Most aluminum die casting factories do not enforce a rigid MOQ once the die is cut. Batches of 500 parts are normal. The real minimum is economic: below about 500 parts per year, CNC machining from billet is usually cheaper because a $8,000 to $15,000 die cannot be amortised. Between 500 and 2,000 parts per year the answer depends on part weight, machining content and whether a simplified tool is acceptable. Above about 2,000 parts per year, die casting is usually the lower-cost route and stays that way through hundreds of thousands of parts. State annual volume and the three-year outlook on the RFQ; those two numbers set cavity count, machine selection and whether we recommend casting at all.
Buyers ask for MOQ because they have been trained by trading companies and platforms that publish a number. In a factory the number is rarely a policy. It is the point where the die, the melt and the setup cost less per good part than the alternative process.
That is a more useful conversation than “what is your minimum.”
There is no rigid MOQ on an existing die
Once a production tool is cut and T1 is approved, we run the batch the customer needs. 500-piece releases are common. 200-piece releases happen on service parts and engineering changes. 10,000-piece releases happen when inventory and freight prefer a fuller container.
What changes with batch size is not permission. It is setup cost per part.
| Release size | Typical extras per part | When it is the right batch |
|---|---|---|
| 200–400 | High: melt, die heat-up, first-off, fixture setup | Service parts, ECO, line-down |
| 500–2,000 | Moderate | Most first production releases |
| 2,000–10,000 | Low | Steady OEM programs |
| 10,000+ | Lowest, if inventory cost allows | High-runners, export consolidation |
Twelve monthly releases of 1,700 parts and four quarterly releases of 5,100 have the same annual volume and different costs, because each run carries two to four hours of cell setup and thermal stabilisation. If you can hold inventory, fewer larger releases win.
The real floor is the new-program break-even
A new die is a fixed cost. The question is not “will you accept 800 parts.” It is “does 800 parts a year repay the tool against machining the same geometry from billet.”
For a 400 g housing the comparison looks like this. Machining needs no tool and holds tighter as-machined tolerance. Casting needs a die and then a cheaper cycle forever after.
| Annual volume | Machined piece price | Cast piece + tooling / year | Usually choose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | $38 | $6.50 + $9,000 ≈ $51.50 | CNC |
| 500 | $36 | $6.80 + $18.00 = $24.80 | CNC, unless design is frozen and a second year is certain |
| 1,000 | $34 | $6.60 + $9.00 = $15.60 | Close; often machine year one, tool year two |
| 2,000 | $32 | $6.50 + $4.50 = $11.00 | Die casting |
| 10,000 | $30 | $6.20 + $0.90 = $7.10 | Die casting |
| 50,000 | $28 | $5.70 + $0.18 = $5.88 | Die casting, often two-cavity |
The crossover in pure cash sits near 300 parts on this housing. The practical decision sits higher, because tooling also costs 25 to 40 days and freezes geometry. Below 500 parts a year we usually recommend CNC machining. Above 2,000, casting is the default unless the drawing calls for 6061 or 7075, which cannot be die cast.
Many OEM programs still start as machined parts and move to a die later. If the drawing is not ready to cast, that is the conversation we will have on the quote.
Volume changes the tool, not just the discount
Piece price does not fall in a straight line as volume rises. It steps when the process changes.
| Volume band | Typical tool and cell | What you are paying for |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1,000 / year | Usually no production die | Machining, or a delayed tooling decision |
| 1,000–8,000 | Single-cavity, manual or semi-auto | Tooling amortisation still visible on the piece |
| 8,000–25,000 | Single-cavity or two-cavity | Cavity-count decision; machining fixture starts to matter |
| 25,000–80,000 | Two-cavity, often automated extraction | Conversion cost falls; finish and machining dominate |
| 80,000+ | Two or four cavities, dedicated cell | Tool life and refurbishment planning |
The tooling cost article shows the extra steel for a second cavity. The cost reduction article shows why machining and finish often exceed the casting conversion line once volume is healthy.
What to put on the RFQ so the quote is built on the right step
- Real annual volume, not a cautious placeholder. A quote built on 3,000 parts is a single-cavity quote. If demand is 20,000, you are locked into that tool.
- Three-year outlook, separately. A die can be designed as a unit die with room for a second insert set later.
- First release quantity, so setup and freight are quoted against the batch you will actually issue.
- Whether the design is frozen. If connector openings are still moving, do not buy production steel yet.
We would rather tell you to machine 800 parts this year than sell you a die that sits idle. That is also the honest answer when a buyer asks for MOQ and the real question is “is this part ready to cast.”
Sand casting and gravity casting sit in a different band
If annual volume is a few hundred and the part is thick-walled, sand casting or gravity permanent-mold can be the middle path: lower tooling than high pressure die casting, higher piece price, coarser as-cast surface. They are not substitutes for thin-wall HPDC housings, and they are not cheaper than CNC on small, precise parts.
Use the process that matches the volume and the wall thickness. Do not force high pressure die casting into a 300-piece year because the website said “no MOQ.”
How we quote first releases
On a new program the first production release after T1 approval is typically 500 to 2,000 parts. That quantity is enough to settle the process window, fill a machining fixture and ship a usable inventory without asking you to take six months of stock.
After that, batch size is yours. We will flag when a proposed release is so small that setup dominates, and we will flag when a proposed annual volume would justify a different cavity count.
Send the model, the drawing and those two volume numbers. The quote will say whether we recommend casting, machining, or machining now and casting later.
