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I have designed a space frame and a case for said space frame. The case is a shell with one end up that is 18.50"x14.00"x10.50".

I've looked a different places for the quoting for the case and everything is running over $2,000. That seems extremely unreasonable for a simple case of plastic.

The other question would be what would be a good shock absorbing plastic material for a case like this to be dropped from 3 feet? Ive looked as SEBS but can't really find material properties sheets on it.

David Scidmore
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  • That price doesn't seem unreasonable for a one-off, custom plastic piece design. How are the ends/faces joined, or does the piece need to be made from a solid block of plastic? – jko Jun 02 '21 at 17:16
  • Plastic boxes are cheap if you want to make 1,000,000 identical ones. If you want just one, that's a different story. You haven't given any indication of how much "shock absorption" you really need to protect your frame - for example, why not ship it as a "flat pack" rather than transporting a box that is mostly full of air? – alephzero Jun 02 '21 at 18:27
  • hehehe This is simple supply and demand. Order a million! – StainlessSteelRat Jun 02 '21 at 20:26
  • Thanks everyone. Yah, we're in prototyping stage and I was just a little shocked at how expensive a one off plastic piece can be.

    It has to be one piece though its possible we may look at doing puzzle piece like connections.

    It needs to with stand dropping of 3 ft with a total weight of 30 lbs.

     – David Scidmore Jun 03 '21 at 18:26
  • I'd suggest rethinking that "it has to be one piece". Even when prototyping, you may very well want a few more (3? 5? 10?) so that you can test different aspects of the prototype when the first one breaks. And given that the exorbitant cost is mostly because it's a one-off (labor and down-time from having to stop the manufacturing line to add your specs, print your piece, stop the line again and then put in another's specs), asking for 5 or 10 units will probably cost $2.001. – Wasabi Jun 04 '21 at 18:11

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