I would think with today’s modern CAD/CAM technology it shouldn’t be that expensive to cast anything, but a friend who is going ahead with his “widgit” invention was quoted CAN$50K for a small fist sized die casting mold (pressurized). Couldn’t find one vendor in Canada who was interested in doing the mold. Getting it done in Mexico as it was too expensive in USA.
How the hell did we manage to make stuff like this back in the day? All by hand...
https://oldmachinepress.com/2013/04/...-disturber-iv/