Before you pay for a steel mold, the part has to be designed for molding. Injection molding design services turn your product idea or rough CAD into tooling-ready files: uniform walls, draft, ribs, bosses, snap fits and drawings a toolmaker can quote. This guide covers what those services cost, what you should receive, and how to hire the right designer.
Injection molding design cost
- DFM review of existing CAD: usually $150 to $800 per part depending on depth. Our CAD repair and DFM review starts at $190.
- Single molded part designed from scratch: roughly $400 to $1,200. Ours is $490 per part.
- Multi-part plastic product (up to 12 parts): typically $1,500 to $5,000. Ours is $1,890.
- Tooling-ready production package: $5,000 and up, often $10,000+ at Western engineering firms. Ours starts at $4,900 for up to 40 parts.
See the full engineering pricing.
What a tooling-ready package includes
- Parametric CAD plus STEP files for your toolmaker
- Uniform wall thickness suited to the resin (ABS, PC, PC/ABS, PP, nylon)
- Draft angles on every face that pulls from the mold
- Ribs and bosses sized to avoid sink marks
- Snap fits and fastener features designed for assembly
- Undercut review to avoid unnecessary side actions and tooling cost
- 2D drawings with critical dimensions, tolerances and cosmetic surfaces marked
- Bill of materials for multi-part products
- Prototype print files to check fit before tooling
Why good molding design saves money
Every design mistake found after the mold is cut costs steel changes, delays and sometimes a new tool. Mistakes found in CAD cost an hour of modeling. A few hundred dollars of DFM work routinely saves thousands in tooling revisions, and cleaner designs reduce cycle time and unit cost for the life of the product.
Who hires injection molding design services
- Hardware startups preparing for their first production run
- Amazon and DTC brands launching private-label or improved products
- Industrial designers who need engineering behind their surfaces
- Brands moving from 3D printing to molding as volumes grow
- Companies whose supplier changed and who need their own files
How to hire a plastic part designer
Ask each candidate:
- Which resins and processes have you designed for?
- Will I receive native CAD, STEP and drawings?
- Do you include a DFM report, or just a model?
- How many revision rounds, and one after my prototype?
- Who owns the files when I pay?
- Will you sign an NDA before I share the design?
Our CAD design service answers yes to all six: native and STEP files, drawings, DFM notes, prototype files, a revision after your test and full ownership on payment.
Get a quote
Send sketches, existing CAD or photos, the resin and your target quantities. You get a fixed price within one working day. Request an injection molding design quote.
