The panel has textured face and clean returns
The face is a formliner texture, but the edges and reveals have to be sharp and clean. The tool combines flexible face insert and rigid edge formwork.
Precast panels · Full-panel tooling
Precast panel tooling that thinks in elevations.
A precast panel isn't just a face. It's four edges, cast-in fixings, an insulation zone if it's a sandwich panel, and a splice regime that has to match the drawing the architect signed off. We build tooling that respects all of that.
When it fits
When full panel tooling is the right route.
For architectural precast, the panel is the product — and the tool has to think in whole panels.
There are cast-in fixings and inserts
Lifting sockets, ferrule inserts, fire-stops. The mould has locating positions for each one built in — no marking out on the bed.
The elevation has a splice plan
The formliner splice has to fall on the panel joint. On a multi-panel elevation, the tool set is designed so every splice hides in the reveal.
You want reorder confidence
The whole tool assembly stays on file — face insert, edge formwork, insert positions. A rebuild months later matches exactly.
The choice
How we build panel tooling.
The face is polyurethane or silicone (depending on relief), poured against a machined pattern. The edges are typically steel or coated plywood, set into a table that locates into your bed. Cast-in fixings sit in polyurethane keeper blocks that hold them in place through vibration and pour.
The whole assembly ships as one drop-in unit. Your yard drops it into position, sets fixings, pours, strikes. There's no reassembly step per panel.
Splice positions are decided against the elevation drawing, not against the tool. That's the difference between a face that reads as an elevation and one that reads as a collection of panels.
What we need
To quote this properly.
The elevation drawing and panel schedule
So we can set splice positions against the finished elevation, not against the mould geometry.
Cast-in fixing schedule
Lifting positions, structural inserts, fire-stops, service voids.
The mix and reinforcement
Determines vibration regime, which determines how rigid the frame has to be.
Number of parallel tools you need
A panel a day and five panels a day are different tool counts.
The honest bit
Panel tooling — where the cost and time really goes.
The face texture is a small fraction of a panel tool's cost. The bulk is the frame, the fixing keepers, the alignment features and the drop-in geometry. If someone quotes you a full panel tool at formliner prices, they're only quoting you the flexible bit.
A panel tool that's well-built is a two-year working asset, not a project consumable. When it retires, we replace the face insert against the frame — you don't buy the whole tool again.
Related
Where this fits in the wider system.
At a glance
The idea in a picture.
Planning liners across a wall
Swipe to see the whole diagram
Get in touch
Send us a photograph of the panel or the elevation.
One photograph tells us what surface you're chasing, and one line about the mix tells us what silicone or polyurethane will survive it.
Real people, a real workshop
You deal with the people who make it.
No call centre and no middlemen. When you contact TCI Construction, you speak to the team who design, build and check your mould.
- A real Warwickshire workshopUnit 15, Waterloo Park, Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester B50 4JG.
- Real people on the phoneCall the team on 01789 224228, Monday to Friday.
- The same team on every jobDesign, production and aftercare come from the people you see here.
- Part of TCI GroupFive specialist brands, one engineering team. Visit TCI Group.
Thomas LaneManaging Director
George PrestonDesign & Project Manager
Kelly BallingerHead of Partnerships
Jim AndertonProduction Manager
TheodoreEmployee Welfare