Due to the benefits of making investment castings in China, Chinese investment casting industry is booming at a high speed recently years. More and more foreign companies turn to China to purchase custom investment castings for the low price and increased service.
Normally the cost of a new develpped investment casting part is tooling cost and unit price.
Tooling cost
Tooling cost refers to the production cost of casting molds, which is mainly made of aluminum alloy. Compared with forging molds, cost of investment casting mould is much lower. Normally a pair of aluminum mold for investment casting is around 800usd-2000usd, which is decided by the structure of products.
Investment Casting Part Cost Analysis
The cost calculation is based on our own experience in Ningbo, China.
Investment casting parts cost= material cost + processing cost + package cost + tax cost + shipping cost
Material cost is mainly calculated according to the ingots that will be melton for pouring. It is mainly up to the weight of product. Estimated material cost= product weight × 1.2 × raw material cost
Processing cost: Labour cost takes up the main percentage of processing cost. In China, the salary of a worker a day is around 50usd.
When you send an RFQ, it’s important to share as many as possible with your supplier. Each of the investment casting parts project are custom made to meet individual company’s requirements.
Here are few points:
The drawings
It’s best to provide drawings in 2D and 3D format, these are accuracy information that tell some important factors such as part weight, material specification, heat treatment, surface treatment, ect.
The materials
Material selection depends on the requirement of the investment casting parts, even if the material is US or other countries’ standard, your investment casting foundry should be able to supply equivalent Chinese material to keep the mechanical properties. Stainless steel casting is the most expensive during all investment castings for its high material cost.
The surface requirement
The surface requirement will influence the application of investment castings, such as wet painting, powder coating, zinc plating, anodizing, ect. These will all affect the cost of a finished investment
casting part.
The heat treatment
It’s quite critical to give the expected heat treatment requirement, it will affect the final cost.
The target price
If you have limited budget and need to start the project urgent, to save time, offer your target price directly, and let the supplier check if they can meet directly.
The time
Let the investment casting maker know the schedule so they can plan the production well, nothing is rush or fall behind.
The sample time?
The mass production time?
Besides, large quantity will also help to achieve a low price for our customers.
In conclusion, it is really attractive if the supplier can offer a good price. But it does not mean they can provide high quality products, for purchasers, it is more important to choose a reliable investment casting supplier who can deliver good quality products with reasonable prices.