How to Quote Insert Molding with Customer Inserts
A Plastic-Only Upload Is Not an Insert Quote
A customer-insert quote prices plastic around hardware you supply. Send the plastic solid and the insert drawing, write customer-supplied or sourced, mark resin-free threads, contacts, and bearing faces, show orientation, and match insert count to finished-part quantity. Post-install and overmold are different RFQ lines. Do not hide the metal inside a plastic-only upload.
Open insert molding process for the process page. This page only covers the customer-insert RFQ.
The insert is part of the tool plan, not a later PO
A plastic solid with the hole filled looks complete and quotes wrong. Orientation, stick-out, and protected threads decide how the steel holds the hardware during the shot. If those facts live only in a purchased-part datasheet that you never attach, reviewers are quoting a plastic solid and guessing the metal.
Supply owner must be written: customer-supplied or sourced
Someone ships the hardware, someone inspects the incoming lot, and someone loads it into the tool. If you leave supply blank, the first number cannot include handling that you have not described. Write customer-supplied or sourced on the first upload.
What the Package Must Contain
Finished-part CAD with pockets or bosses
Finished-part CAD is the plastic as it should leave the tool, including the pockets or bosses that receive the insert. Do not send only the metal, and do not send only a plastic solid that fills the hole as if the insert were plastic. If the insert is modeled as a solid body, export it as a separate file or a clearly named body, plus the 2D definition.
Insert definition: drawing number, dash number, threads, knurl, length
The insert definition is a drawing, a supplier part number, or both. Threads, knurl, length, and protected functional faces belong on that definition. If the purchased part has a dash number, write the dash number. Brass insert is a noun, not a specification.
Orientation: stick-out, and which face the thread opens to
Knurl in the boss, thread open to Face A, stick-out below Face A as shown on INS-04 is usable if the drawing already shows that stick-out. Inserts go in the corners is not. A screenshot with an arrow on one instance is enough when all instances share that orientation.
Resin-free list: threads, contacts, bearing lands
Threads, electrical contacts, and bearing lands must stay clean. Mark them on the insert drawing or on a note that points at those faces. If a thread can take a slight witness, say so. If it cannot, write resin-free.
Quantity math: inserts per part times finished qty, plus spare percent if you ship extra
n inserts per part times finished qty is the insert line. The finished-part quantity alone is a guess. Write both numbers. If you will ship a spare percentage, write that too.
Worked example: housing_revD.step is the plastic. INS-04_revB.pdf is the bushing. The note says customer-supplied INS-04, four places, orientation per screenshot insert-orientation.png. Resin-free: internal thread and flange contact face. Incoming: lot identity on each bag, visual for knurl damage. Finished qty as entered, inserts = n x finished qty, plus spare percent if you ship extra. That package can be reviewed.
Common mistakes on the file set:
- Boolean-uniting the insert into the plastic so the metal disappears.
- Sending a supplier catalog page with six dash numbers and no selected dash.
- Omitting orientation because the CAD is obvious.
- Writing finished-part quantity only.
- Putting incoming quality in a quality manual that is not attached.
Incoming and Lot Identity
Bag lot ID, visual for knurl damage, reject path
Lot identity, a visual for damaged knurl, and a bag count are enough to start. Write the reject path for damaged knurl so incoming is not invented later.
Incoming inspection scope belongs on the RFQ, not in an unattached quality manual
Do not paste a full incoming-inspection novel into the quote field. Attach the procedure if you have one, and point at it. Incoming notes and lot identity belong on the RFQ when you ship inserts.
If hardware is late, write customer-supplied, ship date to follow rather than leaving supply blank.
Molded-In vs Post-Install vs Overmold
Molded-in: insert in the tool during the shot
Use this page when the hardware will sit in the tool during the shot. Molded-in, customer-supplied brass insert, see drawing INS-04 is a route. Inserts somehow is not.
Post-install: heat stake, press-fit, or ultrasonic after ejection
Post-install is a different line. Overmold is a different material. Molded-in is the only one where the steel holds the metal. Open insert molding vs post-mold assembly when the insert can go in after the shot. Do not mix a molded-in customer-insert package with a post-install secondary on the same note without saying which path you want priced.
Overmold: second material, not a family child, not a metal insert
A TPE grip is a second shot, not a fifth insert. Open overmolding vs insert molding for the second-material route. If the same program also has multiple plastic SKUs, send those on quote a multi-part or family tool. Do not put the skin in the insert list.
Worked routing example: a housing needs four threaded bushings. The engineer is not sure whether to mold them in or install them after the shot. Write price molded-in customer-supplied per INS-04; post-install alternative allowed, and attach both the plastic solid and the insert drawing.
RFQ Paste Block
Use these numbered steps as the paste block for the quote notes.
- Attach plastic CAD and insert definition at the same revision.
- Write who supplies the insert.
- Mark resin-free faces and orientation.
- Note incoming or lot needs if you ship the hardware.
- Upload the package through the injection molding instant quote platform.
A complete note looks like this: Route: molded-in insert. Supply: customer-supplied. Insert: INS-04 revB, four places. Orientation: screenshot insert-orientation.png. Resin-free: thread and flange face. Incoming: bag lot ID, reject damaged knurl. Finished qty as entered, inserts = n x finished qty, plus spare percent if you ship extra. Plastic CAD housing_revD.step.
If you want the insert sourced instead, change only the supply line: Supply: sourced, use INS-04 or equivalent, confirm before order. Reviewers still need orientation and resin-free faces. Sourcing the hardware does not make those marks optional.
If the better route is post-install, do not force this checklist to pretend the insert is in the shot. Quote insert installation as a secondary on the plastic part, or send a post-install package.
Common mistakes on the checklist:
- Leaving supply blank because we always send them.
- Marking resin-free on a thread that the drawing shows as a through-hole with no insert.
- Changing the insert dash number and not bumping the plastic pocket revision.
- Asking for a pull-out or torque target as invented figures in the first quote field.
If step 1 or step 2 is missing, you do not yet have an insert-molding RFQ. You have a plastic upload. NetProto can review a customer-insert program when the hardware is defined on the same record as the solid.