PCS Blog

Published: September 2020

At PCS Company, it’s all about that BASE. We’ve been manufacturing mold bases in our Fraser, MI facility since 1993 and we’re not stopping. We’re really proud of our Mold Shop and our team behind the scenes who operate to perfection, every single day. We take pride in our team, their work, and that we can say Manufactured in the USA.

Our humble beginnings in the mold making industry have come a long way and we have expanded our product line over time so we can assist your demands. Our number 1 job, is getting your job done to our highest standards and out the door. We’re the very first stop in the life of a part and we take great pride in that!

Mold Base Product Overview

Let’s go through each product area to help you choose the best product for you and your needs and capabilities.

• Standard Mold Base
• Rapid Mold Base
• Special (Custom Order) Mold Base

Each of these product offerings are available as a Shuttle Base and can be specified in your mold base configuration or quote.

For each of these product areas you can expect the highest quality standards and level of service. Each of our mold base product options comes with the following:

• Interchangeable Plates
• Finished Ground to +/- .001
• Industry Standard Tolerances
• Rough or Precision Machining
• Assembled Plate to Plate Alignment is within 0.003” Plate to Plate
• Mold Shipping Strap Included

Our Mold Base manufacturing guidelines and expectations are as follows.

• CAD File Standards for Easy Designing
• Quality CNC Machining & Inspection
• Climate controlled facility
• State of the art equipment

As always, we offer competitive pricing and our friendly, knowledgeable team of Industry Experts is ready to assist you. Keep reading for detail on each of our mold base product offerings.

Standard Mold Base

Our Standard Mold Bases in #3 P20 Steel, #7 420 Stainless Steel, or Aluminum are off-the-shelf, ready-to-ship based on your mold base configurations. Order off-the-shelf mold bases that are in-stock, ready to ship and ready for machining.

• Sizes Available: 32 Standard Sizes from 8” x 8” – 24” x 35”
• Plate Thickness: 9 Thicknesses from 7/8” – 5-7/8”
• Series Available: A Series, B Series, T Series, AX Series, 5 Plate Stripper Series, 6 Plate Stripper Series
• Fixed Standard Machined Features Offered: Assembly Screws, Center Holes, Guided Ejection, Leader Pins & Bushings, Return Pins, Stop Disk in Ejector Plate
• Materials Offered: #3 P20 Steel, #7 420 Stainless Steel, Aluminum
• Measurement System: Imperial
• Turnaround Timing: A Series ships Next Business Day, All other Series Ship Next Business Day depending on inventory availability

Configure and Order your Standard Mold Today

Rapid Mold Base

Order a Configurable PCS Standard Mold Base with standard feature relocations and omissions only. A Rapid Mold Base is based on only what is available in a PCS Standard Mold Base, no additions or substitutions of standard features.

• Sizes Available: 32 Standard Sizes from 8” x 8” – 24” x 35”
• Plate Thickness: 9 Thicknesses from 7/8” – 5-7/8”
• Series Available: A Series, B Series
• Standard Machined Features Offered: Relocations & Omissions Only: Assembly Screws, Center Holes, Guided Ejection, Leader Pins & Bushings, Return Pins, Stop Disk in Ejector Plate
• Special Offer: Buy Side or Top Locks and or Cycle Counters and receive this machining at no charge
• Materials Offered: #3 P20 Steel, #7 420 Stainless Steel (limited sizes)
• Measurement System: Imperial
• Turnaround Timing: Quotes in 1 Business Day, Ships within 5 Business Days

Let Us Quote Your Rapid Mold Base Today

Special (Custom) Mold Base

Order a custom designed mold base fully machined to your specifications. Minimal machining can impact your delivery times, ask us how.

• Sizes Available: Up to 157” x 142”
• Plate Thickness: Up to 28”
• Series Available: Custom
• Standard Machined Features Offered: Drilling, Slotting, Pocket Work, and Advanced Custom Machining to your custom CAD File. See machining detail below.
• Materials Offered: #3 P20 Steel, #7 420 Stainless Steel, 1045, H13, NAK55
• Measurement System: Imperial and Metric
• Turnaround Timing: Custom Mold Base lead-time starts at 5 days. Machining requests will determine turnaround time.

Let Us Quote Your Special Mold Base Today

Special Mold Base Machining Capabilities & Guidelines

When you order a custom mold base through PCS Company you can expect a high quality product. Our state of the art facilities, where mold bases are manufactured, house 4 axis CNC machines and use high-performance tooling.

We are committed to quality, following ISO9001:2015 guidelines, and have been registered since 2002. All mold bases are machined to PCS Industry Standard Tolerances and are carefully inspected before shipment. A CMM Inspection Report is included with each mold base.

Our online CAD File Library has our standard mold base options which can be used as a base to create and build your specific design requirements. Machining is programmed to 3D CAD files in order to design to your specifications.

• PCS File Share Available for Hassle-free Large File Transfer
• Preferred File Formats: Native Solidworks (.prt), Parasolid (STEP, .x_t, or .x_b)

When you order through PCS Company we machine all common mold features within our mold base product options. Specific capabilities include, but are not limited to:

• Pocket Work: Alignment Lock Pockets, Cavity & Core Insert Pockets, Heel Block Pockets, Slide Pockets, Spring Pockets
• Drilling Work: Angle Pin Holes, Ejector & Core Pin Holes, Hoist Ring / Eyebolt Holes, Guided Ejection, Knockout Holes, Leader Pin Holes, Return Pin Holes, Spring Return Holes, Spring Return Holes, Stripper Bolts, Support Pillar Clearance, Waterlines (Gun Drilling) / Pipe Clearance
• Slotting Work: Clamp Slots, Pry Bar Slots, Wire Slots
• Advanced Custom Machining: Finished Bored Holes, Finished Tappered Pockets, Hot Half Manifolds, Parting Line Relief / Vents, Runners, Secondary and Reversed Leader Pins
• Additional Capabilities: Saw Cutting, Grinding

Click here for detailed PCS Tolerance and Design Guidelines

Let Us Quote Your Special Mold Base Today 

Alternative Tooling Solutions

Standard F.I.T.S. - Fast Interchangeable Tooling System

PCS F.I.T.S. into your production. Maximize production changeovers and reduce machine downtime with a more cost effective approach to injection molding. F.I.T.S. replaces the need for standard mold bases by utilizing a frame and interchangeable inserts for short production runs, sampling, and prototyping.

• Compatible with MUD System, RTI System
• Quick Mold Change Ability
• Standard F.I.T.S. Components & F.I.T.S. Plates readily available
• F.I.T.S. Product ships next business day

F.I.T.S. Frames house our F.I.T.S. Insert Series and allows flexibility to use various insert styles for various part design and production.

• Sizes Available: 5 Standard Sizes from 5.0x8.0 (08/09) – 7.0x12.875 (10/14)

F.I.T.S. Inserts are designed for use inside a F.I.T.S. Frames and allow for rapid interchangeability. We have various insert styles and sizes available in both standard inserts and plus series inserts.

F.I.T.S. Plus Series Inserts offer more stability and minimal machining as most machining is complete. These inserts are great for higher volume runs and higher molding pressure and clamp force use.

• Materials Offered: A&B Plates #3 P20 Steel, Others are #2 Steel
• Features Offered: A Plate, B Plate, Ejector Plate, Retainer Plate, Guided Ejection Pins, Guided Ejection Bushings, Assembly Screws, Leader Pins, Bushings, Snap Rings Plus Series Includes additional QTY: Leader Pins (2), Bushings (2), Return Pins (4), Snap Rings (4)
• Measurement System: Imperial

Solid Style Inserts are excellent for blind pockets or for machining a part share directly in a solid plate.

• Sizes Available: 5 Standard Sizes from 5.0” x 8.0” (08/09) – 7.0” x 12.875” (10/14)

Order Solid Inserts Now

Order Solid Plus Inserts Now

Laminated Style Inserts are excellent for through pocket inserts.

• Sizes Available: 5 Standard Sizes from 5.0” x 8.0” (08/09) – 7.0” x 12.875” (10/14)

Order Laminated Inserts Now

Order Laminated Plus Inserts Now

T-Style Inserts are an excellent choice for larger area parts and blind pockets.

• Sizes Available: 3 Standard Sizes from 5.0” x 8.0” (08/09) – 8.4” x 9.0” (84/90)

Order T-Style Inserts Now

Order T-Style Plus Inserts Now

Configure Your Ideal F.I.T.S. System Today

Mold Plate

Order blank or replacement mold plates based on your needs. We can machine based on your needs and plate replacement or use plates to build your own mold bases.

• Sizes Available: 32 Standard Sizes from 8” x 8” – 24” x 35”
• Plate Thicknesses: 9 Thicknesses from 7/8” – 9-7/8”
• Materials Offered: #3 P20 Steel, #7 420 Stainless Steel (up to 1315 and up to 2.875” Thick)

Finished Ground Blank Plates

Order blank mold plates for your own machining or order blank plates built and machined to your specifications.

• Plate Tolerances:

- Length & Width: (+ 0.003” / - 0.003”)

- Thickness: (+ 0.001” / - 0.001”)

- Parallelism: (0.001” / 8.000”)

• Measurement System: Imperial
• Turnaround Timing: Ships Next Business Day

Fully Machined Replacement Mold Plates

Order replacement mold plates for your existing mold base. All series and sizes offered for full machining.

• Plate Tolerances:

- A, AX, B, BX, Bottom Clamp, Support, Top Clamp, XP

Length & Width: (+ 0.003” / - 0.003”)

Thickness: (+ 0.001” / - 0.001”)

Parallelism: (0.001” / 8.000”)

- Ejector Retainer and Ejector

Length & Width: (+ 0.000” / - 0.015”)

Thickness: (+ 0.004” / - 0.004”)

Parallelism: (0.001” / 8.000”)

- Rails / C Dimension

Length & Width: (0.000” / - 0.004”)

Thickness: (+ 0.000” / - 0.001”)

• Measurement System: Imperial
• Turnaround Timing: Ships within 3 Business Days

Order Your Mold Plates Today

We hope this post gives you better insight into our mold base offerings and capabilities. We strive to be your reliable mold base partner and look forward to offering you the best so you can meet the demands of your customers and successfully grow your business.

We stand behind our products and we stand behind you, our valued customer.

Published: June 2020

Together with Nanoplas, Inc. we bring you new, high-performance products to our mold maintenance chemical line in the following product categories; mold grease, mold cleaners, and rust preventatives.

Let’s take a look at each new mold chemical solution and how they can help you better maintain your plastic molds.

Mold Cleaners

Clean-N-Run is a powerful cleaning formula that removes difficult contaminants. It is residue free and allows for streak-free cleaning on warm molds. Click here to order this product solution.

Kleen All is an all-purpose foaming, cleaner and degreaser. It dissolves grease and grime on a variety of surfaces from plastic to metal. It is residue-free and will not remove paint. Click here to order this product solution.

Safe-T-Clean is a high-performance cleaner and degreaser that breaks up tough build up, and gives ability to clean hard-to-reach areas in the mold. Use on molds where rinsing of mold is not possible. Click here to order this product solution.

Zap-Ox NG is the ultimate stain remover and removes stains without scrubbing. Unlike our Zap-Oz product, this product is designed to work specifically on polished and textured surfaces. This formula works to remove stains without causing any etching on your metal surfaces. Click here to order this product solution.

View all of our Mold Cleaner and Degreaser Chemicals here.

Mold Grease

Syn-Lube is a high-performance, state-of-the-art, synthetic lubricating, mold grease. It is the best value on the market today and outlasts and outperforms all other mold grease chemicals. It is food-grade and a great universal grease for all of your mold grease needs. Click here to order this production solution.

View all of our Mold Grease Chemicals here.

Rust Preventatives

Safe-T-Guard provides a guard for your machine that will not allow corrosion to penetrate. The guard provides a film strength that will not break down grease and other lubricants that are already present on the mold surface. Click here to order this production solution.

The Protector is a semi-dry, dual purpose preventative designed for use on both warm and cold molds. The semi-dry nature allows for longer lasting protection without causing bleed through. Click here to order this production solution.

View all of our Mold Rust Preventative Chemicals here.

The addition of this new products helps us to be able to provide a wide variety of mold chemicals to meet your mold maintenance needs. Click here to view all of our Mold Maintenance Chemicals.