To some extent, it is a lot to ask how much a plastic injection mold costs. It is a like asking “How much does your car cost?” Will your mold be a Toyota or a Bentley?
The factors that determine the cost you pay for a mold are a combination of several elements, including part dimensions, complexity, selected materials and required quantities. For example, if you need 1,000 simple parts every year, we will recommend a single-cavity mold to you, i.e. it produces one part in each cycle. In this case, the mold will probably cost you 1,000 – 2,000 USD.
Another example: if you need 1,000,000 remote controllers per month, we will create a 16-cavity mold for you, which makes 8 covers and 8 bottoms in every cycle. In this case, however, you will need to pay 4,000 – 10,000 USD or more.
Surely, the 2 examples mentioned above are every extreme, but it gives us a general idea about how much a mold would cost you, and your specific part will probably fall somewhere in between.
In addition, the selection of material is another factor that determines how much a plastic injection mold may cost. For example, if you require a fiberglass filled product, you will probably need a mold that is made from hardened tool steel, so as to cope with the wear such materials might cause during the injection molding process under high pressure conditions.
It will be useful to tell your mold manufacturer if you already have a target price in mind for your parts. When they design the mold, they can keep your target price in mind, and then make appropriate planning to achieve your desired price with expertise. Although you do not need to know all the details about the available molds, it is better that you come prepared. If you are able to offer the basic information to the mold maker, it will be helpful for them to create the most appropriate mold for your production project. We also recommend that you look for a mold manufacturer who also possesses production capability. A company that is responsible for the production will not create a substandard mold, since they have to reply on it for production activities.
No matter what your project needs, One thing ECO Molding would not do is to suggest you invest in a Porsche when all you need is a VW.
If you are looking for a China plastic injection molding manufacturer to make your plastic molding parts, your first question was likely How much does the China injection molding cost to make my product? Is there any way to lower the mould cost in China?
China plastic injection molding cost is much cheaper than from the USA or Europe. Sometimes, for the same quality, the cost generally will be only 50%. Usually, the injection mold is the most expensive part of the project, and can dramatically increase costs for small part runs. With such a competitive price from China, it can totally enhance your product market competitiveness.
The plastic mold and injection molding parts costs will directly influence whether your project going smoothly and success or failure. When you start to design a plastic part for injection molding, many factors you should consider, such as part complexity, part size, part surface, part material, mold cavity number, and production volume, will affect the price tremendously.
The more complex part will require a more complex mold structure, which then leads to more mold costs. Reduce needless surfaces and corners or features as much as possible, will save huge mold costs.
The larger the part size is, the larger the mold size is and needs more mold steel, mold cost will increase significantly.
An attractive surface finish will add more processing cost and time, if the part surface is not very critical or the plastic part is invisible in the assembly product, you can choose a lower-level finish, such as SPI Finish B-3 or lower C grade.
The material cost will vary according to the type and quality of plastic you use. For example, if you choose high-cost fiberglass filler material, the mold material needs hardened steel, which also will increase the cost.
One cavity mold needs less time and process than multiple cavities mold (also called family mold), which will reduce mold cost, but rise the part unit price. If your production volume is small, then one cavity mold is enough; if the volume is large, you could consider multiple cavities mold.
The best way to reduce the plastic injection molding cost in China is to find a professional plastic injection molding manufacturer. With their help, you don’t need to know so many skills to reduce the cost, they will do it for you.
However, finding a reliable plastic part supplier is not an easy thing, you can consider the following tips to reduce your plastic injection molding.
A professional plastic injection mold manufacturer knows well how to control the cost from the design stage. It is a very important skill because the design concept can determine the cost of the whole project.
The plastic injection mold manufacturer usually needs to hold a meeting in the early stage, it should consider the injection molding production, product assembly, and then find the best reasonable design. Engineers will design the mold according to this scheme, which can reduce a lot of costs.
One-stop injection molding service includes mold design and manufacturing, product injection molding processing, plastic shell surface treatment (spray, screen printing, etc.), and other one-stop outsourcing services.
Why so many plastic injection molding factories are emphasize one-stop injection molding service? Because it can not only reduce the plastic injection molding cost but also save a lot of time.
One-stop injection molding service can improve production efficiency greatly. The factory with one-stop service is also very professional and has enough strength to provide you a better service.
A sample test is a must before you start your plastic parts mass production. You should require the injection molding factory to provide the proofing services. This process can tell you whether the molding factory production quality is good or not.
If the sample quality is poor, the next mass production goods are even worse. To avoid unnecessary loss, a sample test is the first thing you should do before you start your project.
Of course, we couldn’t totally rely on the plastic injection molding factory to give us the price. We can use some methods to estimate the plastic injection molding cost. Here are some common methods to estimate the plastic mold parts cost.
This feature-based cost estimation tool is suitable for plastic molding in production quantities (more than 10,000 pieces). Since it has a smaller impact on the cost of each component, more durable and expensive tools can be used. The material costs are estimated based on the geometry of the part, and current material prices are used.
In order to reduce production costs, a compatible injection molding machine was selected from a database of more than 50 machines, and the cycle time was estimated based on the part geometry, material properties, and machine specifications.
For the mold cost, use the standard mold size and mold category to select the appropriate mold base, and estimate the required mold processing based on the geometry of the part and other user specifications. These three costs (materials, production, and molds) are calculated for 4 different cavity arrangements (1, 2, 4, and 8 cavities) and provide the most cost-effective option.
This feature-based cost estimation tool is suitable for injection molding in small batches (less than 10,000 units). Because of the great impact on the cost of each part, the rapid tool method (high-speed processing of 104 molds) is used to create molds. Material costs are estimated based on the geometry of the part, and current material prices are used. In order to reduce production costs, a compatible injection molding machine was selected from a database of more than 50 machines, and the cycle time was estimated based on the part geometry, material properties, and machine specifications.
For the cost of plastic molds, use the standard mold size to select the appropriate mold base, and estimate the required mold processing based on the geometry of the part and other user specifications. These three costs (materials, production, and molds) are calculated for 4 different cavity arrangements (1, 2, 4, and 8 cavities) and provide the most cost-effective option.
This standard injection molding cost estimator does not require any part geometry but requires more input of process parameters to calculate a more accurate estimate. Material costs are estimated based on the number of parts and runners, and up-to-date material database containing pricing, and customizable process parameters. For production costs, cycle time, as well as machine rate and labor rate must be specified. After adding mold cost, a detailed cost breakdown of material, production and mold costs is provided.
This feature-based cost estimator calculates the mold cost for plastic molding. According to the geometric shape of the part and the requirements of the mold, such as the number of cavities, use the standard mold size to select the appropriate mold base. The required mold processing is for the selected SPI mold type and the rapid plastic mold method can be selected for 104 types of molds or low-volume products.
Here are some problems that our injection mold buyers faced:
1) Is 3d printing cheaper than injection molding?
If mass production is required, traditional molding methods such as injection molding are inseparable. Just need a separate product or sample, try 3D printing.
2) Is a small injection mould cheaper than a large injection mold?
The injection mold price is not only determined by the size of the product, but also according to the complexity of the structure of the product. Small injection mold requires higher accuracy, so the cost of production may be not cheap.
3) How do you know if you have got a good price for your plastic injection molding?
Plastic injection molding is a very competitive industry, there is no standard price at present. To win the customers, some plastic injection molding factories even don’t add any profits in the price, only add some processing charges.
Holly plastic has a client who needs a plastic mold for E-cigarette, before contacting us, they worked with a plastic injection molding supplier in Dongguan. Because using poor material, their mold suction holes are easy to burst.
The price was nearly double that of the first supplier, and it really scared the customer. Because we need to use food-grade material to make this mold, this material will not deform at a temperature of 80 degrees, and it is a special non-toxic material. The client finally agreed to our offer, we finish this project together successfully. So you see, the price is not the only thing we need to consider!
4) Can I choose a small plastic injection molding factory in China as my partner?
In China, especially in Guangdong and Zhejiang, there are many small plastic injection molding factories, some of them can not only give you a great price but also guarantee quality. However, small may not mean cheap, it also means poor quality. Scientific team management can help small plastic mold factories low the cost and improve the quality, if you find a professional engineer team, a small factory will help you save a lot of money and time.
Although the initial cost of injection molds is very high, with a certain volume, injection molded parts are indeed cheaper than processed parts. This crossover can occur from as few as 100 parts to about 5000 parts, depending on the part. Having a good understanding of the plastic injection molding cost will help your project runs smoothly. Hope all of this information can help you to get an idea about the plastic injection molding cost idea for your project.
Holly Plastic focus in plastic injection molding field, offer strict program management from design to production, to provide our customers with quality plastic injection molding parts.
I really hope this article has been useful for you! Please reach out to me if you have any questions about your new plastic products.