Inventor Pro Question

[renderhaus]

Freshman level question here:

When viewing the side-by-side features comparisson between Inventor and Inventor Pro, I noticed that only Pro offered "Mold, and tool and die".

What exactly does that mean?  

I'll admit I'm a bit perplexed by this.  Will Pro let me design molds, tools and dies, while standard inventor won't?

I have no intention of designing molds, tools or dies.  However, my parts (naturally) need to be such that they can be manufactured using molds, tools and dies.  So will the standard version of Inventor be sufficient for me?

Thanks much!

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

You can design molds, tools or dies in any version of Inventor.

The difference is that Pro has additional tools to optimize (make easier) the design of plastic injection molds.

Pro also has FEA analysis, Frame analysis, Tube and Pipe (which can also be done in standard with more effort) and Dynamic Simulation.

[Mark.Lancaster]

To add to JD's posting...  http://www.autodesk.com.au/products/inventor/compare

[renderhaus]

Thanks JD

Would draft angle happen to be one of those 'additional tools'?

[JDMather]

Draft is in standard Inventor.

In fact, you don't even design the plastic part using the Pro tools.

You use the standard tools to design the part and then use the Pro tools to design the Mold.

Then mold tools will calculate shrinkage and adjust for you (among other things).

[mcgyvr]

Pro will allow you to

#1-make mold/tooling design "easier"

#2-perform FEA/Stress analysis

#3-perform dynamic simulations of mechanical mechanisms

#4-doing wire harnesses and tube/pipe plumbing runs

If you don't need that then regular Inventor will do just fine.. You can design/model anything in regular Inventor.

If you "might" need some of that then the extra cost might be well worth it for the time saved on just one project needing those tools..

[renderhaus]

Just out of curiousity (because I am quite new to product design - my background is 3D architectural visualization), under what circumstances would a person need to design their own tooling/molds?

Thus far, the manufacturers I've worked with will make the molds themsleves.  Am I naive to assume that the molds they make are somehow only usable with the specific type of machinery they have (and not usable with another manufacturer's machinery)?

How could I be assured that any molds/tooling I design would be usable to the manufacturer I've chosen to work with?

I'm certain if I had gone to school for product design, I'd know this, but perhaps there's a "Tooling/Molds - 101" someone could recommend that would answer many of the "why's" and "what for's"...

[mcgyvr · Accepted solution]

Many companies have in-house manufacturing or work with their molder to do the design in-house to "potentially" save costs.

We used to build our own molds for our own parts to use on our own molding machines..

But yes mold design is for the most part "machine/platform" specific and if you aren't doing it all the time there is quite a bit of knowledge/training,etc.. that goes into it.. So from what you have said so far I HIGHLY doubt you need the mold design functionality..