A single-cavity production die for a small to medium aluminum part typically costs $3,000 to $12,000. Larger housings, two-cavity tools and dies with slides land in the $12,000 to $25,000 range, and complex multi-slide tools go higher. The quote is driven by projected area, slide count, cavity count and expected tool life, not by a price list. On a 480 g A380 housing, a $9,400 single-cavity die with two slides is the right tool at 8,000 parts a year; the $16,200 two-cavity version only pays back once annual volume passes roughly 18,000. Paying less than the geometry requires usually means a lighter die base, no slide allowance, or a 40,000-shot tool on a 200,000-shot program.
A die casting tooling quote is not a catalogue price. It is an engineering judgement about how much steel, how many moving cores and how many cavities your geometry and volume justify. Two factories quoting the same STEP file can be $8,000 apart and both be telling the truth, because they assumed different tools.
This article is the number you can take into that conversation: typical ranges, what actually moves them, and a worked housing so the arithmetic is visible.
Typical tooling cost ranges
These are production H13 dies for aluminum, quoted as a one-time charge, for parts we see most often. Soft tooling and zinc tools sit in a different band.
| Tool class | Typical part | Typical cost | Lead time to T1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple single-cavity | Bracket, small cover, no slides | $3,000–$7,000 | 25–30 days |
| Medium single-cavity | Housing or enclosure, 1–2 slides | $7,000–$14,000 | 28–35 days |
| Large or multi-slide | Complex housing, 3+ slides | $14,000–$25,000+ | 35–45 days |
| Two-cavity production | Same part, balanced runner | +50–80% vs one cavity | +3–7 days |
| Four-cavity production | High annual volume, smaller parts | + another 50–80% | +7–12 days |
The die casting tooling page covers steel grades, die life and what happens after T1. The ranges above are what buyers actually need first.
Prototype or 3D-printed cavity inserts can come in well under $3,000. They are useful for 50 to 300 parts while a design is still moving. They are not a substitute for a production die, and treating them as one is how programs stall at the first real release.
What the quote is actually paying for
A production die is a stack of steel, machining hours and process design.
| Element | What it covers | How it scales |
|---|---|---|
| Die base | P20 or S50C plates, guide pillars, ejector box | With machine size and projected area |
| Cavity and core inserts | Vacuum-hardened H13, 46–50 HRC | With part envelope and surface detail |
| Slides and cores | Moving steel, wear plates, actuation | Per undercut the part cannot live without |
| Runner, gate, overflow, vent | Fill path designed and usually simulated | With cavity count and thin-wall length |
| Cooling circuits | Drilled or baffled channels in both halves | With thermal mass and cycle-time target |
| Ejection and trim interface | Pins, sleeves, return springs, trim-die match | With part stiffness and gate location |
| Design and simulation | Parting line, DFM, mold-flow, drawings | With slide count and porosity risk |
The steel is not the expensive part on a medium tool. Design hours and slide mechanisms are. That is why a 200 g part with three undercuts can cost more to tool than a 1.2 kg open housing with a clean parting line.
The four decisions that move the number
1. Slides
If a feature cannot leave the die in the opening direction, it needs a slide or a loose core. Each slide typically adds $1,500 to $4,000 on a medium tool, lengthens the cycle, and becomes a maintenance item for the life of the die.
The cheapest slide is the one you never buy. Reorient the parting line, add a through-window, or accept a machined undercut after casting. The design guide walks through when a slide is justified.
2. Projected area
Projected area in the parting plane sets clamping force and therefore machine size. A larger machine needs a larger die base. A 400-ton tool is a different piece of steel from a 160-ton tool even when the cavity looks similar.
3. Cavity count
Adding a cavity does not double the price, because the die base, ejection and much of the cooling are shared. It does add insert steel, a balanced runner and usually a larger machine.
| Cavities | Extra tooling vs 1-cavity | Conversion saving per part | Rough lifetime break-even |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | $5,000–$8,000 | $0.30–$0.45 | ~15,000–22,000 parts |
| 4 | $16,000–$24,000 vs 1-cavity | $0.50–$0.70 vs 1-cavity | ~50,000–70,000 parts |
Those break-evens are lifetime, not annual. A four-cavity die on a 40,000-unit program is over-tooled. The MOQ and volume article works the same arithmetic from the piece-price side.
4. Expected shots
A die scoped for 40,000 shots can be built lighter and cheaper than one scoped for 150,000. If the program will run for five years at 30,000 a year, the cheap tool is the expensive one: you will pay for a second die, plus the downtime and sample loop that comes with it.
Worked example: 480 g housing
A 480 g A380 electronics housing, two slides, sealing face to be machined, 8,000 parts in year one, 20,000 a year from year two.
| Option | Tooling | Piece price at 8,000 / yr | Piece price at 20,000 / yr | Year-1 cash | Three-year cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-cavity, 2 slides | $9,400 | $8.90 | $8.40 | $80,600 | $413,400 |
| 2-cavity, 2 slides | $16,200 | $8.35 | $7.85 | $83,000 | $392,200 |
At the year-one volume the single-cavity die wins on cash. Once the run-rate is 20,000, the two-cavity die has already repaid the extra $6,800 and is cheaper every year after. The right answer is the outlook, not the first PO.
If that housing is quoted at $4,200 for tooling, ask what was left out. The usual omissions are one of the slides treated as a post-cast machine feature, a shorter tool-life assumption, or no trim die.
What a complete tooling quote should include
Ask for these lines in writing. If they are missing, the cheap number is incomplete.
- Cavity count and slide count, named.
- Insert steel (H13 or equivalent) and hardness band.
- Expected shots before refurbishment, and the refurbishment price.
- Whether a trim die is included.
- T1 sample quantity and what happens if dimensions miss.
- Ownership: the die is yours once paid for, stored at the factory, never used for another customer.
- Lead time to T1 and to first production after approval.
We quote tooling this way on every program. Send a STEP file and annual volume on the contact page and you will get cavity-count arithmetic, not a single unexplained number.
When a cheaper tool is the right tool
Not every program needs a 120,000-shot H13 die.
- Design still moving. Machine the first 50 to 200 parts, or use a simplified cavity, until the sealing faces and connector openings stop changing.
- Annual volume under about 1,000. CNC machining usually wins on total cost. We say so.
- Bridge quantity. A single-cavity tool with manual slides can launch a product while a multi-cavity die is designed for year two.
The mistake is buying the cheap production die you intend to run for five years. That is not a saving. It is a deferred second tool.
How to get a number you can defend internally
- Send STEP plus a 2D drawing that marks critical faces. Geometry-only quotes assume tolerances.
- State real annual volume and a three-year outlook separately.
- Say whether draft is already applied.
- Ask for one-cavity and two-cavity prices when volume sits near the break-even.
- Ask for piece price with tooling paid upfront and with tooling amortised.
That package is enough for a 24 to 48 hour tooling and piece-price quote. The CAD preparation checklist covers the files that keep the quote from changing after T1.
