Injection Moulding

hi

if its only a few off you need , probably be cheaper to m/c fro solid ! the tooling wouldnt be cheap , (tool would need oil heating and a fair size m/c would be needed ,with a fairly long moulding cycl for a product like that. possibly a moulder supplying plastic pain pots or buckets could adapt a mould

-- willowkevi

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Would vacuum-forming be a cheaper option ?

I know relatively little about either process, but I think the moulds for vacuum forming are a lot cheaper. Probably not suitable for large quantities, though.

-adrian

There is no such thing as Cheap injection moulding tools you are probably looking at tool costs of at least £7-£10k depending on the inricacy of the tool. It is possible for very short runs to use aluminium tooling with some materials but as you haven't specified a material I guess you are not that far advance yet. Most injection moulders would give you a budget minimum price on the phone for a simple tool not requiring complicated ejection mechanisms etc as long as you can tell them the overall component dimensions They would certainly want to know the quantity of mouldings required for the first order and the subsequent orders as setup costs are quite high and a lot of moulders will not consider short runs. Vacuum forming tools can be made of wood for some materials and can be quite crude. This is a good suggestion if it is possible for your application.

If this is a simple form you could probably get it tooled or around £3k if done "on the cheap" and for actually producing parts expect to pay around £150 set up charge (to put the tool in the machine) and then a cost per part therafter (depending on material). If these prices seem frighteningly expensive then forget injection moulding, if you have this kind of budget drop me an email and I can arrage something for you.

Regarsd

Kevin

Depending on finish and tolerances, consider rotational moulding. Vacuum forming may also be ok, depending on th edesign features. Geoff