What’s New in MoldWorks© 2003 SP1 |
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The following article explains the highlights of the latest release of MoldWorks. This product continues to strengthen the Mold designer’s tool kit with automation and parametric capabilities. MoldWorks is the market leader for CAMD! If you have not seen MoldWorks before, skip this article and see the overview of MoldWorks demonstration or contact your CATI representative to setup a live presentation! MUD Catalogue This new catalogue has been defined, including all the series and the different plate configurations. The definition of the MUD mold base is different from the standard mold base definition within MoldWorks due to the anomalies of this mold base. In certain ways it is similar to using a user defined mold (as the plates are pre-defined SolidWorks parts) with a lot more functionality. The MUD catalogue supports U™ Style Frames only with the following plate configurations (which are also dependent on the catalogue size) Solid, Lamina, T-Solid, T-Lamina. Lifters
A new menu has been
added
MoldWorks > Add Lifters–
to allow the
creation of lifters. This menu is similar to the
Add Slides
menu, however; only standard lifters are defined. Automatic Ejector Trimming The automatic ejector trim does NOT require the existence of the plastic part or even a specific core insert. It works as long as one of the mold parts (either an insert or a plate) has the mold type core defined in the Attributes menu. When a group of ejectors is defined and the trimmed option used, MoldWorks automatically creates copies (not instances) of the ejectors since each one may be cut according to a different face. Two type of trimming are offered: one to Trim exactly to the surface and theother an Orthogonal trim which finds the penetration but creates a planar cut of the ejector. Both trimming types adjust the length of the ejector automatically according to the core. Component Folders Components are now created in folders within the FeatureManager design tree. This helps with the organization of the tree. Component Duplication This new functionality is incorporated in all the components except for the cooling pipes that don’t have parts (i.e. Cooling Type 1/2/3) MoldWorks recognizes instances of inserts through which a component penetrates and previews the duplication of the components. The instances must be shown otherwise the duplication will not be previewed or created. Duplication is the default option on the positioning dialogue through Duplicate Enable; however, clicking on the button will deactivate it. This works for true instances of inserts. Renaming Mold Parts The mold assembly is now not dependent on the component and plate names. Mold parts including components and plates can now be renamed in the mold assembly without disturbing the mold structure. This is the first step towards allowing the integrating of MoldWorks into external PDM systems. Renaming of the components does not affect the BOM, since it is created from the actual name of the components as stored on the disk. You can rename the components as stored on the disk through SolidWorks and the components will be renamed in the assembly accordingly. This new characteristic is automatically transferred to molds created in a previous version of MoldWorks through a converter when reading in the mold assembly. The conversion may take a few minutes depending on the size ofthe mold and the workstation. To check if you are on the latest release of MoldWorks do the following while in SolidWorks:
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