Mold tooling piece

[Anonymous]

Hi I am currently using Inventor 2012 and I am trying to model the tooling (plastic injection mold) required for the attached part. I have used the derive tool previously for producing a tooling peice, however only with small none complex pieces. Any suggestions/help for this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Am I right in thinking I will have to use multiple mold pieces?

Thanks.

[JDMather]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi I am currently using Inventor 2012 ...

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Is this Inventor Professional?

Have you installed all Service Packs and Updates?

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/downloads#?ADSKContentGroup-local=Downloads&ADSKProductLine=Inventor%20Products&ADSKReleaseYear=2012&ADSKDocumentType=Service%20Packs&rows=10&sort=score

[Anonymous]

Its an educational version, as I am  currently studying in uni. The actual derive function works as I have used it before, however, due to the nature of this part I am struggling to get my head around how to use this function on a larger part.

Previously the two metal mold pieces have met in the centre with horizontal faces, which I can then constrain the part inbetween and derive the correct surface for the part into the molds. This does not seem possible for this rather complex part, as the two molds would have to intersect/overlap (if you understand?) thus I can not simply have two mold blocks that meet in the middle. I think my understanding and method for developing a mold with invenotr is the isuue, rather than a problem with the derive function.

Thanks

[mcgyvr]

Before doing the tooling I might suggest at least a few slight changes so it can be molded properly/cost efficiently..

As it is now you need a few side actions and some removable cores,etc..

The first thing that caught my eye are the 2 angled ribs and all 4 holes..

The holes created by extrusion 39 will require side action and if you simply made the ribs (extrusion 40) to run parallel with the axis of the other 2 holes you wouldn't need to do anything fancy there either.. Just a few small changes could save you thosands in tooling costs.. 

edit.. just saw you are a student.. who cares then  But its a good lesson to always be thinking about the direction of the mold opening/closing,etc.. when designing..

The new buzzword around is DFM (design for manufacturing). IMO this is joke beacuse its what a good engineer/designer does from the start.. Not a process that happens after they are done. 

[Anonymous]

Ahh yes, the two ribs on the underside of the model have actually been removed, I originally put them in place in hopes of reducing stress through the base of the carrier, however, after analysing came to realise they are useless. As for the holes I didnt even think about putting them in after molding the part, something I should have kept in mind! The input is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Can you see this being done with only two seperate molding pieces, or am I going to need the use of more? May it even be more economical to use more molding pieces?

Again thank you

[JDMather]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Its an educational version, .....

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In other words - it is Inventor Professional.

If you go to the big I in the upper left corner does it say Pro?

[Anonymous]

Yes... Its an educationtional version of professional, sorry if that wasnt specific.

Thanks.

[JDMather]

Inventor Professional has mold design functionality built in.

Have you started a new Mold Design assembly and gone through the tutorials?

  Your New File screen will look a little different in 2012.

Inventor automatically creates the parting line surfaces.

and the Core/Cavity.

The tutorials explain how to do the side actions for the holes.  There are a couple of other undercut areas of concern along with the draft faces.

[mcgyvr]

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@Anonymous wrote:

As for the holes I didnt even think about putting them in after molding the part, something I should have kept in mind! The input is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Can you see this being done with only two seperate molding pieces, or am I going to need the use of more? May it even be more economical to use more molding pieces?

Again thank you

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Didn't mean to put them in after molding.. Thats even more added cost..

This part can be easily done with a simple 2 part clamshell mold with a side action for those 2 holes near where the ribs were.. I'm not sure what those holes are for but maybe you can open them up into a U instead of a hole and get rid of the side action molding.. Small bump-offs can be done too if you want to close that U a bit so if that is a shaft that goes there or something then it would "snap" onto the shaft but could be snapped off too..  

[Anonymous]

Thank you, you're a life saver!

[JDMather]

I left out the part about creating Patching surfaces for the top holes.

You can set to either Top or Bottom (go through the tutorials).

Also, when creating the Patching surfaces a couple of extra "triangular" shaped patches will be created where you have what looks to me like an unintended anomaly in your geometry.