What Drives Tooling Cost by Process
For sand casting, cost follows pattern material (wood, urethane, aluminum, or 3D printed patterns and printed sand molds), size, parting line complexity and the number and complexity of core boxes. For permanent mold, expect machined iron or steel molds with cores and ejection. For die casting, cost scales with die steel (commonly H13), cavity count, slides and lifters, cooling and overflow design, and trim die requirements.
Add sampling, first-article work and any design iterations after the first shots. Treat shrink allowance as a real engineering input: getting it wrong means modifying tooling after the first samples fail dimensional inspection.
- Sand: pattern material, size, core box count, match plates, gating
- Permanent mold: machined mold halves, cores, ejection, coating
- Die casting: die steel, cavities, slides, cooling, trim die, sampling
- Fixtures and gauges for machining and inspection are often forgotten
Amortization Without Losing Margin
If you carry tooling cost in the piece price, divide total tooling by committed units, not hoped-for units. A die costing 80,000 dollars amortized over 100,000 parts adds 80 cents per part, but if the customer orders 40,000 and leaves, you absorb the rest. Many foundries and die casters solve this by billing tooling separately, as a deposit with the PO and the balance at sample approval, and by writing minimum order quantities and tooling life clauses into the quote.
Make ownership explicit: who owns the tool, who stores it, who pays for refurbishment, and what happens if the customer moves the work.
Tooling Life and Maintenance Are Part of the Cost
Dies do not last forever. Aluminum die casting dies commonly see heat checking, erosion and soldering, and need polishing, welding repair, insert replacement and eventually re-cutting. Track shots against each die, not just the part number.
Plan on a maintenance reserve per shot rather than treating refurbishment as a surprise expense. For sand patterns, track wear and damage after each run, and bring patterns back for repair before dimensional drift becomes a scrap problem. If your ERP cannot count shots against a tool asset, a simple tool master with a shot counter updated from the production report is a start.
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Tracking Tooling as a Project in the ERP
Most job shop systems treat tooling as a line on a quote and then lose it. A better pattern is a tooling job with its own cost collection: pattern shop labor, outside tool vendor invoices, sample runs, and engineering changes. Then link the finished tool to the part number, record ownership, and attach amortization or billing milestones.
In JobBOSS, E2, Epicor or SyteLine this typically means a dedicated job or project type and a tool asset record. The payoff is that when the customer asks for a revision or a second source quote, you know what the tool really cost and who owns it.
- Create a tooling job type separate from production jobs
- Link tool records to part numbers and customer ownership
- Record shot counts or pour counts against the tool
- Store design revisions and modification history with the tool
When Not to Over-Engineer This
If you cast a small number of repeat parts on customer-owned tooling and the customer handles refurbishment, a simple tool list in your ERP is enough. Building shot-count integration, maintenance triggers and amortization schedules makes sense when you own many dies, run high volumes and have been surprised by refurbishment cost or lost tooling dollars. Start by listing every tool you hold, who owns it, and when it last ran.
That inventory alone often reveals abandoned tools and uncollected balances.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a die casting die cost?
It ranges widely with size, cavities and complexity. Small simple single-cavity dies can be in the tens of thousands of dollars, while large multi-slide or multi-cavity dies reach six figures. Get quotes from your tool shop with the part model, alloy, machine size and expected volume.
Who should own the pattern or die?
It is negotiable. Customer-owned tooling protects the customer if they need to move the work, while supplier-owned tooling can lower upfront cost. Whichever you choose, put ownership, storage, maintenance responsibility and tooling life expectations in writing before the first shot.
How many shots does a die last?
It varies by alloy, die steel, design, temperature control and maintenance. Aluminum dies often last from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand shots or more, while zinc dies generally last longer. Use your own history per die rather than a generic number.
Should tooling be in the piece price?
Only if you are comfortable absorbing the shortfall when volume falls short. Many suppliers bill tooling separately or require a minimum quantity. If you amortize in the piece price, base it on committed volume and state the recovery terms in the quote.
We can help you pull tooling history, shot counts and ownership out of your existing ERP and spreadsheets and ask questions about them in plain English, on your own hardware.