Am 25.10.2010 um 13:09 schrieb W. B. Kranendonk: > > --- On Sat, 10/23/10, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller <h...@goldelico.com> wrote: >> Well, an alternative approach could be to open a funds for >> a new injection mould. I.e. >> a "Openmoko Case Production Foundation" (or German e.V.). >> Everyone who gives >> some money for the funds can buy cases at a reduced rate. >> And everyone can buy a case. > It sounds as a viable alternative. > >> An injection mould costs somewhere around 20-100 k EUR. So >> if we get >> 300 community members to donate 100 EUR into the funds... > A friend of mine used to be in the injection mould business; he designed and > produced the moulds in Vietnam. > I asked if he got some advice or an idea what the cost would be. I showed him > my freerunner as example of where we come from. His input: > - nice design (@freerunner) > - moulds at 0.2 mm precision are not a problem, 0.1 mm requires more effort > - depending on design, moulds start at some 6000 euro (or dollar, slipped my > mind)
Yes, that is the same range what Protomold did quote for the middle part (i.e. one piece out of 10 of a complete case). The mould for the Power button is less expensive: approx. 1500 EUR. I.e. 10 buttons @ 150 EUR each :) But - the case is not even produceable by the Protomold process because it has undercuts which needs insets and quite complex mechanical constructions for a mould and drives cost extremely. > - one case needs more than one mould Yes. Some parts could be combined in a single mould and then broken apart. Like in toys where you do it yourself. But this does not reduce mould construction cost. > - besides Vietnam, Czech is another country that can provide moulds at > competitive prices > > Cases like that of the Freerunner, with more than one plastic, need more than > one mould per piece. To say more of the price, it is necessary to have the > design available. The Maybe you can ask your friend if he has some contacts to Czech companies (which would be EU and simplify import/export). You can contact me by private mail about that. And, we have the CAD files of the original Freerunner. > most affordable option he says, would be to reuse Openmoko's mould if it is > available. Yes, I discussed that approach with Sean for quite a while and his team worked heavily on it (TNX :). But they don't own or have the moulds in their hands. > All in all nothing conclusive or very new I guess, but I liked to give the > input anyway. Yes, it is an independent view which is very important to hear. BR, Nikolaus _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
