Roto casting on the cheap?

[vancegeoffmen]

Is it possible to do roto-casting without having to pay $10,000 to get a mold made? Just a general question really. I've been wanting to get into rotocasting for my ideas, but the prices have been very discouraging when it comes to a factory doing it.
Also, Yes, I have looked at the How-cast home rotocasting machine.
Any Ideas?

[JediJaida]

Just out of curiosity, I went to alibaba.com, and looked up doll heads.

Even at .51 to .59 cents apiece, multiplied by at least 1,000, you would be looking at a cost of $5,000.00 dollars!

I don't know how much they would charge to have a mold made, but probably at least half to three quarters of that same amount.

So, and this is iffy math I admit, you'd be looking at a total cost of at least 8,000 smackers to have 1,000 heads made.

Never mind the shipping! Oy!

[JediJaida]

And they have the nerve to call that a 'minimum'!

Seems more like a maximum to me.

[LonnieFisher]

What type of material do you want roto-cast?

[vancegeoffmen]

What type of material do you want roto-cast?

PVC to form into soft vinyl. reason I was worried about the how cast one was just that I wasn't sure what he was using as far as a heating source if he as doing PVC beads. If he was doing resin, I don't see a problem. I've just heard that roto-casting resin is not a good way to go, I mean when it's thin, its very brittle. thanks for the comments by the way, guys, I really appreciate it!

[JediJaida]

No problem.

One of these days I just might get up the capital and chutzpah, and come out with my own line of heads.

[LonnieFisher]

I roto-cast resin all the time with no problems. It doesn't have to be thin...

[rche]

I wanna see a pic of your setup Lonnie.

[MegoSteve]

Just out of curiosity, I went to alibaba.com, and looked up doll heads.

Even at .51 to .59 cents apiece, multiplied by at least 1,000, you would be looking at a cost of $5,000.00 dollars!

I don't know how much they would charge to have a mold made, but probably at least half to three quarters of that same amount.

So, and this is iffy math I admit, you'd be looking at a total cost of at least 8,000 smackers to have 1,000 heads made.

Never mind the shipping! Oy!

1000 x 59 cents = $590, not $5000.

[palitoy]

I import plastics from China for work now, so I get rotocast head quotes out of curiousity all the time. The best price I've gotten is $1.50 X 1,000 but I'm really not convinced they understand what I want.

[LonnieFisher]

I import plastics from China for work now, so I get rotocast head quotes out of curiousity all the time. The best price I've gotten is $1.50 X 1,000 but I'm really not convinced they understand what I want.

That sounds like a decent price if they are painted.

[sprytel]

I import plastics from China for work now, so I get rotocast head quotes out of curiousity all the time. The best price I've gotten is $1.50 X 1,000 but I'm really not convinced they understand what I want.

At that price, you could sell them at $5 a pop and break even after 300. That sounds pretty realistic, actually.

[JediJaida]

I realized that I flubbed the math before I went to bed last night. (Told ya it was iffy!)

Now, 510.00 - 590.00 might not sound like a lot of money, but there's the molding, the tooling for the molding, the casting, the painting, etc.

It's going to add up, and up, and up.

Sure, you could break even after selling a certain amount of heads for a certain amount of money.

I know that a lot of people on this board have experience with making silicone molds, but where would we go to get metal ones made?

Just out of curiosity.

[TrueDave]

I realized that I flubbed the math before I went to bed last night. (Told ya it was iffy!)

Now, 510.00 - 590.00 might not sound like a lot of money, but there's the molding, the tooling for the molding, the casting, the painting, etc.

It's going to add up, and up, and up.

Sure, you could break even after selling a certain amount of heads for a certain amount of money.

I know that a lot of people on this board have experience with making silicone molds, but where would we go to get metal ones made?

Just out of curiosity.

I used to cast Aluminum and Bronze at the local Universitys foundry a lot.
When I was active with the "Creepy Crawlers" board we were talking about making Major Matt Mason Creepy Crawler molds. Funding fell through.
Those "crawler" molds wer mostly zinc or lead, I dunno.

making a "lost Wax" aluminum mold doesnt seem so hard if you pay the studio and materials fee. Just make a wax "sculpture" of a mold.
But how it's used and the material will dictate the design. I'm fuzzy on that .

You want metal so you can "cook" the material right?

[vancegeoffmen]

I wanna see a pic of your setup Lonnie.

Me too, does it come out soft or is it still hard plastic