Durable high-quality mould for bus roof manufactured from Crestamould tooling system

Fibre Panels, an OEM bus and commercial truck part manufacturer based in Gauteng, South Africa, have chosen Scott Bader’s high performance Crestamould matched tooling system to manufacture a durable mould that will produce at least 1000 bus roofs, each with a high-quality surface finish.

Why Crestamould?

The mould is required to produce 2 parts per day, 40 per month, with the aim of producing at least 1000 parts over its lifetime. Therefore, a durable mould capable of producing high-quality parts quickly and efficiently, was needed.

With a tooling system that is tried and tested around the world, and having used Scott Bader materials for over 20 years, I knew the Crestamould tooling system would deliver the quality and durability we required.

Allen Govindasami, Quality and Purchasing Manager - Fibre Panels

Using Crestamould materials

The workability of the Crestamould tooling system was a key factor. The materials are thinner and easier to use than other tooling systems, and they all work and flow together as a true system.

Each material plays a different role within the tooling system:

Crestamould 15PA vinyl ester gelcoat reduces air entrapment during the manufacturing of moulds to improve durability.
Crestamould VE 679PA vinyl ester skin coat reduces shrinkage and print through on the mould surface
Crestamould RTR 4010PA rapid tooling resin is fast curing and generates low heat which significantly reduces manufacturing time

Together, the Crestamould tooling system creates high-quality moulds, faster.

Alongside the system, Scott Bader’s renowned technical support has been on hand to help Fibre Panel adopt a new tooling system.

The trust and support that we get from the entire Scott Bader team is fantastic, especially the collaboration and on-site visible support from Thiru Kisten. The response time from the entire team is very quick and we have a transparent relationship which is really important for us.

Allen Govindasami, Quality and Purchasing Manager - Fibre Panels

The result

Using Scott Bader’s tooling system has results in Fibre Panel producing a durable high-quality mould that will produce bus roofs for at least the next two years.

The parts produced so far from the mould have required much less rework than the previous tooling system we used. This has improved our turnaround time, making production more efficient and saving costs. The parts surface finish is also superior to parts from the previous mould.

Allen Govindasami, Quality and Purchasing Manager - Fibre Panels