who should i have make my products, and how much should...

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

i expect to pay? i know that’s two very broad questions, but here’s my story.

i design car accessories, and then want them made in carbon fiber and flat black fiber glass, or black plastic (plastic prefferably).

so let me first ask: is there any very good and cheap companies that anyone knows of? also, since everyone here does carbon fiber products, would anyone want to make them for me? i wont need very many made and would like the cheapest prices possible. (if you would like to try to do it personally for me, please PM me with info and link to things you’ve made already)

what i’ve done so far is found a company that makes carbon fiber accessories for cars, but also makes custom products. the first piece is a customized version of this: http://www.tcarbon.com/misc/valence.jpg – they’ve told me that it is a relatively easy part to make.

how much do YOU think i should be paying for a mold and for each individual piece of one of those? (cf and fiberglass/plastic)

any input would be good – a guy who wants to make my pieces for me – good quality and cheaper would be even better

#2

What are the dimensions of the piece?

#3

hmmm, about 20" x 6"

#4

cmon guys all these views and almost no one wants to make some money by making products for me?

#5

well when you use the words cheap and quality you scare people off cause in the composites business they really don’t go hand in hand. You need some more pics of different angles if you could too so we can get a real feel of what the part is and the angles it has. I would be interested just need some more pics of it if I could

#6

I don’t do auto stuff, but I agree when you mention cheap, everybody goes running out the door. Cheap, quality, and custom - which word doesn’t fit with the other two?

“I don’t need very many made” That means the initial cost will be much higher because you can’t spread the cost of the mold, overhead, & startup expenses over a long run of parts.

Black plastic equates to injection molding ($$$ tooling costs) or a casting resin. Another mold needs to be made for this part or the design of this taken into account when making a mold for a laminated part.

Your approach isn’t being received well because no one wants to accept any business or recommend a company when the customer is already wanting it cheap & only a few parts.

Just my opinion & everbody’s got one. - Bob

#7

could not have said it better myself! We are not knocking what you want to do just being relistic

#8

“Black plastic equates to injection molding…” or vacuum forming.

But the others have hit the nail on the head…cheap and quality don’t go together and low #'s are even worst.

#9

sorta like saying I want you to build me a mold and make 3 pieces, and I want them perfect and cheap.
Ok I will do it,
how about a hundered grand each?

#10

OK, I agree with GGROP, It looks like a vacuum formed part as a possibility. I would need better pictures. If it is Vacuum formed I would have to expand the model. I could do that by taking a dupe off the original, then cutting it into 4 quarters and then adding shrinkage compensation between all the sections. I then would take a "Cheap mold out of it and then I could drill some Cheap holes into it and Vac form some Cheap ABS off it and then trim it on a cheap trim fixture. Depending on how many parts are needed, I could laser trim it. I would shoot a cost out for the mold at about $600 and then for the initial part $40 dollars along with a mold setup cost of $75
Every time you order parts the setup charge gets added. if you do parts in lots of 50 or more we drop the set-up. if you put a purchase order in for 50 parts we would do the vacuum forming and trimming for $17 each unpainted.
$24.00 painted in primer