Price and Project Saving Ideas

Taurus Engineering and Manufacturing is known around the world for it’s ability to think outside of the box that most molders are in.

Ways we can save you money:

• If you currently machine plastic parts, and require more than 100 parts per year, we may be able to save you money, even after building the mold.
• If you are currently using cast urethane parts to get you by, we can likely save you money by injection molding them if the parts are under 6 cubic inches and simple in geometry.
• If you require an overmolded part, we can likely do it cheaper using hand transfer, if your required volumes are under 10,000 parts per year. (Automated tooling is very expensive)
• We can help you identify expensive features in your parts so you can reduce, or eliminate them.

Out of the Box Case Histories :

1. We have made several stamping dies for copper contacts, then molded those contacts into plastic parts for the automotive market.
2. We had a customer that was desperate to get parts and didn’t know where else to turn. He gave us the mold order on Friday before closing, we ran parts for him the next Monday morning and delivered parts to his location on Tuesday! Less than 3 business days and he had parts in his hands.
3. A customer needed a part using 3 different resins. We figured out how to get him the parts he needed.
4. A major medical company was trying for years to figure out how to mold a test part with 2 stainless steel blocks in it. Nobody would tackle this project because of the strict requirements, even their own in-house molding facility. We did it and succeeded in getting them good parts!
5. Some customers need special treatment in the area of terms, we will do what we can to accommodate the “specials”.

General guidelines
for a good part design that can save you money

1. All wall sections should be as uniform thickness as possible.
2. Generally wall sections should be no less than 1/16” and no thicker than 1/8”. With 3/32” being quite common on many smaller parts.
3. Watch to make sure that corner radii matches so you don’t have thicker or thinner wall sections in the corners.
4. Undercuts increase mold costs.
5. Parting lines that are not flat increase mold costs.
6. Holes requiring slide-by shut-offs increase mold cost.
7. Deep cavities over roughly 2-1/2” may cost more because standard MUD mold bases only come 2-7/8” thick. It helps if you can split a deeper cavity between the 2 mold halves when over 2-1/2” deep.
8. Allow draft in your design. Parts without draft tend to cause serious molding issues. Usually 1 degree per side is sufficient unless the part is textured.
9. Tight tolerances will cause higher mold and part costs.
10. Thick walls (usually over .100”) can affect the cycle time, thus affecting part price.
11. Thin walls (usually under .050”) may cause parts to be hard to mold, thus affecting the part price. Usually walls can dip down to as little as .015” without affecting molding, as long as it is in a very small confined area.
12. Areas with dead sharp corners can trap gas and be hard to fill.
13. Pointed features on a part can be hard to fill.
14. Small lettering can be hard to fill because of trapped gas if it is deeper than 2x the letter wall thickness.
15. Keep in mind that parts need to be ejected from the mold. Allow room for some type of ejection. Pins are cheapest. Blade ejectors, sleeve ejectors and stripper plates add significant cost.

You can also check out our Testimonials page to see what people have been saying about Taurus Engineering and Manufacturing.

To learn a more about pricing, click here.