Tooling for casting, forming, layup, and repeat production at practical quantities. Miami Makes helps develop the master, mold geometry, surface, and release strategy around the material and process you intend to use.
Your project, in practical terms
From requirement to finished part.
Example requests show how design, fabrication, and delivery can fit together around your needs.
Can you turn my sketch into a master and mold box for silicone casting?
Miami Makes can develop the CAD for a master pattern and a matching mold box, then fabricate them using printed, machined, or assembled construction. Parting surfaces, locating features, removable walls, and mold-wall allowance can be included. Surface preparation follows the finish you need on the casting. A first master can be reviewed before additional tools are made, and completed tooling can ship anywhere in the United States.
Where we start. Send the sketch, overall dimensions, critical surfaces, intended casting material, and selected silicone system if known. We help define the tool geometry and preparation. Compatibility, including possible cure inhibition, should be checked with a sample before committing to a full silicone pour.
Explore materials, dimensions, and details for each application. Dimensions below describe example configurations, not fixed limits or guaranteed specifications. We develop the final construction around your requirements.
01
Silicone-mold masters
Produce a detailed positive pattern from which a flexible mold can be made.
Materials & fabrication
Printed polymer masters, CNC-machined tooling board, acrylic, or aluminum, with suitable sealing and surface preparation. Material compatibility is checked against the selected silicone system.
Dimensions & construction
Define the finished surface, parting arrangement, locating features, and mold-wall allowance. Include scale compensation only when the casting and molding shrinkage data justify it.
What determines the choice
Check cure inhibition, porosity, release chemistry, trapped air, and finish transfer on a sample. Small print lines or seams can reproduce in every casting.
02
Casting patterns
Create repeatable geometry for an agreed casting process.
Materials & fabrication
Machined wood or tooling board, printed patterns, and aluminum where durability or process conditions warrant it. Sealed surfaces and replaceable details can extend useful life.
Dimensions & construction
Define draft, parting lines, core references, alignment, and process-specific shrinkage allowance with the casting producer. Pattern dimensions follow the selected process rather than a generic percentage.
What determines the choice
Identify handling loads, molding media, temperature exposure, desired finish, and pattern life. A sand-casting pattern and a direct resin-casting tool require different constructions.
03
Mold boxes & containment frames
Hold a master and liquid mold material in a controlled arrangement.
Materials & fabrication
CNC-cut HDPE, acrylic, coated panels, or aluminum with reusable fasteners, seals, and compatible release surfaces.
Dimensions & construction
Candidate panels of 1/4–3/4 in can form adjustable boxes with locating pins, leak-resistant joints, fill access, and removable walls. Wall stiffness follows the fill depth and material weight. Directly tapped holes in compatible frame blocks can accept M4–M10 assembly screws for removable walls; choose engagement and fastening method for repeated opening and the mold material’s exposure.
What determines the choice
Review chemical compatibility, leakage, cure heat, demolding sequence, and cleaning. The master must stay positioned as the liquid is poured and cured.
04
Vacuum-forming tools
Shape heated sheet over a custom tool for housings, trays, or packaging studies.
Materials & fabrication
CNC-machined tooling board or aluminum and application-selected printed tooling with appropriate heat performance and surface preparation.
Dimensions & construction
Include draft, vent passages, mounting holes, radiused transitions, and trimming references. Tool height and footprint must fit the forming machine’s working envelope.
What determines the choice
Check sheet temperature, tool temperature accumulation, vacuum, draw ratio, cycle interval, and expected quantity. Evaluate release and wall thinning with the actual sheet and forming process.
05
Composite layup forms
Support fiber and resin in the required geometry during layup and cure.
Materials & fabrication
Sealed tooling board, printed forms, or aluminum with a surface and release system compatible with the selected resin.
Dimensions & construction
Define flange width, trim allowance, alignment, vacuum-bag seal lands, and assembly joints. Tool thickness and backing follow stiffness, vacuum loading, and cure conditions.
What determines the choice
Establish cure temperature, exotherm, pressure, thermal expansion, release chemistry, and required surface finish. Tool compatibility must be checked for the complete cure cycle.
06
Concrete & plaster molds
Make repeatable forms for architectural samples, fixtures, or specialty cast objects.
Materials & fabrication
Coated wood panels, HDPE, printed details, and suitable flexible liners over a supported mold structure.
Dimensions & construction
Develop split lines, draft, removable cores, locating hardware, and reinforcement clearance. Panel thickness and bracing follow pour depth, weight, and handling rather than appearance alone.
What determines the choice
Review water exposure, alkalinity, release agent, abrasion, drying, and demolding. Plan lifting and support for both the filled mold and the finished casting.
07
Trim fixtures
Locate formed or cast parts for repeatable edge trimming and drilling.
Materials & fabrication
Machined polymer or aluminum nests with replaceable backing, stops, clamps, and suitable tool guides. Printed nests can trial the part location.
Dimensions & construction
Reference stable part features, define trim offsets, and allow cutter access and chip removal. Interchangeable nests can accommodate related part sizes.
What determines the choice
Check part variation, residual distortion, cutting force, and how the finished piece is released. Avoid clamping a flexible part into an artificial shape that changes the trim result.
Design is part of the engagement
Help defining it. Help making it.
We develop the tooling around the intended material, process, and quantity. Design reviews and sample trials can establish release, surface finish, and fit before committing to a production tool or a larger run.
Design and documentation can stand alone, continue through our fabrication work, or support production by a specialist facility.
Part geometry, casting or forming material, machine envelope, process temperatures and pressures, finish requirements, quantity, and expected tool life.
Send what you have. We can help identify and develop the missing information.
Purpose-built tools that locate, hold, guide, or align parts for repeatable work. We help translate a recurring manual operation into a fixture that fits the part and the person using it.
Develop the physical version that answers a useful question, then produce the quantity the next stage requires. Design support can begin with a sketch, existing model, sample, or unresolved application.
Fixtures that make a check easier to position, repeat, and interpret. We can help develop the physical interfaces for your inspection or test method and build the supporting hardware.
