Gemini is a UK toolmaker with a tool room on the same site as the moulding shop. We design and cut injection mould tools in-house, from rapid tooling for early parts through to hardened production tooling, so the tool that proves a part can carry it into volume.
What Is Injection Mould Tooling
Gemini produce injection mould tooling and blow mould tooling quickly and efficiently. Within our facilities we have the capacity and expertise to produce prototype tooling and low volume tooling with a fast turnaround, reducing lead times and costs.
We can also produce production tooling for high volume runs, using pre-toughened P20 steel. Multi-cavity tooling is available for enhanced production.
There are two main routes for early tooling: prototype tooling, built to prove a part in its real production material, and rapid tooling, which compresses the timeline to get moulded parts in your hands fast. Both are set out in tooling capabilities below.
26+
Years in business
4.7★
Rated on Google
ISO 9001
Certified quality
100%
Made in the UK
Why Gemini
In-house toolmaking is where Gemini started. As a UK toolmaker, we cut every injection mould tool and blow mould tool in our own tool room. Where many tool manufacturers in the UK buy their tooling in or subcontract it overseas, our toolmakers make it here, so you deal directly with the people building your tool.
The same tool room that cuts your prototype tooling cuts your production tooling, alongside design, moulding and finishing. Fewer links in the chain means less to go wrong and a faster route from first part to full production.
We match the tool to the job: aluminium tooling for prototype and low volume tooling where you may still want to modify the design later, and multi-cavity P20 steel for higher volumes where a lower part cost matters. You are not pushed onto production steel before you need it.
With tool making kept in-house and close to the press, we cut lead times and cost, including rapid tooling when you need parts in a hurry.
From mould polishing and mould texturing through to VDI texture finishes, your tool is finished here, so cosmetic and consumer parts get the surface they need without going out to a third party.
Our tooling is set up for the low-volume, high-value parts that high-volume shops will not tool for, from niche vehicles to medical and aerospace, with lower capital outlay and a quicker route to market.
Your tool is maintained and kept with us
We maintain and replace your tool free of charge for as long as manufacturing is done with us.
Tooling Capabilities
Prototype tooling is low-cost, low volume tooling built to prove a part in the real production material before you commit to hardened production steel. We cut it in-house from aluminium, or from aluminium and epoxy resin, sometimes called soft tooling, on our own CNC machining centre. Because the tool is simpler than a full production mould, it is quicker to make and there is more scope to modify it later.
The benefit is proving fit, form and function in the material the part will actually be made from, not a 3D print, with hundreds to thousands of parts off the same tool. If the part moves into production, the mould tool design and everything learned along the way carry straight through to your production tooling here.
Tooling Capabilities
Rapid tooling compresses the timeline by cutting a simpler tool in-house, usually in aluminium, on our CNC machining centre. Because our tool making is done here rather than bought in or sent overseas, there is no external lead time waiting on a third-party toolmaker.
Our rapid tooling services get moulded parts in your hands quickly, for trial runs, early market feedback or low volume production. As rapid tooling in the UK rather than an overseas buy-in, a signed-off design becomes real moulded parts fast, in the same tool room that would cut your production tooling.
Materials
Tooling can be carried out in various materials, matched to the stage and volume of your project.
Prototype stage
Very low volume development and production tooling, ideal for hundreds to thousands of parts of varying complexity. This aluminium tooling route offers more scope for modifying the tool later if required.
Prototype, trial or low volume
Aluminium injection mould tooling for low volume development and production, ideal for hundreds to thousands of parts of varying complexity. This route offers more scope for modifying the mould tool later if required.
High volume production
Plastic injection mould tooling for injection or blow moulded components, cut as a multi cavity mould to keep part costs low. This route incurs a higher tooling cost, but typically a lower part cost.
FAQ
An injection mould tool, also called an injection moulding tool, is the metal tool that shapes molten plastic into your part. It sits in the moulding machine, the plastic is injected into it under pressure, and it forms the part as it cools. Gemini designs and cuts these tools in-house.
Our toolmaking runs from mould tool design through to cutting and trialling the finished tool. We program the tools in Power Mill, Power Shape and FeatureCAM, cut them on our CNC machining centre using DLC-coated cutters for higher speed and longer tool life, and finish them in-house. Because the mould making happens on the same site as the presses, injection mould tool making, trialling and adjustment all happen without the tool leaving the building.
It depends on volume. For prototype and low volume work we cut aluminium injection mould tooling, or aluminium and epoxy resin, which is quicker and cheaper and leaves more scope to modify the tool. For production we cut plastic injection mould tooling in pre-toughened P20 steel, usually multi-cavity to keep the part cost down.
It depends on the tool material. An aluminium tool suits hundreds to thousands of parts, while a production tool in P20 steel is guaranteed for a minimum of 10,000 parts.
Yes. Our rapid tooling services compress the timeline by cutting a simpler tool in-house, usually in aluminium, so you get moulded parts quickly for trials or low volume runs. Because it is rapid tooling in the UK rather than bought in overseas, there is no external lead time waiting on a third-party supplier.
Yes. Gemini is a UK toolmaker with its own tool room. Where many tool manufacturers buy tooling in or subcontract it overseas, our toolmakers cut every tool here. As British tool manufacturers, we keep design, cutting and finishing under one roof.
Yes. For higher volumes we cut a multi cavity mould, which produces several parts per cycle and brings the part cost down. Multi-cavity production tooling is cut in P20 steel.
Yes. As the injection mould maker as well as the moulder, Gemini gives you direct contact with the people cutting your tool, so design changes and trials happen quickly rather than through a chain of suppliers.
From a signed-off design to a proven tool, you deal with one accountable UK tool room. Here is how it works.
Send a STEP or IGES file, or a 2D drawing, with the material and volume you have in mind.
We recommend the right tool for your volume, aluminium for prototype and low volume or P20 for production, and come back within one business day.
Your tool is designed, cut and tried in our own UK tool room, then moulded on the presses next door.
Send us details about your part and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.
