Aluminum Mold Plate in Windsor and Essex County
G.AL® precision cast plate on the ground in Oldcastle, about 15 minutes from the Windsor tool and die cluster. Collect it yourself or have it delivered the same week.
Stock in the county, not across the border
GLEICH Aluminum Canada is the manufacturer’s own Canadian service center. The plate at Oldcastle is GLEICH plate, produced at the works in Kaltenkirchen, Germany and held here in Ontario. It has already cleared customs, so nothing stands between the stock and your receiving door.
For a Windsor mold shop that mostly means two things. Standard grades and thicknesses can be collected in person the same day they are confirmed, and a delivery into Windsor, Tecumseh, Lakeshore, Leamington or Chatham is a short local run rather than a border crossing. When a job moves up and a plate is suddenly needed on Thursday, that difference is the whole conversation.
We also cut. Rather than buying a full plate and paying to store the remainder, you can order the size the job actually needs.
Oldcastle service center
Oldcastle, ON N0R 1L0
Canada
Mon–Fri, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM ET
What we stock for mold work
Four grades, two alloy families, one decision
Almost every mold job in this region starts and ends with C210R. The other three exist for the cases where it is not the right answer: a tighter as-supplied thickness, or a strength requirement that 5083 cannot meet.
G.AL® C210R
Most specifiedEN AW-5083, O3 temper
Precision sawn both faces, minimum 0.125 in. finishing surplus
The standard Windsor mold plate. Injection and compression mold bases, cavity and backing plates, vacuum forming tools, check fixtures. Specified where the shop is going to machine both faces regardless, so paying for a milled surface would be paying twice.
G.AL® C210R specifications and tolerancesG.AL® C250
EN AW-5083, O3 temper
Milled both faces to a tight thickness tolerance
The same metal as C210R, finished. Specified when the plate goes more or less straight onto the machine, or when a face is a datum and you do not want to touch it.
G.AL® C250 specifications and tolerancesG.AL® C330R
EN AW-7021, T79 temper
Precision sawn both faces
Higher strength and hardness for mold work that has to take load or wear. Available in heavy thicknesses. Not weldable and not for food contact.
G.AL® C330R specifications and tolerancesG.AL® C330
EN AW-7021, T79 temper
Milled both faces
The milled C330R. Same strength case, finished thickness.
G.AL® C330 specifications and tolerancesThe two numbers worth checking
Measured, not claimed
How far it moves
Deviation from flat, measured over a 10 in. length. GLEICH test data.
| Material | Route | Distortion |
|---|---|---|
| G.AL® C250 | Cast, sawn and milled | 0.010 in. |
| G.AL® C330 | Cast, sawn and milled | 0.026 in. |
| EN AW-5083 | Rolled | 0.055 in. |
| EN AW-6061 | Rolled | 0.072 in. |
| EN AW-7075 | Rolled | 0.100 in. |
The row that matters most is rolled 5083 at 0.055 in. That is the same alloy as C250. Same chemistry, same magnesium content. The only variable is how the plate was made, and it moves five and a half times as far. The stability comes from the production route and the heat treatment, not from the alloy on the certificate.
Note the figure is 0.010 in., not zero. Cast plate is very stable. Anyone telling you a plate does not move at all is selling rather than measuring.
What it costs on the machine
GLEICH cost study on a 2.4 x 15.7 x 39.4 in. base plate, converted to a CAD 125 per hour shop rate. Setup is one machine hour.
| Material | Machine time | Machining | With setup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rolled 7075 | 3.25 h | CAD 406.25 | CAD 531.25 |
| Rolled 6082 / 6061 | 2.75 h | CAD 343.75 | CAD 468.75 |
| G.AL® C210R / C330R | 1.74 h | CAD 217.50 | CAD 342.50 |
| G.AL® C250 / C330 | 1.22 h | CAD 152.50 | CAD 277.50 |
Read this as machining economics, not the price of the job. It covers machine time and setup only. Material is not included, and cast plate costs more per pound than rolled 6061.
The decision rule follows directly. Cast plate wins outright whenever the price premium on the plate is less than the machining saving, which here is about CAD 191 per part against 6061. Ask us for the plate price and do that arithmetic on your own job. If it does not clear, we will tell you.
What Windsor shops build with it
Injection and compression molds
Mold bases, cavity plates, backing plates and stripper plates. Aluminum takes heat out of the part faster than steel, which is why Windsor shops building high-cavitation automotive tooling reach for it, and why cycle time is usually the argument that closes the job.
Low-pressure and structural foam tooling
Large tools where the plate size makes steel impractical to handle and the pressures do not require it. C210R in heavy thickness is the usual specification.
Vacuum forming and blow mold tooling
Thermal conductivity and machinability both matter, and the tool is frequently reworked. Cast plate that does not move between setups saves the re-fixture.
Check fixtures, gauges and automation plate
Anything where the part is machined heavily and then has to stay dimensionally where you put it. This is where rolled plate most often disappoints, because the movement appears on the second setup rather than the first.
Where cast plate is the wrong answer. It is excluded from bending, forming and pressure vessel construction. Those are hard exclusions rather than preferences. If the part is welded, formed or structural, buy rolled plate and we will say so.
Getting it to your shop
Pickup at Oldcastle is Mon–Fri, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM ET. Bring a truck and a strap. We will have the plate ready and the paperwork with it.
Delivery across Windsor and Essex County is normally same week for stocked grades and sizes. Sizes we do not hold come from Kaltenkirchen, and we will give you a real date rather than an optimistic one.
Off-cuts
Remnants from cutting are listed with dimensions, weight and price, and they are almost all C210R. For prototype tooling, test blocks and small fixture work it is the cheapest way into the material.
Browse off-cuts in stockWorking on a tool right now?
Tell us the plate size and the grade you are considering. We will confirm what is on the floor at Oldcastle, quote it, and tell you honestly if rolled plate is the better buy for that particular job.
Last reviewed 2026-08-06
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