Ascent is a world leader in the design and fabrication of all types of layup molds and bond tools produced from invar, aluminum, steel, and composite materials for nacelles, wings, helicopter cabins and blades, fuselage mandrels and an assortment of detail parts including spars, stringers, and frames for the aerospace industry.
Complete aircraft tooling strings employ common interfaces between layup molds, bond tools, trim and mill fixtures and assembly jigs. Shared designs and data minimize risk by ensuring that tooling holes and mating surfaces line up correctly from tool to tool.
When engaged early in the development process, our experienced tool design engineers provide valuable input and feedback related to the manufacturing process and tool functionality. This approach ensures the final design is a right-sized solution for the application.
Aerospace machining operations are performed at one of our four locations: Odyssey Industries, Global Tooling Systems, Coast Composites, and Coast’s dedicated machining facility in Irvine, California. A 50% increase in machining capacity across Ascent has allowed us to maintain an industry-leading on-time delivery record while meeting increasing demand for large, metallic aerospace tooling, such as layup molds, scaffolding, and assembly jigs.
Coast Composites’ core competencies center on metallic and composite lay-up molds and cure tools that our customers use to produce flight-critical structures for next generation airframes and modern space launch systems. With almost 30 years of tooling experience, Coast is the global market leader in the design and manufacture of large, complex tooling systems.