Injection molding cost estimator

For many projects involving physical goods, you have to consider the manufacturing situation. Guess what, many plastic parts that you see and use in your daily life are made by injection molding. It enables us to produce large amounts of plastic parts within a short time. A suitable way of manufacturing for mass production. 
To successfully plan and design a project, it is important to have an understanding of how much manufacturing.  The feasibility to manufacture, costs and lead time can make or break a project. Normally, this exercise takes quite some time and involves asking partners for quotes.

With this AI powered injection molding cost estimator, you can get a cost estimate for your part within short time. The input it needs is minimal and plenty of decisions are done for you, by AI. 

Those estimates you can use for your project scheduling and budgeting.
Eventually, you have to partner up with an injection molder or mold maker to get a precise and binding quotation. There are many details, such as component brands, extra mechanisms, polishing, tolerances and some specific dimensions, that only a truly experienced mold maker can help you with. 

Once you have uploaded your model, you can play around with the parameters and find a balance that suits your needs. If you need more detailed help or information, please contact us directly.

This molding calculator works with .STL files only at this moment. Larger files, that were converted from STEP, X_T, etc. can take a bit longer to analyze (up to 30-60s). Before you can select your file, you need to pass Google reCAPTCHA.  

Do you know your part's average wall thickness? Generally it is highly recommended to design plastic parts according to a wall thickness that you choose beforehand. Use the thinnest wall thickness that suits your part's application. This way you save time and money.

If you know it, please enter the value in mm and press "Enter Manual"

In case you do not know your part's wall thickness, we have an built-in tool that helps to find it. Scroll to the next picture and see how it works.

To find out the average wall thickness of your part, we developed a simple mechanism. You find 3 points on your model that represent the average wall thickness. Click on each point and then press "Finish". You can redo the measurements anytime if you feel that the wall thickness is not correct.

Try to click on surfaces that make up large areas of your part. This way you get a good and representative number. Generally, your wall thickness should be between 1 and 6 mm. 

Fill in or select the input on the right side of the application. If you need help, take a look at the explanation below.

This injection molding cost estimator has advanced options. Suit the price calculation to your needs. While we are still looking into expanding this section, our current selection allows you to choose the steel which you want to use. You will often get a cost effective steel selection that fulfills your needs if you let your injection molder decide.

After finishing all the steps above, you press calculate to generate the results. 
Suggested Mold Class is a classification by the SPI (Plastics Industry Association). It defines the production level and how many cycles should be guaranteed. Class 104 means that it is a low production level mold that generally does not exceed 100,000 shots.

The Production time in days, gives you a good estimate how long the production will take. Use it to decide whether you need multi cavitation or not.

The mold price and price per part are what probably interests you the most. It gives you an idea about the cost of your project. With most injection molders, you can negotiate to pay just for the parts. This means you will have less upfront cost for making the mold.

Cycle time is another important metric. Especially for mass production you want to keep it as low as possible. Wall thickness plays a major role in it.