May 13, 2019 – Century Tool, a Tooling Tech Group company  and a composites tooling specialist, has announced the expansion of its compression mold making operations with the installation of a new FPT Ronin EVO 3+2-axis horizontal milling machine. The new machine can handle a workpiece size of up to 343-in. long x 100-in. deep x 120-in. tall, making it capable of handling very large molds of either steel or aluminum. The company can produce molds in excess of 100,000 lbs.  

This machine is an upgrade to one of Century’s two existing FTP 4-axis machining centers in its facility, where the company has a total of 15 high performance machine tools for drilling, milling, 3D roughing, semi finishing and finishing of both steel and aluminum. Century provides compression molds for processes utilizing Sheet Molded Compounds (SMC), Bulk Molded Compounds (BMC), Direct Long Fiber Thermoplastics (D-LFT), Dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), or Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastics (CFRP).