Anyone here work in the plastic injection molding business?
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Noddaz, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't there a post about this on the JL DC board just when the slots came out? I think one of the JL employees or designers was on the board and posted prices on that subject. If I remember rightly, the price was well north of 100K.
Thanks...
Thanks...
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If it's 100K for a basic body, that explains why there were so many releases of the original releases of Tjets & Snap Ons in different colors. If so, I guess we're in line for another release or two of the "current" versions of the latest. Oh yeah, what was the total # of Batmobile versions done before when they wrapped up with the chromies? :freak: rr
Keep 'em coming RC2! :thumbsup: rr
Keep 'em coming RC2! :thumbsup: rr
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That seems awfully high, especially when you consider that many of the T-Jet bodies JL has done are almost exact copies of the original Aurora body. I can pretty much guarantee you that PM didn't design their own Willys, GTO, Firebird, Vega, etc... from scratch.boss9 said:
To design a body from scratch is probably expensive, but creating tooling of an existing body is probably a fraction of that. It's really not much different than what many resin casters do, except on a larger scale...
Slightly off-topic, but when you really stop and consider what a great portion of PM's early business was, it was nothing more than copying stuff that was already done, recreating things that were no longer protected by patents. The company is founded on the resurection of a defunct company, Topper. Polar Lights thrived on copying old model kits. And their slot cars are simply copies of 30 year old designs.
Hey guys, I am in plastic injection molding. Hope you don't consider me a troll for the one post, but if any of you are serious about making a mold, I can help you get set up. I would think $100,000 would be a bit much, but it really depends on the size of the mold and how many cavities you want to run. (eg 2 cavities=2 car bodies at once)
I would think you could get a mold like that setup for around $50,000. Our company is QS9000 certified (major automotive certification). We also have all electric machines which means higher quality and better repeatability than hydraulic machines. If you are interested in getting a mold together and making some parts, drop me a line at [email protected] or call 865-988-5661 and ask for me. Thanks and good luck!
Michael Ousley
GreenLeaf Industries
Lenoir City, TN
I would think you could get a mold like that setup for around $50,000. Our company is QS9000 certified (major automotive certification). We also have all electric machines which means higher quality and better repeatability than hydraulic machines. If you are interested in getting a mold together and making some parts, drop me a line at [email protected] or call 865-988-5661 and ask for me. Thanks and good luck!
Michael Ousley
GreenLeaf Industries
Lenoir City, TN
Hi Michael,
Glad you are here. Ahhh..... great an expert
How accurate can injection molding make wheels?? Except for the original TJET wheels most of the injection molded after market wheels I've seen look great but the truness of the wheels leave much to be desired.
Roger Corrie
Virginia Beach, VA
Glad you are here. Ahhh..... great an expert
How accurate can injection molding make wheels?? Except for the original TJET wheels most of the injection molded after market wheels I've seen look great but the truness of the wheels leave much to be desired.Roger Corrie
Virginia Beach, VA
That would mostly depend on the molder. If you get a second rate company that has low quality standards, then the wheels will definately not be top notch. One of the parts we make go in a dialysis machine, so we have very high quality standards and are capable of making parts with very tight tolerances. If the wheels are not true (out of round?) then that seems to be a cooling problem (ie the parts are removed from the mold before the plastic sets up enough to make a true wheel). We ran into a similar problem when we were molding plastic drinking mugs. If we removed the cups too quickly, the mug handles would warp because the plastic hadn't had adequate time to setup.
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Now the reason for my thread...
It seems the math doesn't want to add up here.
We will take $50,000 for one body as a base line to set up a mold and make one run of 12,000 bodies.
That breaks down to $4.17 cost per body.
Now this does not take into account the other molds that make this happen.
Bumpers and glass molds.
I can't believe that JL would have more than $2 cost per body complete. Bumpers, glass, body and paint.
The chassis is another story altogether..... :freak:
So, what do you think?
And my reason for asking?
I am interested in doing a run of bodies if it is economically feasible.
(But it doesn't seem likely...)
Scott
It seems the math doesn't want to add up here.
We will take $50,000 for one body as a base line to set up a mold and make one run of 12,000 bodies.
That breaks down to $4.17 cost per body.
Now this does not take into account the other molds that make this happen.
Bumpers and glass molds.
I can't believe that JL would have more than $2 cost per body complete. Bumpers, glass, body and paint.
The chassis is another story altogether..... :freak:
So, what do you think?
And my reason for asking?
I am interested in doing a run of bodies if it is economically feasible.
(But it doesn't seem likely...)
Scott
Yes , at $50,000.00 dollars a body the numbers don't add up for JL, BUT remember Jl has these things made in China, and the reason for that - it is probably less than half of the $50,000.00 a quailty USA company like M.Ousley runs. If the price were even close don't you think JL would use a Domestic company and save big time on the shipping/importing end.
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Your math doesn't work out, as the numbers you've plugged in aren't correct.....or at least this would be my guess.noddaz said:
I would bet PM/JL is paying somewhere in the $25K range per car (including glass & bumpers) for molding (It's China after all) and will produce or have the ability to produce closer to 25,000 ~ 50,000 bodies from said mold...hence the reason we see the same car in different colors so often, they have to pay for the mold. Again, this is just a guess, but probably closer to the numbers your trying to run through your equation.
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www.SlotCarJohnnies.com
That isn't really how the pricing works. Of course you must have a mold to make parts, but after that point, the only cost you incur is the machine time needed to make the parts. So really, it wouldn't be $50,000 / 12,000 cars = $4.17 / 1 car. Instead it would be more like $.50 / 1 car (for machine time). Granted, you would need to make enough of a profit off of sales to pay for the mold. Keep in mind that the $50,000 was just an estimate--it could be less but it could be more.
I could get a much more accurate quote for you (for free) if you would like to ship a sample car body to us for us to review. We could quote building a mold and also the price per part if you are serious in your interest.
Also, there are molds called 'family molds' where more than one part can be made at once. So theoretically you could make several car bodies at once. That would be much more economically feasible as machine time would be used more efficiently.
I could get a much more accurate quote for you (for free) if you would like to ship a sample car body to us for us to review. We could quote building a mold and also the price per part if you are serious in your interest.
Also, there are molds called 'family molds' where more than one part can be made at once. So theoretically you could make several car bodies at once. That would be much more economically feasible as machine time would be used more efficiently.
Just checking back in to see if there is any interest in making some car bodies? Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] if you have any questions. :thumbsup:
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