What is the Average Cost of Injection Molds?

Plastic injection molds are usually priced between 1000 and 3000 USD. For larger or more complex products, the price may be higher.

The injection molding process is a manufacturing method that produces plastic injection-molded parts. This manufacturing process is popular because it’s efficient and can quickly produce large quantities.

A high-quality injection mould is necessary to make high-quality parts out of plastic. An injection mold’s cost can vary depending on many factors such as the material used, its complexity, and how many cavities it has.

This blog post will take a closer look into the factors that influence the price of injection moulds and how to get the best deal.

What are the costs of plastic injection molds?

Injection mold costs include design and raw material costs as well as manufacturing costs.

a. Injection mold design costs include the cost of preliminary communications. Design work includes CAE analysis, mold structure design, and 2D drawings.

b. The raw material price includes standard parts, steel, and the die holder for the part of the fixed or moving die.

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

d. In general, the design costs account for around 12% of total injection mold costs. The raw material accounts for 30%-40% and manufacturing is about 30%-55%. Tax,overhead, and other 23%. Assembly, heat treatment, mold testing 9%. Matching 19%.

What is the difference between injection molding and injection mold?

An injection mold is used to produce plastic injection molding products. It also gives plastic products their exact structure and dimensions.

Injection molding allows for the mass production of complex shapes through an injection mold.

In other words, heat-melted plastic is injected in the mold cavity under high pressure using a plastic injection molding machine. The plastic is then cooled and cured to create a molded product. Injection molding is a type of injection and molding.

You can find out more about the cost of plastic injection molding by reading the How Much Does Plastic Injection Molding Cost article.

What are the main components in an injection mold?

First, we must know what components make injection moulds. This will allow us to understand the impact on cost.

According to their function, the basic structure of an injection mould can be broken down into seven parts: pouring system, pouring mechanism, guiding mechanism and ejecting mechanism. There are also lateral and core extraction mechanisms, cooling and heating systems, exhaust system and cooling system.

A. MOLDING PARTS

It refers specifically to the components that make up the mold cavity.

B. POURING SYSTEM

It is the plastic flow channel that runs from the injection molding machine’s nozzle to the cavity. Common pouring systems are composed of a main stream channel, diversion channel and gate.

C. GUIDING MECHANISM

It is responsible for positioning, guiding, and bearing certain pressure. This ensures that the closed dynamic or fixed molds are accurately closed. The mold guiding mechanism includes a guide pillar, guide sleeves or guide hole (directly open on the template), positioning cone and others.

D. EJECTOR DEVICE

It is used primarily to eject parts from injection molds. It consists of an ejector tube, push plate, ejector plate or ejector fixing plates, restoration bar, pulling bar, etc.

E. LATERAL PARING AND CORE EXTRACTION MECHANISM

Its function is to remove the lateral convex mould or the lateral core. This usually includes oblique guide pin, bent pin and oblique slots, wedge tight block, wedge slot, oblique slider, and oblique slot.

F. COOLING & HEATING SYSTEM

It regulates the temperature of the injection mold process by cooling the system (cooling hole, cooling tank or copper pipe) and heating system components.

G. EXHAUST SYSTEM

It is responsible for removing the gas from the cavity. This is done primarily by the exhaust slot with other components.

These are the main factors that affect the price of injection molding

A.

The requirements of mold steel will vary depending on the products. Therefore, the more products you have, the harder the steel that is needed to make the mold steel.

Certain molds may require quenching to achieve a higher hardness in order to produce high volumes of product. This will increase the material cost.

Additionally, more products means that molds will require more cavities to increase production efficiency. This will result in a higher material and processing costs.

B.

Different products have different requirements for mold-steel, such as transparent PC, acrylic, and other transparent materials. This requires good polishing performance mold material material to meet the requirements such as NAK80, S136, etc. so the mold price can be higher.

Some plastic materials are corrosive and require strong corrosion resistance mold Steel. We usually choose 4Cr13 if there is less than one product. S136 is usually chosen if the product number is greater. These mold steel are more expensive than the traditional mold steel.

C. PRODUCT SUPRFACE REQUIREMENTS

High gloss surfaces are required for some products. The minimum polishing requirement for these products is SPI A3, but it could be SPI A2 or A1, depending on the product. This will increase the polishing costs of the mold.

Certain product surfaces require a special skin pattern. This will increase manufacturing costs for the mold’s corrosion skin pattern.

D. PRODUCT SIZE

The product’s size will determine the size of the mold. This will affect the cost of processing and the cost to purchase mold steel.

E. PRODUCT STUCTURE

Because of the product’s complex structure, the processing steps required are more complicated. For example, mold inserts may be necessary to obtain tendon positions.

Inverted structures require slant top or slider structures to be achieved. Different product structure can affect the mold structure and processing process. Prices will also affect this.

F. MOLD PRICES DIFFERENT REGIONS

Different countries and regions have different labor costs, raw material costs, and processing costs. This means that tooling costs may differ.

High precision molds are used in developed countries of the United States and Europe. Other costs in other countries, China, and other Asian countries, are higher. The cost performance is better and the quality is more moderate in China and other Asian countries.

Injection mold industry has been a priority for ASEAN 10 countries in recent years. However, it was relatively late to start to get attention. The technology level is low and there are advantages.

How do you choose the best process for different product sizes?

If there are fewer products, which other manufacturing methods could be used to lower production costs? Also, please list the products for which these solutions are cost-effective.

CNC machining prototyping and 3D printing can produce quantities less than 100

Quantity between 100 and 200: Silicone material injection mould, also known as low-pressure injection process (or reaction injection molding).

Quantity between 200 and 500: Resin material injection mould, also known as low-pressure injection process (or reaction injection molding).

Aluminum molds can be used for injection molding, low-pressure injection or reaction injection molding.

Conclusion

You should now be aware that injection molds are not cheap. This is why you must consider whether to use injection molds for your next project.

These factors influence the cost of injection molds. Make sure you have a budget and find an experienced and reliable injection mold manufacturing company.

ZetarMold

Zetar can help you with everything from product design to the finalization of your entire injection molding project if you’re not very skilled in this area.

Zetar can help you complete your project as fast as possible with this company. We have over 20 English-speaking engineers and 7 highly-skilled technicians available to help you make your ideas a reality. For great support, contact us.