by chappyman66 » Wed Sep 04, 2013 9:58 pm
The cost is amortized across thousands of shots, so incrementally it's not much (but it is still in there). Yes, the same things were done 60 years ago but they were done by skilled craftsmen....now a CNC and EDM will turn out the mold with far fewer man-hours involved. Very frankly, one of the big problems in this day and age is the loss of knowledge about how to do those things.......but I digress ;)
Also, don't forget that for every body that makes it to the shelves there are several that end up in the scrap/regrind bin for warpage or being somehow out of tolerance......but those shots are still part of the amortization. And often times molds are made to run several different parts at once, with the ability to block off different cavities so that one tool can be used for multiple parts which saves money.
But yes, overall it's still kind of amazing that the body costs as little as it does :D