

Investing in an expensive progression tool without component proving and testing is a daunting prospect for our customers so at Batten & Allen we offer a prototyping service to ease these worries.

We can offer a complete service which includes:

• Wire eroded prototypes
• Etched blanks
• Tool room hand formed parts
• Single impression pressed parts from modular tooling

All of the above offer the customer a low cost fast delivery option of samples for testing before a full production tool is required.

If a more representative sample of the finished part is required we can utilise single impression modular tooling or single cavity mould tools.

At this stage our experienced engineers can offer design and material selection ideas to develop a component that is functional and cost effective.

We have a state of the art wire erosion facility, which helps keep the press tooling and manufacture of precision stamped parts under one roof for our customers. Having our own dedicated wire erosion facility also helps us to turn around volume metal pressings faster for our customers, with the added benefits of cost saving.

By utilising the benefits of CAD design, allied to wire erosion technology, we achieve an efficient progression between stages of production in the design and development of our tool-making. Working closely with clients in the design and development of their components is part of that process. This helps us to minimise waste in strip design and select the most effective materials.

We have 5 machines including a CUT 1000 machine working to an accuracy of less than 1 micron with the capability to run all machines 24 hours 7 days per week under lights out conditions.

We have a designated fire proof storage area on site to protect our customer tooling.

A tooling transfer usually happens due to poor performance, delivery and quality from an existing supplier. Batten & Allen are well equipped to deal with tooling transfers and ensure a reliable changeover and ultimately increased end product dependability.

Our Tooling Transfer Process

1. Submit RFQ – make your tooling transfer enquiry with Batten & Allen;
2. Understand detail of the existing tool – this will include providing details of tool dimensions, strip, width and pitch and parts per blow / tool speed, used for the component to guarantee a like-for-like cost comparison;
3. Identify existing problems and expected life and volume of the component;
4. CAD for component design, previous (last off) samples and quality control records are used to validate the parts can be run on our presses without any issues
5. B&A propose any required improvements, maintenance or alterations to the tool;
6. Confirm costs;
7. Transport of the tool(s) (road, rail, sea, or air);
8. Quality and engineering team will liaise with customer engineers and quality department to review proposed changes and increase both quality and efficiency;
9. Tool installation (produce trial samples for customer pass off);
10. Full Production.

Discover more about our tooling transfer process.