Costs

[Leah292]

Is there an average or approximate costs associated with extrusion tooling? Shall I anticipate fabrication tooling costs also?

[13architect]

Leah929,
If you look at the discussion thread titled "tooling schemes" you should get a good snap shot of solid and hollow die schemes. Most important take away in the discussion thread is that you should work with extruders that use extra support methods within their tooling schemes. It will cost more money up front, however will save you money and headaches over the life of the die.

A typical tooling cost for a solid die ranges between $1,350 and $2,700 with lead times of 2-3 weeks.

A typical tooling cost for a hollow die ranges between $1,500 and $3,500 with lead times of 3-4 weeks.

Fabrication tooling will be an additional expense of your extruder is providing additional value/processes after being extruded. Fabrication tooling is called fixturing. It's what holds your component(s) in place during the machining/fabrication processes. Cost will vary, depending on the complexity of the part and secondary operations.

Let me know if this answers your question...13architect

[Brad]

I've usually paid around $1,400 for solid and $2,500 for hollow. Fairly inexpensive to get into a custom shape.

[Pico]

Vinyl Extrusions $1,500 and up
Injection Molding $25,000 and up
Die Casting $25,000 and up
Roll Forming $30,000 and up
Stampings (long run) $5,000 and up

[choi0706]

what about small parts? Like custom keychains..

[Brad]

Depending on what type of keychain design you are thinking of. If it's a solid piece (without a hollow area inside the part), you would be looking at the inventment of a solid die. Inexpensive, compared to die cuting or stamping the piece.

If it is a piece with one or more open areas within the piece, than it would be a slightly higher upfront investment.

[choi0706]

for the tooling you've bought how big were your production pieces?

[Brad]

I have ordered a handful of different extrusion shapes, ranging from 1/2" OD tubing to complex custom shapes around 6.5" in diameter. The life of a die can vary, due to the metal being used, the complexity of the die, the amount of support tooling, etc. The size of the orders that I have placed with one shape has varied from 12,000 pieces to 930,000 pieces.