Generally, the injection molding process has no fixed cost for every application. Custom injection molding cost has a varying value that ranges from thousands to hundreds of thousands. Below are common factors that impact the cost of injection molding.
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It is expensive to machine the mold and mold base for the products, even though the molding equipment is a one-time investment. Besides, the process used to create the molds determines the cost. The standard techniques used in making molds include CNC machining, electric discharge machining, and 3D printing.
The CNC machining process is well-suited for making metal molds from aluminum or steel materials. For instance, CNC machines use cutting tools to remove materials from an aluminum block to machine an aluminum mold. Besides, this machining method produces aluminum molds with high accuracy.
Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is an assisted technique for making molds with complex and precise features. It involves using electrical discharge to melt and form the metal workpiece into the desired size and shape. Although EDM offers excellent accuracy, it is compatible with only metal molds.
3D printing is one of the fastest procedures for making molds for plastic injection molding projects. This method uses a 3D printer and doesn't necessarily require a skilled operator. Hence, it saves labor and mold costs. However, 3D printed components are often limited in dimensions due to the size of the 3D printer's build platform. Similarly, printed molds are more likely to experience shrinkage.
The injection molding process requires unique equipment. However, the machine's size and level of sophistication determine the cost and range from small to large machine. Therefore, it would help to consider the following injection molding machine types and how they influence injection molding costs.
Electric molding machines utilize an electro-servo motor to direct the machine during injection molding. They utilize less energy, incur low operating and maintenance costs, and are accurate and easy to use. Nevertheless, their initial investment cost is high and requires routine maintenance.
These hydraulic injection machines perform injection molding operations with a hydraulic pump. They are usually durable, offer highly consistent ejection and injection, and have economical initial purchase costs. However, they can be imprecise and consume excessive energy.
Hybrid injection molding machines combine the characteristics of electric and hydraulic injection molding machines. It uses a servo motor and hydraulic pump to distribute the oil used in producing hydraulic pressure that creates the component in the machine.
These machines provide high precision, repeatability, and energy efficiency. Furthermore, they have high initial investment costs and require heavy maintenance since they use electric motors and hydraulic pumps.
However, it may be ideal to outsource to injection molding service providers instead of buying a machine to avoid the high cost of an injection molding machine.
Plastic injection molding is compatible with an extensive range of plastic resins with varying availability, price, applications, and properties. Typical examples of plastic injection materials include PC, ABS, PU, PP, and PE.
The cost of plastic pellets material used in plastic injection molding technique ranges from 1 dollar per kg to 5 dollars per kg. However, the injected material's final cost depends on the used amount and the required design.
Molded parts' variables, such as design, size, and volume of injection molding components, often decide injection mold cost. You can optimize the cost of your project significantly when you understand how these variables impact the project's plastic injection molding cost.
To make complex parts, you must create a mold with even complexity using manufacturing methods such as 3D printing, CNC machining, or EDM machining. Besides, you need more material to fill the mold to produce complex parts. Consequently, this increases the injection molding material cost. At the same time, complex parts may require extended production time since they may require additional steps in the production process.
Creating large molded parts will require more injection molding material, hiking the costs of injection molded components. Similarly, it would be best to use the proper injection molding machine and manufacture the right mold size when handling large parts.
Generally, the undercut injection molding features complicate and in some instances prevent parts injection. Eliminate them if possible. If you find it hard to get rid of them, try sliding shutoffs, pass-through cores, or change the parting line and draft angles to simplify the mold build.
Unnecessary features that do not add significant value to your final products will increase plastic injection molding costs. Textured surfaces, for instance, may simply not be needed. This holds true for cosmetic add-ons like bead blasting or high mold polish too. Remember that excess features might also require more mold cavities that further drive costs north.
Most procedures associated with injection molding are automated and controlled by software systems. However, typical labor costs involved in injection molding include:
There is no universal answer to this question. A small and simple mold could cost you around $3,000 while a larger, more complex mold could cost over $100,000. What's important to remember is that these numbers are not correct estimates.
When estimating the total cost of your plastic injection molding project, there are several factors you need to keep in mind.
In this comprehensive guide, we've broken down these various cost factors. Keep reading to learn more.
First, it's important for you to know that the various costs involved in plastic injection molding can be broken down into two categories: 1) the one-time cost for injection mold tooling and 2) the cost of manufacturing your production parts.
'The most significant factor that determines the initial mold tooling cost is the complexity of the part that is being produced. Plastic injection molded parts with a lot of sharp corners, thin ribs, or undercut features will generally be more expensive to make tooling for.
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If the locations of sharp corners prevent the use of a round cutter for machining the mold features, they will require a secondary machining process called EDM machining (electrical discharge machining). Likewise, rib features that require machining deeper than 1/2 inch and thinner than 1/16 inch into the mold can also require secondary EDM machining.
Undercut features on plastic part designs will always increase the cost of the plastic injection molds. Undercuts force costs into the mold design time and machining time. They can also sometimes require the molds overall size to become larger to accommodate the space needed for the 'side actions' (moving parts) that form the undercut features.
There is a wide variety of injection mold construction methods for different part shapes, and many different reasons why they all have a place at the table in the injection molding industry. But, you can simplify these methods into two groups: 'Insert molds' and 'free standing molds'. Click here to learn more about each type.
From a general cost point of view, insert style molds will cost significantly less than free standing molds.
'Within a mold's construction, there are many different styles of side actions that are used to release plastic parts with undercuts during the part ejection process. The lowest cost side action method, and used by many of our competitors, is frequently called a 'hand load' in our industry. Hand loads are loose parts of the mold that get ejected from the mold along with the part, are manually removed from the part, then re-inserted into the mold every molding cycle.
Hand loads are a low-cost tooling option to deal with undercut part features in the mold, but they increase part cost and can lead to inconsistent part quality. At MSI. we prefer to use 'automatic' side actions in our molds because they allow for a faster and more consistent injection molding process, which then gives our customers better parts for a lower cost.
Injection molds with automatic side actions do carry a higher cost to make than hand load molds, but for any production quantities higher than a few hundred pieces. the payback in part cost savings will generally wash out the added overhead cost.
The number of part cavities within the mold will directly affect the price of the mold. Parts that only require a low quantity of parts per customer order will be constructed as a one cavity mold to produce only one part per machine cycle, and parts with a high quantity of parts per customer order might be constructed as a two, four, or eight cavity mold producing several parts per machine cycle.
Multi-cavity molds will certainly cost more than single cavity molds, however, keep in mind that part pricing will have an inverse relationship to mold cost when considering mold cavitation and a projects total overall cost.
The size of a plastic part is directly related to the mold size that is required to produce the component. Larger molds require larger amounts of building space, larger and more expensive CNC machinery and equipment to work on them, etc.
However, in some cases there can be some crossover of the cost-to-size relationship. For example, a small injection mold with a very complex design can sometimes cost more than a larger injection mold with a very simple design.
So, when estimating the total tooling cost, keep in mind: the complexity of the part you want to create, whether you want an insert mold or free standing mold, how many cavities you need, and the size of your part. Please keep in mind that this is just one cost. As previously mentioned, there are two costs associated with plastic injection molding: the tooling cost and the actual production cost.
Now that you better understand tooling costs, let's break down what's involved in producing your component after the mold has been made.
The plastic material selection you make for your plastic part is not only critical to the part's function, but also plays a huge role in its cost to manufacture. Raw plastic material cost can range in price from $1 per pound to $25 per pound. So, care should be taken in plastic part design to minimize weight when possible.
Choosing the correct plastic type can also help you achieve faster cycle times or production rates of your parts. For small parts, the cost of the material has a small effect on the unit price and the production rate has a large effect. On larger, heavier parts, the cost of the material has a large effect on the unit price along with the production rate.
When estimating this cost, keep this equation in mind:
Material Part Cost = Plastic Material Price x Part Weight (lbs)
'Cycle time' is a term used in our industry for both injection molding and CNC machining. In simple terms, it is the amount of time required for a machine to complete one production cycle. The total injection molding cycle time is made up of the following steps:
Let's start with the machinery and equipment. Today's high-tech servo driven injection molding machinery is very expensive. The tonnage size rating of the machine and its surrounding support equipment will determine the overall capital investment required to run production. Small tonnage machine sizes are used for running small molds and small parts, and large tonnage machines are needed to run large molds with large parts.
Even a small injection molding machine along with its support equipment will cost near $100,000 and very large machines will cost millions of dollars. It also follows that the machinery has a finite effective lifecycle because it wears out and also loses its advantage to newer technology over time. Knowing the cost being the capital investment in machinery divided by its effective lifecycle, it's easy to understand that translates into an hourly operational cost of ownership of the equipment.
Secondary to the capital equipment costs discussed above would be a combination of fixed and variable costs, including the rent on manufacturing space, electrical power usage, etc. Through simple math, these costs are also very easy to drill down into an hourly operational cost.
The sum of all non-material related hourly costs combined and calculated out with a profit margin will become what is known as 'machine rate' in our industry.
Finally, here is how the simple non-material related cost of an injection molded part is determined by cycle time:
The number of units produced per hour = ( sec / cycle time sec) x number of mold cavities
Non-Material Part Cost = Machine Rate per hour / # of units produced per hour
Since machine rates are all very competitive across the injection molding industry, cycle time and number of cavities in the mold are two significant determining factors in the total cost of a plastic molded part.
Commonly requested items like the following can increase the cost of injection molded parts:
To better estimate the total production costs, you must first understand what type of material you're using and how much (in pounds) you need to produce your part. Next, you'll need to factor in the cycle time, equipment costs, facility rental fees, electricity, and post-production packaging.
Are you looking for a plastic injection molding company in Michigan? Contact our experts at MSI Mold today! We offer free estimates and can help you better understand what type of materials are best suited for your specific component.
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