Mold Tools

Discussion created by 1-GCUQMA on Oct 2, 2008
Latest reply on Oct 3, 2008 by John Kreutzberger

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John and others not using the mold tools.

I understand some aspects of NOT using the mold tools. Such as drafting filling the hole and extending out the shut off surfaces.

But, how do you avoid not using the parting line tool and the Tooling Split Tool.
The Shut-off Surfaces tool creates the cavity and core surfaces for you and the Tooling split tool creates the cavity and core body for you.

How do you do it without using these tools and is it really easier? I am not questioning how you do it or weather you are right or wrong. I just dont understand how to avoid it. Could you give a quick note on how to do it without the tools

Thank you for you help, and consideration.

Mike

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Phil Marra Oct 2, 2008 8:31 PM
Mike,

If I was starting out in mold design and/or SW I would probably take the time to learn and use the tools, but as I said I have tried them in the past and I am far quicker at getting a layout done by chisseling away at a block with standard SW tools and surfacing tools. Whether or not you use Mold Tools I think may depend on the complexity of the part. I have designed intake manifold tools with many PL steps that were generated from complex non uniform surfaces and the amount of time it took to get the part split was painful (again my inexperiance). The companies I work and have worked for are always looking for fast layouts and no matter how many times they say"just a quick concept", I get in a design review and they want to see all the shutoffs, core pulls ect. In short I need to just get it done and I am faster going old school utiluizing anything new that comes in the latest release.
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John Kreutzberger Oct 2, 2008 8:38 PM
With a highly contoured p/l it is difficult to do a split without using a surface cut. That is why the mold tools work well for me. They do a good job of identifying which surfaces go to either side of the split.

I know I did some in the `olden' days, but can't quite recall exactly how I went about it. I think it involved lots of manually selecting of surfaces and managing to get one side of the tool defined by a knit surface. Then to create the opoosite side, you would use the cavity feature. What I mean is you would create the cavity or core somehow, by hook ot by crook. Then in the context of your assembly, you would extrude another block use the cavity feature referencing the molded part and the side of the split you had just created. This was all done in the context of an assembly.

Then in order to proceed with other aspects of the mold design you would need to use these split parts as base parts in a new part file. That would mean you would need a double layer of assemblies.

I would be interested to hear other methods, but for myself, the mold tools work well for now.
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- Phil Marra @ John Kreutzberger on Oct 3, 2008 10:02 AM
  John,
  As soon as I get a new lappy for home I am going to revisit the SW way of mold spliting. Unfortunatly time constraints on the job prevent me from doing any type of research. Gotta pound out the jobs.
  One thing about using the cavity feature to create the other half of a tool I do not recomend it. Along time ago a wise old SW-guru (Matt Lombard)suggested that you should only use the cavity feature where plastic (the part to be molded) meets steel, never steel on steel. I have stuck to this rule as best I can and I have seen others that do not and I can tell you I have far less headaches with my model than they do, rebuild times ect. I will cheat and and pull one half of the tool from the other with the cav feature, but I do it as a ref to see what the other half will look like, or just to get a prelim. concept done. I do then go back and hack the steel away with cuts and surf tools.
  Thanks for the insight, I want to look at mold tools again when I have the leisure time to put into it.
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  - John Kreutzberger @ Phil Marra on Oct 3, 2008 11:19 PM
    Matt's absolutely correct about that rule. That is whay I would use the resultant core and cavity as base parts and insert them into new parts. That eliminated the mess you would have if you didn't do that. It has been several years since I did things that way, but it did work. You asked...........
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