How Much Does Injection Mold Cost?

The plastic injection molds cost are generally in the range of 1000-3000USD, for larger or more complex products, injection molds The price will be higher. 

Injection molding process is a manufacturing process used to make plastic injection molded parts. It is a popular manufacturing method because it is efficient and can produce large quantities of parts quickly.

In order to produce high-quality plastic parts, you need a high-quality injection mold. The cost of an injection mold can vary depending on several factors, including the type of material, the size and complexity of the part, and the number of cavities.

In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at the factors that affect the price of injection molds and how you can get the best deal.

What is included in the cost of plastic injection mold？

Injection mold costs include design costs, raw material costs, manufacturing costs and other costs.

a. The mold design cost also includes the cost of preliminary communication. The design work needs to include CAE analysis, mold structure design and 2D drawings.

b. The raw material cost includes the steel, standard parts, hot runner and die holder for the forming part of the fixed and moving die.

c. The manufacturing cost includes the cost of the machining process, as well as the cost of polishing, mold fitting and mold trial and labor costs.

d. Generally speaking, the design cost accounts for about 12% of the total injection mold costs, the raw material will account for 30%-40%, and the manufacturing is about 30%-45%, tax,overhead and others 23%, Assembly,heat treatment, mold testing 9%,Matching 19%.

The difference between injection mold and injection molding

An injection mold is a tool for producing plastic injection molding products; it is also a tool that gives plastic products their complete structure and precise dimensions.

Injection molding is a processing method used for mass production of certain complex shaped parts through injection mold.

Specifically, the heat-melted plastic is injected into the mold cavity at high pressure by a plastic injection molding machine, and then cooled and cured to obtain a molded product. Injection molding process is a kind of injection and molding method.

If you are asking about plastic injection molding costs, please check out the article about how much injection molding cost?

What are the main components of injection mold?

To understand what will affect cost of injection moulds, first we need to know the components of injection moulds.

The basic structure of injection mould can be divided into seven parts according to its function: molding parts, pouring system, guiding mechanism, ejecting device, lateral parting and core extraction mechanism, cooling and heating system and exhaust system, etc.

a. Molding parts

It refers to the parts that constitute the mold cavity, mainly including: convex mold, concave mold, core, molding rod, molding ring and inserts and other parts.   

b. Pouring system

It refers to the plastic flow channel in the mold from the nozzle of injection molding machine to the cavity. The common pouring system is composed of a main flow channel, diversion channel, gate, cold cavity, etc.

c. Guiding mechanism

In the plastic mold, it mainly has the function of positioning, guiding and bearing certain lateral pressure to ensure the accurate closing of dynamic and fixed mold. Mold guiding mechanism consists of guide pillar, guide sleeve or guide hole (directly opened on the template), positioning cone, etc.

d. Ejector device

It is mainly used to eject the parts from the mold, and is composed of ejector bar or ejector tube or push plate, ejector plate, ejector fixing plate, restoration bar and pulling bar, etc.

e. Lateral parting and core extraction mechanism

Its role is to release the lateral convex mold or extract the lateral core, usually including oblique guide pillar, bent pin, oblique guide slot, wedge tight block, oblique slider, oblique slot, gear rack and other parts.

f. Cooling and heating system

Its role is to regulate the injection mold process temperature, by the cooling system (cooling water hole, cooling water tank, copper pipe) or heating system components.

g. Exhaust system

Its role is to remove the gas in the cavity, mainly by the exhaust slot, with the gap and other components.

The main factors affecting the cost of injection mold

a. Quantity of products

The number of products is different to the requirements of the mold steel, the larger the number of products, the higher the hardness of the steel needed for the mold steel.

Some even need quenching treatment to obtain a higher hardness to meet the high volume of production, so the material cost of the mold will be higher.

Besides, the larger the number of products, the more cavities are needed to improve production efficiency, and the material cost and processing cost of the mold will be higher.

b. Product material

Different product materials have different requirements for mold steel, such as transparent PC or acrylic material, need to do high transparent products, which requires good polishing performance mold steel material to meet the requirements, such as NAK80 and S136, etc., so the mold price is higher.

Some plastic materials have corrosive, need strong corrosion resistance mold steel, if the number of products is not very large we usually choose 4Cr13. If the number of products is larger, we usually choose S136. The cost of these mold steel relative to the conventional mold steel will be higher.

c. Product surface requirements

Some products need high gloss surface, so the polishing requirement is at least SPI-A3, or even SPI-A2 or SPI-A1, which will increase the polishing cost of the mold.

Some product surface finish needs some special skin pattern, which will increase the manufacturing cost of corrosion skin pattern of the mold.

d. Product size

The larger the size of the product, the larger the mold size will be, and more mold steel will be needed, which will increase the processing cost and mold steel cost.

e. Product structure

The complex structure of the product, the processing process required is also more complex, such as some tendon position structure need to do mold inserts to achieve.

Some inverted structure need to do slant top or slider structure to achieve, different structure of the product affect the mold structure, different mold structure affect the processing process, and ultimately will affect the price.

f. Different regions, mold prices are different

Different countries and regions, labor costs and raw material costs, processing costs are different, so the tooling costs will be different.

Developed countries in Europe and the United States, high precision mold, other costs are relatively high in other countries, China and other Asian countries, the cost is relatively moderate, the quality is also relatively good, the cost performance is higher.

ASEAN ten countries, in recent years began to gradually pay attention to industrial economic development, injection mold industry began to be attached importance, but started relatively late, the technology level is relatively low, there are cost advantages.

How to choose the right process for different product quantities?

If the number of products is not large, what other manufacturing methods can be used instead of injection mold to reduce production costs, and detail the number of products for which these cost effective solution.

Quantity less than 100 can be achieved by 3D printing and CNC machining prototyping.

Quantity between 100-200: Silicone material injection mold, also called low-pressure injection process or reaction injection molding.

Quantity between 200-500: Resin material injection mold, also called low-pressure injection process or reaction injection molding.

Quantity between 500-1000: aluminum mold, which can use injection moulding or low-pressure injection process or reaction injection molding.

Summary

Now you should understand that the cost of injection molds is not cheap, so when deciding whether you need to make your next project with injection molds.

These factors affect the price of injection molds, make a good budget, and then find a reliable and experienced injection mold manufacturing factory.

ZetarMold

If you are not very specialized in this field, you can get Zetar’s help from product design to finalizing the whole injection molding project.

With Zetar, this place can help you get your project done as quickly as possible. There are over 20 English-speaking people and 7 experienced engineers on hand to support the process from idea to reality – let us help you turn your dreams into reality! Contact us for great support.