CMS Responds to Market Demand for Mold Repair

Davisburg, Michigan-based Complete Machining Services (CMS) Inc. has added micro-laser welding services to its capabilities, specifically targeting plastic injection mold repair. The move is designed to serve the high density of mold makers concentrated in the Detroit, Michigan, to Windsor, Ontario, region—one of the largest such clusters in North America.

Over the past 15 years, CMS has grown by aligning its precision machining and fabricating services with evolving market needs, regularly investing in 3-, 4-, and 5-axis CNC milling equipment. Adding laser welding represents the company’s latest step in that strategy.

CMS President and CEO Jeff Dainty explained the rationale: “When your business is contract machining and fabricating, you have to have the right tools with the best level of technology to provide the needed high-quality parts manufacturing capability at a competitive cost.”

The Capability Gap: Why MIG and TIG Weren’t Enough

Dainty noted that customer requests for plastic injection mold repair services began arriving in volume in 2018. While CMS already operated MIG and TIG welders, those technologies are not well-suited to the precision and heat sensitivity required for mold repair work. “Last year we began receiving numerous requests for plastic injection mold repair services. Beyond our MIG and TIG welders, this was a capability we did not have,” Dainty said.

Micro-laser welding addresses these limitations by delivering highly localized energy with minimal heat transfer to surrounding material—a critical requirement when working on intricate, heat-sensitive mold components.

Selecting the Right System at IMTS 2018

In September 2018, Dainty and CMS’s manufacturing team attended IMTS 2018 in Chicago with a clear objective: evaluate laser welding systems suitable for mold repair. After reviewing multiple options on the show floor, they selected the LaserStar 8700-3 Series Universal Jig Welding Workstation.

LaserStar regional sales manager Gary Paresky guided CMS through the selection process. A key technical factor was power output: welding aluminum requires at least 300W, which rules out typical YAG laser systems that operate around 200W. A fiber laser was therefore necessary.

“We explained that they were going to need not just a laser welding machine but a workstation that provided the flexibility to handle a wide variety of parts and materials.”

Gary Paresky, LaserStar Regional Sales Manager

Technical Highlights: LaserStar 8700-3 Series Fiber Laser

The LaserStar 8700-3 Series is a fiber laser welding workstation designed for high-peak power output and throughput. Key technical attributes cited during the selection process include:

• Fiber laser source: Provides the 300W+ output needed to weld aluminum, unlike lower-power YAG systems.
• Permanently sealed design: The laser source housing is sealed against dust and debris—a practical advantage in a production job shop environment.
• Minimal heat-affected zone: The system generates very little heat at the weld point, enabling welds smaller than 0.25mm on intricate, heat-sensitive mold components.

Paresky described the result: “The fiber laser source on the 8700-3 has a permanently sealed design that protects against dust and dirt, which sometimes is an issue in a job shop environment.”

Optional Add-Ons Chosen by CMS

CMS configured their workstation with several options to improve usability and workflow:

• Tower gantry: Allows the laser head to be repositioned easily alongside large molds rather than requiring the mold to be moved.
• Motorized worktable: Enables precise, repeatable positioning of workpieces during the welding process.
• Camera and monitor system: Provides a magnified view of the weld area, aiding operator training and quality control.

“We opted to add a number of options to the workstation that included a tower gantry for ease of moving the laser next to the molds, a motorized worktable, and a camera and monitor to aid in training operators,” Dainty explained.

Why This Matters for the Detroit–Windsor Mold-Making Cluster

The Detroit–Windsor corridor is home to one of the world’s densest concentrations of mold makers, driven historically by the automotive industry’s demand for plastic injection-molded components. Mold repair is a recurring need in this market: tooling wears, cracks, or requires design modifications over its service life, and traditional repair methods can introduce excessive heat distortion or lack the precision needed for tight-tolerance tool steel.

Micro-laser welding fills that gap by offering a minimally invasive, high-precision repair method that preserves dimensional accuracy. For a contract machining shop like CMS, adding this capability positions the company as a more complete service provider to local mold shops and OEM suppliers without requiring customers to outsource repair work to a separate specialist.

CMS’s investment reflects a broader pattern in precision contract manufacturing: shops that pair CNC machining with complementary repair and finishing capabilities are better positioned to retain customers and win longer-term service agreements in competitive regional markets.