SolidWorks® 2009 Bible

Chapter 32. Using Plastic Features and Mold Tools

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Using plastic features

• Using plastic evaluation tools

• Working with the Mold Tools process

• Intervening manually with Mold Tools

• Tutorial: Working with plastic features

SolidWorks has several tools that are specific to modeling and evaluating plastic parts. These tools can help simplify and standardize some of the complex repetitive tasks involved with plastic part design. Another set of task-specific tools exist for automating mold cavity/core modeling tasks. So whether you are a plastic part designer or an injection mold designer, SolidWorks offers tools tailored to your needs.

Plastic parts represent a significant number of manufactured parts. You can manually do all the work that these tools automate, and sometimes you need to be able to do the work manually when the automated tools do not provide the needed options or flexibility.

Also because of the specific needs of plastic part modeling and mold design, SolidWorks has a set of powerful evaluation tools that help you query your models to check the amount of draft, thickness, and location of undercuts. Finding design-related manufacturability problems in manufacturing is expensive. Finding them in the design office is far less expensive in both money and time. A good grasp of the evaluation tools is an important component of good plastic part and mold modeling.

This chapter is written for the user who is already experienced in plastics practice and terminology, but needs ...