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ToolDesigner™ Features
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Specialized Mold Design Features
Highly specialized 3D mold design features lets you design with unique object types 3D. These specialized objects “understand” what their purpose is in the overall design and how to interact with other objects. They have those aspects of surfaces and curves that are needed combined with specialized methods that are specific to what they are. Designing with the aid of specialized core/cavity blocks definitions and true 3D waterlines are prime examples of this unique technology.
Waterline Design
The Problem - Designing water lines can be a very time consuming and tedious process. Using "manual methods" typically requires cutting sections in 3D, importing the sections into 2D where drafts of the water circuits are made. The 2D drafts are carefully checked by making key measurement to ensure design constraints are maintained. Regardless of how careful you are, a final inspection in 3D is typically required. All this work is not only time consuming but relies heavily on the skill of the designer and very careful checking of the final design. Even one mistake can prove to be very costly.
A Better Way - Designing the water circuits entirely in 3D using the specialized mold design features of ToolDesigner completely changes the process. Start by defining the core or cavity block. Activate a face of the block to place mainlines or bubblers. The grid alignment feature makes it easy to layout locations "even" coordinates. Dialogs specify the design characteristics of the waterlines to be created. The Optimize Z-Height feature can be used to automatically determine optimal placement regardless of the indicated location.
Preset design rules that you specify provide the proper constraints and guidelines for waterline development. Because waterline design occurs entirely in 3D, the software can precisely calculate the safety envelope around the waterlines to ensure proper positioning. This degree of precision placement is simply not possible using alternate methods.
Productive features like Re-Optimize Waterlines, Move Waterline and Properties allows a high degree of flexibility to change the design to correct problems or to make modifications to accommodate an engineering change. Individual waterlines can be modified or mass changes can be applied to waterlines of the same size and characteristics. The speed of the calculations for optimized Z-Heights lets you try out different design possibilities very quickly.
At any stage in the design process, a check of the design for errors or possible problems can be made using the new Design Check feature. Structural design flaws like incomplete water circuits as well as violations of design constraints are flagged and presented in an on-screen dialog for closer inspection and correction:
Upon completion of the waterline design, the built-in Prospector interface can create all the setups and programs to machine the job automatically. This totally automatic program generation is made possible by PowerSource technology available only in Prospector. This technology executes predefined rules that guide the generation of a series of programs to machine a given feature. Machining waterlines is an ideal application of PowerSource technology because it completely eliminates manual programming methods. This means that if it’s designed right, it’s machined right.
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