For engineers. Desktop software: your STEP files are read on your computer and never uploaded.
Diogenes plans the part the way a shop would: the process, the stock, the machine, the setups, the tools and every cut. Then it prices each step, so you can see what a material, a process or a volume really costs.
Diogenes checks every process in its library against the part. 11 of them can make it, and each gets a full price at every volume from 100 to a million a year. Milled from plate, the housing costs $18.96 at 500 a year. Die casting starts at $96.24 for 100 a year, because so few parts pay for the die, and falls to $5.59 at a million.
There is a catch, and Diogenes says so. The casting routes need a casting alloy (A356 or A380) instead of 6061. That is a design change, so milling stays the headline price until you decide to make it, even where sand casting, at $16.00, comes in lower.
Plaster casting barely moves with volume, $22.39 at 100 a year and $14.69 at a million: each plaster mould is poured once, so there is little tooling to spread. Five of the 11 processes shown; the chart in the app shows them all.
Read from the estimate. Each of these is a line in the app you can open and change.
This is an efficient shop: two shifts, robot loading. Put an operator at the machine and the same part costs $31.03 ($83/hr); on one shift, $33.32 ($92/hr). The operator line makes most of the difference.
For the work light's front bezel at 20,000 a year, Diogenes prices a one-cavity mould: $0.42 a part on a 12.7 s cycle. Raise the volume to 1,000,000 a year and it prices 1, 2, 4 and 8 cavities and keeps the cheapest per part.
| Bezel | 20,000 / yr | 1,000,000 / yr |
|---|---|---|
| Cavities | 1 | 4 |
| Feed | cold | hot runner |
| Presslowest cost per part of those that take the mould | Arburg 370 A600 kN | Haitian MA2500 III2,500 kN |
| Coolingfrom the thickest wall, 2.49 mm | 7.6 s | 7.6 s |
| Full cycle | 12.7 s | 13.2 s |
| Per part | $0.42 | $0.22 |
Each model works from how its machines run, and cites the handbook, datasheet or public statistic behind its numbers. They cover:
3-axis, 4-axis, 5-axis and 3+2 milling, turning, mill-turn.
Injection moulding, thermoforming, foam.
Die, sand, investment, plaster and centrifugal casting, with cores.
Closed-die, open-die, ring rolling, upset, cold heading, cold forging.
Press brake, stamping, deep drawing, hot forming, with laser, plasma, waterjet or punch blanking.
Circuit board assembly, coil and motor winding. Heat treatment and surface finishing are added as steps.
Volume, country, material, process, machine. The whole part prices again, and the breakdown shows which line moved.
Cutting data and cycle laws cite the handbook and page. Rates cite the public statistic and its date. Each line says whether it was measured, derived or assumed.
Installed software. STEP and STL files are read on your machine and never uploaded.
A 30-minute video call. Bring a drawing to show on screen, or describe the part in a few words. Nothing needs to be sent to me.
The sample is the housing from the home page, as the app exports it. Or write to me directly: [email protected]
I can tear down your product, cost every part in Diogenes and hand you the report: what each part should cost, how it is made, where its price comes from, and which suppliers are furthest from it. Then I help you build the negotiation plan: which parts to take up and in what order, what to ask each supplier, and the numbers to bring to the table.
Ask about a teardown and report