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MarkMK - 3/19/2018 7:55:08 AM

I can completely echo what Hanaldo said

The time alone that can go into producing most 'one-off' parts from scratch really does push the real cost above what most would expect to pay.

In everything that you attempt to do from here on, good preparation and use of the right materials will pay off. The actual process of making a mould is quite basic but things can go wrong if simple steps aren't adhered to closely. We've all messed-up at some point but, hopefully, learned the most from these mistakes along the way

Once you've identified the materials and processes that you'd like to use, just try things out on something fairly small and then transfer your learning to bigger things once you're comfortable that the materials work for you. I think that the US is pretty well served for nearly everything that you'd need but, as Hanaldo said, the stuff that EC sells is well proven with plenty of back-up support available to help you get the most from them

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Hanaldo - 3/20/2018 2:50:25 AM

Honestly - not bad prices at all, I would be charging double that for just the moulds. 

Consider this - the mould for the bonnet is what, maybe 1200mmx1500mm or so? Add 5" of flanges all round, so you're looking at roughly about 2.5-3sqm of total surface area. That means that the materials alone to make a good quality mould that size are going to be around the $800 mark, and that's assuming you do just want the outer skin and pin it on later (which comes with its own fitment issues, as you still need to work out hinge mounting solutions unless you just want to use 4 pins and don't care too much about panel alignment). Then, assuming your original bonnet is in perfect condition with good quality 2k paint and doesn't need any refinishing to get it ready for pulling a mould, you're also looking at 3-4 days labour to prep, flange, layup, trim, demould, clean up the mould. Hopefully it all goes well and there's no little bits of damage on the mould that need fixing, as that's likely another days labour. From a fabricators perspective you also want to factor in a little bit of compensation for any damage done to the original, as the owners never understand that it is always a risk and always want to hold you responsible for any scratches or chips or paint damage done to their original - which might be fair enough, but you don't want to be out-of-pocket for something like that so you need to account for the risk.

Then once the mould has been polished up and released and is ready for its first pull, you're looking at atleast $400-$500 in materials for a good quality item. There's another day in laying that up, demoulding, trimming. Then if you want the finish to last for any decent amount of time, you need to clear coat it, so that's another expense and process. You're already up to ~$1200-$1500 just in expenses, so now the fabricator is only making MAYBE $1000 profit for what is likely 20-30 hours worth of work, ignoring any overheads and out-goings that may be involved. Honestly from my point of view - I wouldn't be doing the job for that sort of income, no way.


I don't mean to try to talk you out of what you're doing at all, I really do think people learning to so this stuff themselves is great and I encourage it. I am just often on the receiving end of opinions like this, people telling me that what I'm charging is ludicrous when they have no idea what is involved. Composites really don't lend themselves to one-off pieces, obviously if you take those same above numbers but multiply the output from the mould by 20-30 then it is extremely worth it and very good value, it isn't much work at all when you're dividing it over dozens of parts. But for one or two parts, you need to make sure you are getting your money's worth for the effort you are putting in.