plastic enclosures

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stbtrax
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 8:40 pm

plastic enclosures

Post by stbtrax »

I am wondering how much it costs to make those plastic enclosures like the arduino one adafruit sells.
What kindof costs can be expected assuming I have the design ready? i.e. molding tooling, injecting. Is this really cost prohibitive under a certain number of units?

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Franklin97355
 
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Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:33 pm

Re: plastic enclosures

Post by Franklin97355 »

Is this really cost prohibitive under a certain number of units?
The answer is it depends on where the cost becomes prohibitive to you. Even at $50 for the mold I wouldn't buy just one.

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chuckm
 
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Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 3:31 am

Re: plastic enclosures

Post by chuckm »

To make a fully custom case would probably be cost prohibitive, but there are many options which can give your product a professional look but at a much more affordable price.

Take a look at the Pac-Tec site for example. their XP series (http://www.pactecenclosures.com/Plastic ... es/XP.html) could easily hold an arduino and some extra stuff. Its $2.27 each in modest quantities.

The key to these kinds of enclosures are that the ends/tops/sides are removable and generally pretty flat. If you have a laser cutter (even the cheapy 35W ones) you can make an enclosure with nice looking ingress and egress ports for your I/O.

One of my favorites is the HP-9VB which has a built in 9V battery holder.

Then there are places like LMB (http://www.lmbheeger.com/products.asp?catid=28) They make chassis out of metal, (which can also be laser cut with a bigger laser) and have been a staple in the 'one off' instruments space. While somewhat "old school" their plastic cases with dual end covers like this one: http://www.lmbheeger.com/products.asp?catid=63 are pretty nice.

Finally you can do something "semi" custom where you use a standard back part from a manufacturer and just make a cast piece for the front.

--Chuck

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richms
 
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Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:05 am

Re: plastic enclosures

Post by richms »

Mould cost will depend on complexity, different injection moulders have different requirements. Case like the arduino one is going to be about as cheap as it gets, once you start to need sliding parts and ejector pins and a shallow draft angle then things get expensive. Level of finish affects it as well, since a spark eroded finish needs a decent draft angle or it stops it ejecting the part, a gloss finish means that the mold has to be mirror smooth and that means more concern about wear.

I had to price up the cost of a mould for my product design project and it was $2000+ locally,so thats probably about $5-600 in china, and that was for something similar size to the arduino case but with more parts.

pstemari
 
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Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: plastic enclosures

Post by pstemari »

That little? I was under the general impression that injection molds typically started at $5-10k.

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rizla420
 
Posts: 332
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:03 pm

Re: plastic enclosures

Post by rizla420 »

From my experience getting a custom plastic part made (a 3.5" half parabola LED reflector) in China, the most expensive part is the initial cast that's machined for your part. Typically its some metal mold that they inject the plastic in. I believe i paid about $800 or so for that, then the cost of each piece was less than a buck i believe. Its def costly and a risk to take because if your product doesnt take off you're left sitting with an expensive part somewhere in china that cant be used for much else. The complexity of your enclosure would def add to the cost. I have to say though, its a cool feeling when you see something you designed churned out 100% the way you designed it. It took some back and forths to get my design right, of which you will have to pay for. Make sure you get all your designs checked a thousand times, the more mistakes you make the more money it will cost..

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