Tooling Cost for Die Casting
Tooling cost appears as Hard Tooling Cost in the cost taxonomy under Capital Costs. It includes cost for the following:
• Materials
• Labor
• Miscellaneous services
• Markup
• SG&A
A number of user setup options affect tooling costs—see User Inputs for Die Casting.
Tool Life for Die Casting
The tooling model estimates the number of parts that can be produced with a given tool before it wears to the point that it needs to be replaced. Based on that estimate, the cost model determines the number of tools required to manufacture the production volume specified in the Production Scenario tab of the Cost Guide, and accounts for that number of tools in total hard tooling cost.
Tool-life estimation is based on part material, and adjusted for tool material and tool coating type, as follows:
1 To determine an unadjusted value for the number of shots that can be endured by a single tool, the cost model looks up this number by part material in the lookup table tblToolLife.
2 This value is then multiplied by the number of mold cavities (see Number of Mold Cavities for Die Casting), yielding the unadjusted number of parts that can be produced by a single mold.
3 The result is then adjusted for mold material (see the setup option Base Tool Material) by multiplying it by the tool shop property Tool Life Factor for the current mold material.
4 That result is then adjusted for mold coating by multiplying it by the Tool Life Improvement Factor looked up lookup in the table tblToolCoating by coating type (see the setup option Plating of Die Components).
For a given costing, either the formula Dependencies or Investment tab displays the number of tools assumed by tooling cost calculations.
Mold Material Costs for Die Casting
Mold material costs include costs for the following:
• Mold base
• Ejection system
• Cooling system
• Unscrewing mechanism (if any)
Costs for ejection and cooling systems are adjusted with a region multiplier, specified as a toolshop variable.
The mold base can be standard or custom (see Mold Construction in User Inputs for Die Casting). Standard mold base cost is calculated based on the size of the mold and the mold material. Standard mold size is based on the part dimensions, the number of cavities, and the number of required side cores.
The cost depends on size together with properties of the mold material (specified as toolshop variables):
• Coeff A
• Coeff B
• Coeff C
• Height Multiplier
It also includes the costs of the following:
• Mold base
• Ejector pins
• Electrodes
• Slides
Custom mold base costs include the costs of the following:
• Cavity plates
• Core plate
• Electrodes
• Ejector base
• Guide pins
• Socket head screws
• Side locks
• Leader pins
• Sprue bushings
• Sprue spreader
• Stop pins
• Support pillars
• Limit switches
• Locating rings
• Core pins
• Dowel pins
Mold Labor Costs for Die Casting
Mold labor costs include the following:
• Design cost
• CNC machining cost
• General machining cost
• EDM machining cost
• Bench finishing
• Mold assembly
• Spotting
• Inspection
• Cutter paths design
• Water lines drilling
Labor costs are affected by tolerance settings, among other setup options—see User Inputs for Die Casting.
Mold Services Costs
Costs for miscellaneous tool services includes costs for all the following that are enabled (see User Inputs for Die Casting):
• Stress relief
• Heat treatment
• Texturing
• Plating
• Freight
• Import Duty
• Tryouts
Costs for texturing and plating are adjusted with a region multiplier, specified as a toolshop variable.
Tooling Reports
The Tooling Spreadsheet Report contains a breakdown of tooling costs. Select SpreadSheet Reports from the Reports menu, and then select Tooling Report from the dropdown menu:
The report includes the following categories:
