08/03/2010 1

Injection Moulding tool design

To design a mould for a part, you must first activate the mould tools toolbar.




Alternately by right clicking on the tabs below and selecting mould tools they
can be added as an extra tab on the command manager.




The function of each tool is as follows.

Draft analysis: Analyses draft angles of faces based on pull direction.


Undercut detection: Identifies faces that from undercuts.


Split line: Identifies the outmost edges which will form the split line.


Draft tool: Used to apply draft or taper to surfaces which have insufficeint draft.


Scale tool: As moulded parts shrink when cooled they must be moulded larger than ther
required final size to allow for shrinkage.

Parting tool: Extablising the parting lines to separate core and cavity surfaces


Shut off surfaces: Finds and creates mould shut off surfaces.


Parting surfaces: Creates parting surfaces radiating from the core and cavity surfaces
radiating from the parting lines above.

Tooling split: Once geometry representing the core and cavity have been inserting this
tool is used to split the geometry into both core and cavity.

Core: Extracts core/cores from existing tooling split.


Cavity: Inserts a cavity into a base part.


Split: Creates multiple bodies from a single body. You can create bodies in the existing
part or as separate part.
N.B. If icons are missing from the toolbar they may be re-added using the using customize.

A variety of surfacing tools are also available to assist in mould construction.

Planar surface

Ruled surface

Offset surface

Fillled surface

Radiate surface

Knit surface
08/03/2010 2

Injection Moulding Tool modelling
In the following exercise you will model the core/cavity for a
mouse similar to that used in a previous tutorial.
This component may be downloaded from:
S:\classes\sean dalton\download
Copy this component to your s: drive and save it in a folder
call mousemould.

Open the component called mousetop.STEP.
The component is supplied to you as a step file. This is one
of a number of neutral formats used for translating
geometry between CAD systems. A feature if this translation
process is that the history of how the component was
created is lost. All that remains is the resulting geometry as
a single item in the feature manager Imported1.

However this does not prevent us from modifying the part if required.
N.B. For the purposes of the exercise some features already modelled have been removed to
illustrate certain concepts.

Draft analysis
Injection moulded components must have some degree of
draft or taper to facilitate easy removal from a mould.
Draft analysis identifies surfaces which require draft i.e.
surfaces less than a specified angle to the line of draw.
For this exercise we will specify a minimum angle of
1degree. Draft analysis also identifies those surfaces which
will be formed by the core and those which will be formed
by the cavity.

To evaluate the component select draft analysis icon .
(or Tools Draft analysis).
Select the plane shown and specify an angle of 1 degree.


An selecting the plane an arrow will appear. The arrow
should point toward the cavity side of the mould. If not it
may be reverse by clicking on the arrow or selecting the
icon.


Select Face classification followed by [Calculation].
Face classification produces a count of the number of
surfaces of each type.
Green surfaces are surfaces which will be formed by the
cavity side of the mould. Red surfaces are surfaces which
will be formed by the core side of the mould.
Yellow surfaces are those which require draft.


Choose to accept the results of the draft analysis and
when prompted choose yes to retain the colours.



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Applying draft where required
Add a draft of 2 degrees to the inside of the lip using the flat
face (upper most edge in the view shown) as the Neutral
plane.
Also draft the screw hole bosses outwards by 3 degrees
using the flat face at the end as the neutral. As all 3 bosses
share a common neutral plane they can all be drafted in the
one operation.
On re-running the draft analysis it will be found that these
surfaces now turn red also.

The part is now ready for moulding.

Applying scaling
All component shrink as they cool therefore in order for a
component to achieve its required final dimension it must be
moulded oversize to allow for shrinkage. For this exercise we will
allow 5% for shrinkage.
To apply the shrinkage factor select scale. .
(Insert Molds Scale).

Scaling may be about: Centroid, Origin, or Co-ordinates system (i.e. a user define coordinate system)
and may be with either uniform or may be scaled by different amounts in each direction.
In this case apply a uniform scale of 1.05 about the centroid i.e. centre of gravity. Conclude by
choosing .

Generating parting lines
Run the parting line command (Insert Molds Parting line).
Again selecting the top plane and ensuring the arrow points
upwards select [draft analysis].
This evaluates the component and identifies the edges which will
form the parting line. (This will later be used to create the split
surface).


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Adding shut off surfaces
Where ever there are holes in a part these will be created by metal
to metal contact between the core and cavity; what is referred to as
shut offs. We need to determine these in order to define the surface
in this part of both the core and cavity.
To determine the shut-offs. Choose Insert Molds Shutoffs.
This identifies all of the lower edges at the button openings.
Choose accept to create these shutout surfaces.

Not only does this command create surfaces in the region of the
holes it also creates two complete sets of surfaces.
On examining the feature manager more closely we see near the
top two new categories of feature. Surface bodies and Solid Bodies.

Expanding the solid bodies folder we see a single item. This is the
original solid geometry of the mouse.
Expanding the surface bodies folder we find two items:
Cavity surface bodies
Core surface bodies.

Showing cavity surface bodies and hiding everything else reveals all
of the green cavity surfaces. These are the surfaces which will form
the exterior of the part.
Similarly showing all the core surface bodies (and hiding the rest)
show all of the red core surfaces or surfaces which will form the
interior of the part.





Cavity surfaces Core surfaces Parting surface (next)

Creating parting surfaces
The split line may be tangential to the component surface, normal
to a components surface or perpendicular to the line of pull.
Select Perpendicular to Pull.
The parting line created earlier is automatically added to the parting
line box.

This surface can fan out all the way forming the complete split
surface of the mould or it go out a short distance and then drop to a
lower main parting surface. This will result in an interlock which
helps the core and cavity locate together accurately. We will opt for
the latter.
Specify a distance of 10mm for the parting surface to fan out.



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Preparing for the Tooling Split
Create a parallel plane 15mm below the existing top plane.

Now select the Tooling Split command. Rather than splitting
an existing solid block, the core and cavity will be created by
extruding the block and splitting it in the same step, using the
Split Tool command.

Select the parallel plane just created.
This will put you into sketching mode.
Select the view normal to option and create the sketch shown
opposite. On completion exit the sketch.
On doing so Solid Works automatically detect the core cavity
and parting surfaces.



Specify distances of 60mm upwards and 30mm downward.
Activate the interlock option and specify an angle of 3
degrees.




This creates the core and cavity inserts.

A slice through the resulting tool reveals the core cavity and
the component (shown cut for illustration purposes only).




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Moving Core/Cavity apart
To see the individual part more clearly. It is useful to move
them apart similar to an exploded view.

This can be achieved by using the move/copy bodies tool on
the features tools. (or Insert Feature Move/copy bodies).


Select the top portion of the mould or cavity half and issue
the move copy command.
You will initially be presented with assembly like constraints
however at the bottom of the property manage you will see a

Select this option.

You can also create a copy by selecting copy below.

(do not select as we do not require a copy on this occasion)



Alternatively you can manipulate the part interactively by
used using the graphical tool shown opposite.

Selecting and dragging an arrow allows you to drag the
components in that specific direction.
Selecting and dragging a hoop allows you the rotate the
object about a specific axis.
Selecting the purples quarter segments allows you to drag the
component in that particular plane.



Use the move/copy bodies to reposition the core and cavity
as shown.

While we now have 3 distinct solid bodies we are still working
within a single part file. It is preferable to export these to
three separate stand alone parts.

To do so:





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Exporting as separate parts
Expand the solid bodies folder and choose the item which
represents the core (as shown opposite).
Right click on the item and choose insert into new part.

Solid works creates a new part containing the core geometry.
In the dialog which appears, specify the name CORE.SLDPRT
and save it in your working folder.


Repeat the process for the cavity block and save it with the
name CAVITY.SLDPRT.

Finally create a new assembly called MOUSE-MOULD.SLDASM
then assemble the core and cavity.

You will now add some finishing detail.



Adding finishing detail
The modelled components are only the core and cavity
inserts. To complete the functioning injection moulding tool
these will need to be inserted into a mould base.

As the both insert will be inserted into milled out pockets we
will need to round the corners and insert threaded holes on
the top and bottom faces.
Round the corner using a fillet radius of 20mm and insert
10mm tapped holes 30mm deep at the centres of these
fillets.
Repeat the process for the core insert. This time the holes will
need to be shallower so as not to pierce through.