COSTS AFFECTING YOUR CASTING PRICE


14


More than metal and other material costs go into the price of your cast component and tooling.


AN MCDP STAFF REPORT E metals pricing. 1


MELTING—Te electricity required to melt the metal for your casting is based on the pour weight, which can be significantly higher than the cast- ing weight, depending on gating and risering. Energy accounts for about 5-7% of operationg cost and more than 50% of that cost is melting.


2 26 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | Mar/Apr 2014


stimating the cost of a casting requires knowing all the variables of the metalcasting process. Depending on your casting supplier and component, these can change due to the type of metal required and specific process to be used. To help build your knowledge of these variables, the fol- lowing is a list of 14 factors commonly used when estimat- ing the cost of a casting. It is not intended to be a complete


list, but a foundation to build upon in further discussions with your suppliers.


METAL—Te cost of the metal required for your casting depends heavily on the material desired. While iron typically accounts for about 10-25% of total cost, aluminum can escalate to 40-60%. Several online databases provide up-to-date


performed in a variety of ways. With permanent molds, molding costs will be nil, though tooling will have to be factored in. Expendable molds, sand molds for example, should comprise a maximum of 5-10% of the total casting cost (while also having a tooling cost).


3


Pouring and melting, accounted together, make up roughly 15-20% of your casting costs.


4


POURING—Tis opera- tion can be performed either manually or automatically.


MOLDING—A relatively small percentage of the total casting cost, molding can be


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