How should I mass produce a plastic ring?

[bohojig]

I've designed a plastic ring I would like to be mass produced. (Its a rectangular box on top of a simple ring shank)
I can make it in brass or silver for a mold.
I would prefer a run of 3-4k, but number could drop to around 400 due to cost.
Then I also want to be able to paint them with a simple design.
I'd prefer a local manufacturer (Ohio region), but how would overseas production work? What directory would I use to find a manufacturer?

I looked into smooth-on, polytek, alumilite, but not sure materials-wise. Looks like runs that are too small. And the design may need to be injected.

I dont know much about plastics.
I'd really appreciate some suggestions.

[2muchstuff]

Have you looked in the Yellow pages under injection molding.

It's not the cost of the part but the making of the mold that gets you.

[bohojig]

I don't know why I didn't think of that, there are quite a few companies in the area.
But for the higher production, will I require a metal mold? Or can I get away with something thats less costly. I just want to go in to talk to them with a firmer grasp.
What kind of plastic for casting would be cheap, brittle is fine, hard and can take paint.

[dpryor]

Bohojig,

The options for plastic material selection are endless. You want to pick something that works for your application and not just molding. Same thing with your early production runs. We specialize in molds, tooling, prototypes, and low volume production. I'n not sure what your talking about brass or silver in your message above. We'd be happy to discuss your project in depth either here on the board, email, or even in person. Oh, by the way, we're in Ohio too.

[bohojig]

Thank you for your post.
The master would be metal that you could pull the mold from.
The castings need to be paintable/printable and either white or different bright colors like kids toy rings.
The plastic can be brittle and pretty stiff like the party favor rings you would find in party supply stores. Mostly looking for low cost casting plastics, and what kind of mold would be required to make such runs.
What would be considered low production? I've heard of runs of 100k at 10cents each, but what about 3-5k?

[dpryor]

Boho,

So if I understand you correctly, you have an existing metal ring that you would like to cast a mold around then use that mold to form duplicates of that ring.

You could go with casting parts which would mean cheaper mold but expensive parts.

Or injection molding which would mean expensive mold and cheaper parts.

Do you have a photo or sketch of the "master"?

[DaveSki]

A standard mud base mold would work nicely for a short production run of your ring. Depending on size, you could most likely produce a 2 - 4 cavity mold for a very resonable price. A pre made P-20 base would cost less then $1500 US. Or you could use aluminum and get away cheaper yet. Probably less then $5000 for the whole job if you had it contracted out.

[ratrace2]

Just for kicks and giggles, have a look at this web site,
www.freemansupply.com they have tons of mold makind materiels and videos