From Your Artwork to a Finished Mould
Everything that goes wrong in a moulded product goes wrong at the drawing stage, which is why this is the part we slow down and the rest we do fast.
What This Covers
Send a JPG, AI, CDR or PDF file and our designer converts it into a mould drawing: colour separation, relief depth, thin-section checks and the fixing point for a magnet, ring or strap. You approve that drawing before any steel is cut.
How It Runs
Artwork received
JPG, AI, CDR or PDF are all accepted. A rough sketch or a photograph is enough to start; it does not have to be print-ready.
Feasibility review
We check the smallest features, the thinnest sections and the colour count against what soft PVC moulding can actually hold at your intended size.
Mould drawing
The design is redrawn for production: colour fields separated by raised keylines, relief heights assigned, fixing point placed.
Your approval
Nothing is tooled until you sign off the drawing. This is where changes are free.
Tooling
The mould is cut, with cavity layout planned around your order quantity.
First sample
4 to 6 days for a custom design. Existing designs sample in 1 to 2 days.
Sample approval
You approve a physical part, not a rendering. The approved sample is kept here as the reference for production.
What This Stage Is Guarding Against
Detail that disappears
Fine line work below roughly one millimetre of raised width tends to fill or flash. We identify it on the drawing and thicken or simplify it with your agreement.
Thin sections that snap
Spires, antlers, tails and narrow joins are the usual failure points. They are thickened or tied back into the body before tooling.
Colours bleeding together
Adjacent colour fields need raised separating walls in the tool. Shallow walls are the main cause of muddy multi-colour parts.
Fixings in the wrong place
A magnet off the centre of mass makes a piece tilt; a ring eyelet on a thin edge tears out. Both are set on the drawing.
Timings You Can Plan Against
Detail Behind This Page
How Custom Soft PVC Fridge Magnets Are Made
A soft PVC magnet is not printed. It is moulded, colour by colour, in an aluminium tool, and almost every quality problem you can see in a finished magnet was decided before production started.
Soft PVC Versus Rubber and Silicone
Three materials cover almost everything in moulded promotional products. Choosing the wrong one usually shows up as a part that looks right and feels wrong.
Preparing Artwork Files for Custom Moulded Products
Most delays in a first order are artwork delays, and almost all of them are avoidable if you know what the factory actually needs.
The Rest of the Route
OEM and Private Label Programmes
Most of what leaves this factory carries somebody else's name on it, which is the normal arrangement here rather than a special service.
Sampling and Trial Orders
No buyer should place a container order against a photograph, and no supplier should ask them to.
Export Packing and Compliance
Landed cost and customs paperwork decide whether a good price at the factory gate is still a good price on your shelf.
Artwork to Tooling Questions
What file format do you need?
JPG, AI, CDR or PDF. Vector files are easier to work from, but a clear photograph or a hand sketch is a perfectly good starting point.
Do we pay for the mould drawing?
The drawing is part of the quotation process. Tooling is quoted separately and confirmed before it is cut.
Can we change the design after seeing the sample?
Changes to colour are straightforward. Changes to shape mean modifying or recutting the tool, which is why the drawing approval stage matters so much.
Who owns the mould?
Tooling ownership is agreed in the quotation. Say at the outset if you need exclusivity on a design so it is written into the terms.
Start With Artwork to Tooling
Send what you have, even if it is only a photograph and a quantity. We will tell you what is achievable before anything is tooled.