Mace Aviation designs and builds tooling for aircraft structures, from foam prototype tools for a first article to high-temperature production tools that hold tolerance through repeated autoclave cycles. We build both composite and metal tools, including layup molds, match tools, drill jigs, and assembly fixtures. Because the same shop fabricates the parts, every tool design starts with how the part will actually be built.
Composite tooling is the set of molds, mandrels, and fixtures used to shape and cure composite parts. Fiber reinforcement, either wet layup or pre-impregnated (prepreg) material, is laid onto the tool surface and cured in an oven or autoclave, or resin is injected into a closed tool in resin transfer molding (RTM). The tool sets the part’s final shape, surface finish, and dimensional accuracy, so any error in the tool shows up in every part made on it.
Which tool fits depends on how many parts you need and how hot the cure runs. Foam and fiberglass tools are quick and inexpensive to make, which suits rapid prototyping and low-volume runs. Carbon fiber and Invar tools cost more, but they expand at nearly the same rate as a carbon fiber part, so they hold tolerance through repeated high-temperature cures. Composite tooling also covers what happens after cure: trim fixtures, drill jigs, and check fixtures for inspection.
A production tool has to make the hundredth part as accurately as the first. We build carbon fiber and Invar tools for autoclave cure at 250°F and 350°F, the standard cure temperatures for most aerospace prepreg systems. Matching the tool’s thermal expansion to the part keeps dimensions consistent as the tool heats and cools, cycle after cycle.
Production tools go straight into our aerospace composite fabrication work in the same facility. If a tool needs a change, we find out on our own shop floor, not after parts ship.
Tooling designed by the same team that designed the part is tooling that works. Mace Aviation’s engineers use CATIA V5 and SolidWorks to develop tool designs that account for material springback, cure shrinkage, demolding geometry, and fixturing requirements before a single pound of material is laid up.
For programs moving from prototype to production, we can develop a tool family that scales with your production rate. Start with a foam prototype tool for first article and progress to a durable carbon or metallic tool for production quantities.
One of the most common tooling problems is that the tool builder has never fabricated the part type the tool is designed for. At Mace Aviation, the same shop that builds the tool also builds the part. When a tool does not demold cleanly or a ply drops at a feature edge, we know because we see it in production.
Most of what we build is rotorcraft structure, including sensor and nose mounts for helicopter programs such as the MD500 nose mount and the UH-60 Black Hawk nose mount. Structures like these combine composite and metallic parts, and tooling for both is designed by one engineering team so the pieces fit at assembly.
Programs we’ve supported include work with Lockheed Martin, NAVAIR, L3Harris, and Stratolaunch, plus Makani Power, Dillon Aero, Air Tractor, and MD Helicopters. Arizona-based, domestic sourcing.
Provide your material, your timeline, and your application. We'll give you a straight answer.
Tooling for defense composite structures requires documentation and traceability that standard commercial tools do not demand. Our tooling deliverables include tool design drawings, cure cycle records, and dimensional inspection data. Everything is packaged to support your program configuration documentation.
Tooling programs at Mace Aviation typically run alongside the fabrication work the tools support. Aerospace Composite Fabrication and Aerospace Metallic Structures are produced in the same facility, meaning the team that builds the tool also builds the part. For programs starting in early development, Rapid Prototyping often begins with low-cost prototype tooling before transitioning to durable production tools.
We build foam and fiberglass prototype tools, prepreg and wet layup tools, carbon fiber high-temperature tooling (250°F and 350°F systems), metallic match tools, and a range of assembly and inspection fixtures. Tool type is selected based on your production volume, cure process, and schedule requirements.
Yes. This is a significant advantage. Our tool design, fabrication, and composite/metallic manufacturing teams are in the same facility. We routinely develop the tool and produce the parts under the same program, which eliminates the handoff risk between separate tool and part vendors.
Yes. Most of our metallic fabrication work, including the MD500 nose mount and Black Hawk nose mount, is for helicopter platforms, often combined with composite structure from the same program.
One team. Composite and metallic fabrication run out of separate dedicated facilities here, but under the same engineering group, which is the specific advantage for programs where a single structure combines both materials.
Starts with an idea...ends with a product, the sky's the limit.
Cutting edge rapid prototyping, design, engineering and production. Mace Aviation has been our go to for the last 19 years.
Director | L3Harris
Mace Aviation is a unique company that can rapidly design and develop advanced composites for the aerospace industry and then produce these products at a very competitive price. The Mace team is both innovative and practical with decades of experience in the fixed and rotary wing market. They are smart, practical and affordable and very good to work with. Mace is a top notch team.
CEO | MD Helicopters, LLC
