SplitWorks 2009 SP0 User Guide and Tutorial March 2009

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS NOTICE: All rights reserved. No part of this material may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, including photocopying and recording or in connection with any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from R&B. The information in this document is subject change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by R&B. R&B assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document. The software described in this document is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such a license. Copyright 2000-2009 by R&B All rights reserved R&B LTD. Kanyon Hadrachim Yokneam 20692 ISRAEL

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Chapter 1

Table of Contents
1-1

1 Introduction

1.1 System Requirements ............................................................................1-4 1.2 Installing SplitWorks ...............................................................................1-5 1.3 Licensing SplitWorks ..............................................................................1-6

Chapter 2

2 User Guide

2-1

2.1 Split Part

..........................................................................................2-2 .....................................2-6

2.2 SplitWorks Property Page 2.3 Plug Hole(s) 2.4 Loft

....................................................................................2-15

..................................................................................................2-17 ..........................................................................2-20

2.5 Create Solid Insert

2.6 Clean ...............................................................................................2-25 2.7 Chain Edges ...........................................................................................2-26 2.8 SplitWorks Delete ...................................................................................2-27 2.9 Planar Surface........................................................................................2-28 2.10 Create a User Insert Blank Library .........................................................2-29

Chapter 3
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4

3 Tutorial 1

3-1

Core and Cavity Creation .......................................................................3-2 Side Cores..............................................................................................3-18 Propagation of part changes to the core cavity and side cores. ............3-21 Cavity Pins..............................................................................................3-25

Chapter 4

4 Tutorial 2

4-1

4.1 Parting Line on Both Direction Faces.....................................................4-2 4.2 Parting Surface.......................................................................................4-8

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Chapter 5

5 Tutorial 3

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5.1 Organizing Data .....................................................................................5-2 5.1.1 Read in part data .............................................................................5-2 5.2 Modify Part for Manufacture ...................................................................5-4 5.2.1 Silhouette parting line......................................................................5-5 5.2.2 Complete the Parting line ................................................................5-7 5.2.3 Create Surface ...............................................................................5-22 5.3 Cavity and Core Inserts..........................................................................5-24 5.3.1 Solid Cavity and Core....................................................................5-32 5.4 Side Cores..............................................................................................5-34 5.4.1 Side Core 1 ....................................................................................5-34 5.4.2 Side Core 2 ....................................................................................5-39 5.4.3 Extract side cores from the core. ...................................................5-41 5.5 Check Part..............................................................................................5-42

Chapter 6

6 Tutorial 4

6-1

6.1 Propagation of modifications through SolidWorks .................................6-2 6.1.1 Creating the inserts..........................................................................6-2 6.1.2 Correcting the original part ............................................................6-5 6.2 Changes in an IGES file .........................................................................6-11 6.2.1 Creating the inserts........................................................................6-11 6.2.2 Reading in a modified IGES file ....................................................6-16

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1 Introduction
SplitWorks is an advanced splitting environment, using revolutionary technology, to automate the process of core and cavity separation. The splitting process begins with the Split Part menu. This menu displays a color preview on a part (and optionally the parting lines as well), of the potential core, cavity, zero draft angle surfaces and surfaces, which belong to both the core and the cavity, according to a splitting direction. The part may be a solid created in SolidWorks, read in through IGES, DXF etc. or even non-solid geometry. Modifying the split direction, by clicking on a plane, planar face or edge, dynamically updates the preview. Undercuts and no draft angle surfaces analyzed at this stage allow you to determine the best splitting direction. Faces, which belong to both the core and the cavity (called Both direction faces), are automatically displayed in the silhouette dialogue. These faces have their own silhouette angle so that you can judge whether they really belong to the core or the cavity especially after creating a silhouette. SplitWorks allows you to choose the faces on which to preview the potential split lines at the same time updating the display to reflect the changes. No Draft faces that are adjacent to Core and No Draft faces only, are called No Draft Core faces, and No Draft faces that are adjacent to Cavity and No Draft faces only, are called No Draft Cavity faces. The user may then decide whether to create these two groups or to add these faces to the Core or the Cavity definitions respectively. Each category can be hidden from the preview and/or its color map changed.

User Guide The geometry is then exploded into four or six groups (if No Draft Cavity/Core . is requested) of faces under a special property page tab Core Cavity Both Directions No Draft No Draft Cavity No Draft Core A group containing open and closed parting lines is also created. The groups of faces (and parting lines) are actually pointers to the original solid part and not duplicated entities. Modifications to the solid part automatically (default) or manually categorize the new faces into the existing groups. SplitWorks provides the following tools under the SplitWorks tab. 1. Drag faces from group to group. 2. Create new groups. 3. Show/Hide groups or individual faces. 4. Modify group face colors. 5. Show/Hide Open /Closed Parting lines. 6. Rebuild or (Automatically Rebuild) parting lines. 7. Create/Update Surface from a group of faces. 8. Split no draft faces. 9. Island Analysis to browse through disconnected parts of the same group and select them allowing you to move them to different groups etc. 10. Create edges composite curves from open or closed parting lines. 11. Create a new part from a group of faces. 12. Import an external file to be used as core or cavity surface. 13. Zoom to a single face or parting line. SplitWorks has menus to: 1. Split the part

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User Guide 2. Automatically close holes on planar of non-planar surfaces (Plug Hole(s)). 3. Create splitting surfaces by lofting composite free edges (Loft). 4. Create an assembly containing the core and cavity insert from the parting surface. (Create Solid Inserts) 5. Clean the part of SplitWorks data including color coding of the faces.

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User Guide

1.1 System Requirements

SplitWorks is fully integrated under the SolidWorks environment thus system requirements are similar to those of SolidWorks. Hardware Since SplitWorks creates relatively large assemblies we recommend using the optimum hardware recommendations from SolidWorks. Operating System Windows XP/Vista 32it or 64bit. Networks Windows XP/Vista. Required Software MoldWorks current version is MoldWorks 2009. SolidWorks current version is SolidWorks 2009. Adobe Acrobat Reader. Licensing MoldWorks is protected using a software license system FLEXlm (FLEXnet Publisher Licensing Module), which allows both an individual standalone license (locked to a workstation) and floating licensing (across a network) without the need for a dongle.

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User Guide

1.2 Installing SplitWorks

A user must have administrator privileges to install SplitWorks. Make sure that SolidWorks is not running during the installation. The SplitWorks installation can be initiated from a CD or from an executable file downloaded from the R&B web site (www.RnBUSA.com) Once the installation is completed, logon as the user and activate SolidWorks. You may have to add SplitWorks to the SolidWorks add-ins using the SolidWorks > Tools > Add-ins menu.

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User Guide

1.3 Licensing SplitWorks

R&B uses the FLEXlm (FLEXnet Publisher Licensing Module) license manager for all of its licensed products. This is a separate module allowing licensing on a node locked or floating (server/client) basis. If this is an initial installation (i.e. the current SplitWorks products have never been installed on this workstation) a message box will pop up which allows you to make a license request by clicking on the Register button. A license request can also be made at any time through the SplitWorks > License Registration menu or from the Start > R&B > License> R&B License Manager. Refer to the R&B License Guide for details on how to fill out and send the license request. If you have no license or the license has less then 30 days left then a similar message box will appear as follows:

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2
2 User Guide

User Guide

2.1 Split Part

The SplitWorks >Split Part menu or relevant icon opens the Split Part dialogue box. This menu is active in the Part document environment. Two tabs appear: Analysis (default). Input split direction data and create silhouette. Legend. Choose output coloring as well as options regarding face classification.

The Analysis tab has 2 parts to it: Input Direction: Select a plane, planar face or edge. The normal to the plane or the face becomes the split direction and the part is dynamically colored accordingly. Flip the split direction. Show axis Show or Hide the split axis (default on). Show parting line Show or Hide the parting line (default off). Min draft angle: Faces with draft angles less than this value are considered No Draft faces.

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User Guide Silhouette Initially the list box includes all the faces that are Both directions and can be modified to include only those faces for which a silhouette (parting line) is required. The color of the Both directions faces in the list box can be adjusted by clicking on the color bar on the side. Create Silhouette Creates parting lines on the faces, and updates the part color map accordingly. On validation the original part will be saved with the new split faces. Delete Silhouette Deletes all the parting lines created through the Create Silhouette button. Silhouette angle: This angle affects only the Silhouette faces and allows you to determine whether both side faces actually belong to the core or cavity side of the mold. It defaults to the Min draft angle. We recommend using this parameter after a Silhouette has been created in order to negate problems of accuracy and singularity, which causes core and cavity faces to still show as both side faces. Clicking on will divide the faces into the core and the cavity and find the actual minimum angle at which this occurs (to a limit of 45 degrees)

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User Guide Legend Cavity Faces in the cavity direction i.e. angles between the positive splitting direction and the face normal are less than (90 - defined draft angle). Core Faces in the core direction i.e. angles between the negative splitting direction and the face normal are less than (90 - defined draft angle). Both directions Name for the part containing the faces, which are in both the core and the cavity directions No draft Faces, which have at least one normal whose angle between the splitting direction and the face normal is greater than (90 - defined draft angle). No draft cavity Faces of type no draft that are adjacent to at least one Cavity faces or other No draft faces only. No draft core Faces of type no draft that are adjacent to at least one Core faces or other No draft faces only.

Click on this icon to hide or show the respective surface part. Click on this icon to open the color dialogue, which enables you to change the color of the respective surface part.

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User Guide Move to main group When checked the No draft cavity and No draft core faces will be placed in the Cavity and Core parts respectively (default). The preview of the color map will be updated.

After clicking the SplitWorks property page under the ( ) tab will be created containing the folders as mentioned above as well as a folder called Parting Line(s). These groups of faces are pointers to the solid and are NOT duplicates of the solid faces.

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User Guide

2.2 SplitWorks Property Page

The SplitWorks property page is added to the tabs at the top of the property page. Cavity/Core/Both Direction/No Draft These are the different groups of faces according to the split direction. Each of the folders contains the relevant faces. Parting Line(s) This folder is sub-divided into Open Parting Line(s) and Closed Parting Line(s). The RHM pop up button in this area is context sensitive. Following are the different menus, which are displayed according to the specific context:

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User Guide Top menu Select the top of the tree and click on the Right Hand Mouse button.

Automatic Rebuild This parameter controls whether to rebuild the tree after modifications to the solid part (default=marked). Faces moved through the Move to menu will NOT be reclassified, and the no draft faces will not be reclassified according to the Move to main core/cavity. This reclassification can be performed through a menu on the No Draft folder. Rebuild All Force a rebuild when SplitWorks doesnt recognize a face change i.e. after
suppressing or unsuppressing features.

Create New Group Create a new face folder. Import Surface Read in surface information for an external file source and categorize it as core/cavity or other to use in SplitWorks menus. Hide/Show All Groups Faces This is a toggle to hide/show ALL the faces. Note: To get the best results when using the Hide menu use the No Edges option for shading (since we dont hide the wire frame).

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User Guide Face Folder Select any face group and click on the Right Hand Mouse button. Move to The first part of the pop-up allows you to move ALL the faces of the group (i.e. Cavity) to any of the other groups in the SplitWorks property page. The Both Direction group has an option Create Silhouette to allow you to split these faces. The No Draft group has an option Move To Main Group to allow reclassification of No draft core/cavity faces. Create Surface/Update Surface Create a surface from the selected group of faces. If a Surface for a specific folder has already been created, and the solid modified in any way then this menu toggles to Update Surface, which will modify the knitted surface. Note After a surface has been created, modifications to the solid (i.e. adding of features etc.) will update the face folders. Such modifications have to be created BEFORE the knitted feature in order to be taken into account by the Update Surface command. There are two ways to achieve this either by rolling up the FeatureManager design tree to before the knitted surface prior to the addition, or move the additional features to before the knit after they have been created. Copy to New File This menu will open a new part and copy the faces from the folder to it. Create Silhouette (only if both side folder) Split all the faces in the both sides folder according to the split direction.

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User Guide Hide Group Faces This menu hides the faces from the selected folder. Since this hides faces according to shading only mark the Tools > Options > Display > No Edges parameter under the Edges displayed in shaded mode to hide these faces properly (since we dont hide the wire frame). Change Color Change the color of the faces within the selected folder. Select All Select all the faces in a specific folder. Island Analysis Detect disjointed sets of faces for this group. This is very useful to make sure that the Create Surface function doesnt fail. enables you to browse through the A small dialogue different islands displaying them with a red outline. Selects the current island faces and allows you to use the RHM button menus on them (i.e. to move to a different folder etc.). Rename Rename the face folder. Remove Group Removes empty group (displayed only if group is empty).

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User Guide

Faces within the Face Folder Select face(s) within a specific folder from the SplitWorks property page or from the graphic screen and click on the Right Hand Mouse button while the cursor is in the SplitWorks property page area. Move to This pop-up allows you to move the selected face(s) of the folder (i.e. Cavity) to any of the other folders in the SplitWorks property page. If the face is from the Both direction group then a further option Create Silhouette will appear to allow you to split this face. Zoom To Zoom to a specific face. Move to Cavity Move to Core In this case you can move the selected face(s) to only one of these two folders. Select faces from the graphic screen and click on the Right Hand Mouse button while the cursor is in the graphic screen.

Note The original color of the face icon is not modified when the face is moved from folder to folder. This allows you to see where the face originated from and perform modifications to the face if necessary.

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User Guide Parting Line(s) Select the Parting Line(s) folder and click on the Right Hand Mouse button. Show/Hide Open Parting Line(s) Toggle to show or hide open parting lines (default is hidden). Show/Hide Closed Parting Line Toggle to show/hide main parting line (default is hidden). Automatic Parting Line(s) Rebuild This parameter controls whether to rebuild the parting line(s) after modifications to the faces in the groups (default=marked). Rebuild Parting Line(s) Rebuild all the parting line(s). On a specific Parting Line Composite Curve For any parting line in either Parting Line(s) folder, we can create a composite curve through the RHM button menu. Zoom To Zoom to a specific parting line.

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User Guide The parting line display is useful for the following: 1. Indicating the work to be done in order to complete the separation between the core and the cavity as well as to make sure that the shutoffs are well defined. 2. Selection of edges for the different SolidWorks or SplitWorks menus. 3. If the Create Surface/Update Surface menu fails, use the open parting lines display to check for possible non-connected faces. Notes 1. The property page can become corrupted if parts are hidden when rebuild is taking place. In order to fix the problem, show the solid(s), and activate the SolidWorks > Rebuild menu. 2. When a face is moved to a different folder, it retains its original color. Furthermore when the SplitWorks property page is updated (Automatic Rebuild is active) then SplitWorks ignores faces, which have been moved.

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User Guide Summary of SplitWorks property page commands First Level: - Automatic Rebuild switch to automatically update the categorization - Rebuild All forces a rebuild. - Create New Group creates a new group - Import Surface imports and categorizes external file - Hide/Show All Groups Faces is a toggle to hide/show ALL the faces. Group Level (Face folders): - Move to Core/Cavitymoves all the face from one folder to another - Create Surface/Update Surface creates a knitted surface from the folder - Copy to New File opens a new part and copies the faces from the folder to it. - Hide Group Faces - Change Color - Select All - Island Analysis - Create Silhouette (Both Direction folder only) - Move to Main Group (No Draft folder only) - Remove Group (displayed only if group is empty). Face Level - Move to Core/Cavitymoves selected faces to specific group (can also drag between folders). Can select faces from the screen, move the cursor into the property page to access this pop up. - Zoom To a specific face. - Create Silhouette (in Both Direction folder only) Group Level (Parting Lines folder) - Show Open Parting Lines/(Hide Open Parting Lines) shows open parting lines if there are and toggles to continuously show them and vice versa. - Show Closed Parting Lines/(Hide Closed Parting Lines) shows closed parting lines if there are and toggles to continuously show them and vice versa. - Automatic Parting Line(s) Rebuild switch to automatically update the OPEN parting lines
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User Guide Rebuild Parting Lines manually rebuild the OPEN parting lines.

Parting Line level - Composite Curve creates composite curves from the selected parting line. - Zoom To a specific parting line. In addition we have added Move to Core and Move to Cavity to the standard SolidWorks pop up to move faces selected from the screen without moving the cursor to the property page.

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User Guide

2.3 Plug Hole(s)

The SplitWorks >Plug Holes menu or relevant icon opens the Plug Hole(s) dialogue box. Surface Body: You must select a part from the Surface Bodies folder or graphic screen; SplitWorks hides the Solid Bodies automatically to assist identification of loops. If only one knitted part exists then SplitWorks automatically selects it. Boundary Loop(s): The system will list all internal closed boundary loops on the surface. Use to leave the menu on the screen after validation. All Boundary Loop(s) The system will list all the boundary loops in the surface, activated automatically when selecting the surface. (Use for knitted surfaces only) Click to create the plugs for the boundary loops in the list box according to the following: Plugs are created for all planar loops in the part. Non-planar inner loops, and loops which are recognized as a result of a topological operation are deleted. Loops, which are not plugged, will be left highlighted. Use one of the standard SolidWorks surface functions i.e. Delete Holes, Fill, Loft etc. to fill them. The system will attempt to knit the result to the previously created knit surfaces.

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User Guide Notes: 1. When using this menu, be sure to check if the faces are knitted or not, since the outer loop of a non-knitted face is a boundary loop. 2. The surface can be selected before activating the dialogue.

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User Guide

2.4 Loft
The SplitWorks >Loft menu or relevant icon opens the Loft dialogue box. This dialogue is divided into 3 groups. Edge(s) Surface Body: You must select a part from the Surface Bodies tree or graphic screen; SplitWorks hides the Solid Bodies automatically to assist identification of loops. You can select the surface prior to entering the menu. Start/End: Select 2 entities, which can be either edges or vertices, all the connecting edges (from knitted surfaces) are highlighted. They must be free edges. Click to select reverse the solution (in case the wrong part of the loop has been highlighted). Additional Edge(s) Select additional edges to add to the lofting (they must be connected to the edges already highlighted). This is to select edges of surfaces, which are not knitted. Automatic Parting Surface If the Loft function automatically recognizes a parting surface (at the moment only for flat parting surfaces) then you can disregard this by not checking this parameter. Loft Direction Rotate the angle to the desired direction. and pick an edge, the loft will be Click previewed in the 3D direction of the edge. The loft distance will be default to the edge length.

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User Guide

Click

to reverse the loft direction.

Loft Distance Define the loft distance from the edge. Use to leave the menu on the screen after validation.

to create the lofted surface. The system will attempt to knit the result Click to the previously created knit surfaces. Notes: 1. If the Parting Line is a planar line, then a rectangular planar parting surface is displayed in this case the Loft Direction then controls the orientation of the rectangle, and the Loft Distance controls the size. (This will happen either when the loft menu is accessed or after the first edge is chosen) 2. The loft is created by projecting a composite curve onto a plane defined by a direction taken from the center of the original part normal to the 2 end vertices of the edges modulo 45. 3. You can select a contiguous set of edges (from knitted surfaces) by clicking on the first edge or vertex and the last edge or vertex. You can also select edges individually. The system checks to make sure that all the edges are contiguous and free (i.e. on the surface boundary). A preview of the lofted surface will be displayed. 4. A feasibility check is made to avoid twisted loft surfaces, and when the surface is not feasible (according to a quick but not thorough test) the Loft direction is colored red. 5. This function uses a special redundancy test, which checks the success of the SolidWorks API functions involved and if there is a failure, it then offers the user an iterating algorithm the lofting of the edges one by one. On confirmation the result will be a series of lofted surfaces instead of one, automatically knitted. 6. A composite curve is created and projected to a plane offset at the required distance and activates the SolidWorks loft function between them. The result in the Feature Manager Design tree is the creation of the above-mentioned elements, under a LoftSurface folder. In order to delete

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User Guide the loft surface, you should delete the 2 planes as well as all the relevant geometry from the tree (check the Also delete absorbed features on the delete menu to delete all the created geometry). You can also use the SplitWorks Delete menu on the RHM button to completely delete a SplitWorks loft in one action. YOU SHOULD NOT EDIT THE COMPOSITE CURVE; otherwise you will get surprising results. The surface can be selected before activating the dialogue.

7. 8.

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User Guide

2.5 Create Solid Insert

The SplitWorks > Create Solid Insert menu or relevant icon assists you in creating an insert (core/cavity/side core etc. from a knitted surface even when the surface has not been created through SplitWorks). An assembly of the same name as the part is opened or created. If the assembly already exists in the current folder then SplitWorks will enquire whether to create a new assembly or open the current one. The dialogue is broken up into three groups: Parts Surface: You must select a part from the Surface Bodies under the Part tree only. The system automatically calculates and displays an optimal insert blank based on the internal Box blank. Local coord system: Select a coordinate system (must be in the Surface part) that defines extrude direction (Z+) and center for the solid insert. It defaults to the Split direction coordinate system. Plastic part: Automatically selects the plastic part. This will ensure that the complementary insert (i.e. the insert created by subtracting the part and the initial insert from the insert blank) is created. The Parts group will then be expanded to include the Comp. (Complementary) insert name parameter. Blank: Select the insert blank. The choices are: Symmetric box blank (default) causes the blanks to

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User Guide be always centered on the origin in the split plane. Asymmetric box blank enables you to adjust the width and length of the inserts in the +x(y) and x(y) directions separately. Cylindrical blank creates cylindrical blanks. User blank... that opens an Insert Blank Library Palette where user created blank folders may be defined and user blanks selected refer to section 2.8 to see how to create a user blank. Insert name: Key-in the name for the resulting insert, defaults to CoreInsert or CavityInsert depending on the parting surface. Comp. insert name: Key-in the name for the complementary insert, defaults to CavityInsert or CoreInsert accordingly. When the original surface is not created from the SplitWorks property page In this case (i.e. if you have used the IGES in/out to knit the parting surface), then a different dialogue box appears allowing you to reverse the core/cavity direction. The solid part must still exist under the Solid Bodies folder in order for this to work. The general split direction is calculated according to the z-coordinate (use the Local coordinate system parameter to modify the split direction it if necessary). The Flip Split Direction: This icon allows you to change the core and cavity directions and the Insert names respectively.

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User Guide Position X/Y Adjust the blank on the XY plane of the Local coordinate system relative to the origin. Angle Adjust the angle according to the Z-axis of the Local coordinate system. Parameters Click on this icon to open the parameter scheme. The insert blank parameter scheme is a bit map file with the same name as the insert blank. The parameters of the blank are read in (if they are listed in the blank initial file) according to their given names. Stack height (Read Only) Displays the stack height. Equal values for inserts Mark this parameter so that the A, B and Cmf parameters of the core and cavity stay equal when either one is modified. The following is used to modify the blank sizes. Main Parameters The parameters refer to the specific insert and are modified separately. The A, B, Cmf and R parameters will remain equal for both inserts in the Symmetric case. The Thickness parameter defines the core/cavity insert height. The initial height is defined so that there is a 25mm (1 inch) margin from the bottom/top of the core/cavity to the respective inserts. Notice the data used in this section is soft coded (i.e. the bit map file, initial file and SolidWorks standard part data), so that a user blank will behave exactly the same as a standard library part.

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User Guide Insert Blank Library Palette

Select a blank from the Insert Blank(s) palette by double clicking on a specific part, or by selection and clicking on OK. Press the arrow key to hide or show the different palettes. Pressing the Folder browser button allows you to define user insert blank libraries.

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User Guide Define a user insert blank library Click on the palette. con to add folders to the user insert blank library

Choose a folder with user insert blank as defined in the previous section, and click OK to add it to the user insert blank library. The new folder will now appear in the right hand window of the Solid Insert Library dialogue. Refer to Creating User Insert Blank (section 2.8) and use a similar method to create your own user insert blanks. .

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User Guide

2.6 Clean
The SplitWorks >Clean menu or relevant icon allows you to clear the SplitWorks data from the part including the SplitWorks Feature Tree and color coding. The part will revert to the default color.

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User Guide

2.7 Chain Edges

This function is accessible through the Right Mouse Button. Select two free edges (i.e. edges on the border of a knitted surface), using the CNTRL key to select the second edge, and click on RMB. The following item will appear.

Click on the Chain Edges button and the system will highlight a path between the two edges. This dialogue will pop up allowing you to reverse the initial choice.

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User Guide

2.8 SplitWorks Delete

This function is accessible through the Right Mouse Button and is useful when deleting the loft folders created by SplitWorks loft function. It should be used with care since it deletes all the information within the folder including the underlying 3D sketches and Composite curves etc.

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User Guide

2.9 Planar Surface

This function is accessible through the Right Mouse Button and is useful when you have planar surfaces defined by a set of open edges. This function closes the loop, creates a planar surface and knits it to the surface connected to the edges.

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User Guide

2.10 Create a User Insert Blank Library

SplitWorks insert blank - is a SolidWorks part. Insert Blank Library is a folder containing SplitWorks insert blanks. Here are the steps to create a user insert blanks library. Open a new folder any where on your machine for example MyBlanksLib. Open a new SolidWorks part and Save As Blank1.SLDPRT in to the above folder. Open a new sketch on the front plane.

Draw a rectangle around the part origin.

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User Guide Dimension the rectangle as shown in the picture below. (Check the Show dimension names parameter in SolidWorks > Tools > Options under the General tab). Name the parameters as shown below. Set Parameter A to 120 and Parameter B to 220.

Select SolidWorks > Tools > Equations and add the following two equations: "A2@Sketch1"="A@Sketch1"/2 "B2@Sketch1"="B@Sketch1"/2

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User Guide Select Base Extrude Extrude the sketch in Z minus direction of the part coordinate system. Set the D1 parameter (extrude length) to 70mm. Set the D2 parameter (extrude length at the opposite direction) to 0.01mm.

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User Guide

Double click the newly created Base Extrude feature and rename the D1 parameter to Depth.

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User Guide

Open a new drawing file. Add to the drawing the two views shown in the picture below. Dimension the parameters that are to appear in the parameter box of the Create Solid Insert dialogue. A, B and Depth. Use the Dimension Properties > Modify Text to show only the names of the parameters without their values.

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User Guide Create a BMP file of the insert blank drawing including the area to be icon of the parameter scheme in the displayed when activating the Create Solid Insert dialogue. Save it in the holder library folder under the same name as the insert blank name: Blank1.BMP

Create a text file (using Notepad) of the insert blank parameters as they are to appear in the parameter box of the Create Solid Insert dialogue. A, B as Insert Parameters and Depth and D2 as Primary and Secondary Pocket Parameters which are mandatory parameters for initialize the solid insert. Save the file as Blank1.ini.

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User Guide [Insert Parameters] Under this section we add the parameters which will be displayed to the user and can be adjusted. The names of the parameters must coincide with the names given in the blank part. [Primary Pocket Parameter] The parameter in this section defines the thickness of the insert. [Secondary Pocket Parameter] This parameter must exist in order for the insert block to be cut and is a parameter in the opposite direction to the Primary Pocket Parameter. It is hidden and only used for calculations. Select User Blank in Create Solid Insert and browse to the new blank library folder and select the new blank.

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User Guide Select the icon of the parameter scheme to see that you get the right one. Notice that only the parameters: A, B and Depth are modifiable in the parameter box. Recap Three files are required to create a user part holder: A solid part. An INI file with the relevant dimensions parameters. A BMP file of the views of the drawing of the part showing the relevant dimensions (optional).

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3
3 Tutorial 1
The files here can be found in the Car Handle folder under the SplitWorks\Example Files directory.

Tutorial 1

3.1 Core and Cavity Creation

In this section we demonstrate a quick method to create the core and cavity inserts. Select SolidWorks and open the file: HandleHousing.SLDPRT save the file into a new folder.

Select the Split Part icon. The Analysis tab is opened. The top part of this dialogue box is used to analyze the part in order to find an optimum parting direction. Mark the Show parting line check box. Actually the y-axis, which is the default direction, is optimum but by picking edges, planar faces or planes the preview is updated and different color schemes are shown. Select an edge and then a planar face on the side of the part and see different schemes. Then select Plane2 or one of the planar faces on the top to return to the optimal splitting direction. Notice that the color of the No draft core faces is changed to light blue. In this case after validating the split operation the No draft core faces will be
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Tutorial 1 categorized within a separate group.

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Tutorial 1 Under the Legend tab check the Move to main group check box. Notice that the color of the No draft core faces is changed to blue. In this case after validating the split operation the No draft core faces will be categorized within the Core group.

Under the Legend tab you can Hide and Show the group of faces by activating icon and change the coloring default by activating the icons. the The Split Both direction part of the dialogue is for instructing the system to make a silhouette split on Both Direction Faces. We will practice this part in the next exercises.

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Tutorial 1 Now we will initiate the splitting process, which takes a few minutes depending on the size of the part. Here it should take less than a minute. Click . at the top of the right hand pane is automatically created by the .

A new tab system. Click

Here we see the different groups according to the categorization of the faces. In this case there are no No Draft faces so this group doesnt appear. An extra group containing the Parting Line(s) is created which in general has two sub-groups Open Parting Line(s) and Closed Parting Line(s), In this case there are only Closed Parting Line(s), We use the Open Parting Line(s) group to guide us on how to modify the faces in order to get valid parting line(s) and shut-off(s). We will see the use of this in a later exercise. In this exercise the parting line(s) are well defined so there is no need to modify the faces. In case where the Move to main group check box is not checked the system would (if faces exist) create two other groups: No Draft Cavity faces with no draft angle that the system analyzer recognizes as cavity faces. No Draft Core faces with no draft angle that the system analyzer recognizes as core faces. This tab also contains a set of context sensitive menus on the Right Hand Mouse button to manipulate the faces in order to define the correct core (or cavity). Select HandleHousing and click on the Right Hand Mouse button.

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Tutorial 1

Here we can see the Automatic Rebuild parameter (default=Automatic Rebuild), which allows automatically re categorization whenever a correction is made to the solid part. This is an important tool, which allows immediate feedback to the mold designer while he is correcting the part. The Create New Group menu creates a new group to which faces may be moved. Also the Open and Closed Parting lines are automatically displayed (here there are only closed parting lines). The Import Surface menu is to allow the user to import and categorize a surface in external file format. Hide (Show) All Group Faces toggle is useful when manipulating the display of the different face folders.

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Tutorial 1 Select isometric view.

As you can see we have a problem with the bosses on the top (blue color), since they have undercuts (i.e. core faces surrounded by the cavity). Another indicator of the problem are the closed parting lines around the bosses. Click on the Parting Line(s) folder in the SplitWorks property page and with the RHM button select the Hide Closed Parting Line(s) option. This is a toggle to show or hide the different types of parting lines.

Select Boss-Extrude10 from the Feature Manager Design tree and click on the RHM button and Select the Edit
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Tutorial 1 Feature pop up menu. Check the Draft outward parameter.

. Click The bosses are modified (they now have a suitable cavity direction). And the colors are updated to the cavity color.

Click on the Show Closed Parting Line(s) in the SplitWorks property page under the Parting Line(s) folder to see the closed parting lines again. Notice that the closed parting lines around the bosses have now disappeared. Next we create new surface parts for the side core.
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Tutorial 1 Select HandleHousing and click on the RHM button and Select Create New Group. Enter the name SideCore1.

Expand the Both Directions group and move (by selecting the Move to SideCore1 on the RHM button while pointing to one of the faces). Create a new group called SideCore2 and move (in the same manner) the other face from the Both Directions group to it. Now we create a Surface Body from the Core. Select the Core click on the RHM button and Select Create Surface.

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Tutorial 1 A new surface called Core-Surface1 appears in the FeatureManager design tree. Now we are going to close the holes. icon automatically all the inner loops are Select the Plug Hole(s) selected. Since only one knit exists it is automatically selected. The system will also hide all the Solid Bodies when using this menu in order to help identification of the loops etc.

Click . All the holes are plugged. The planar holes appear with plugs (which can be used in other parts) and the non-planar holes (i.e. for the face on the top) are deleted. Now we create the parting surface. Parting surfaces can be created using any/all of the standard SolidWorks surface construction menus as well as the Loft menu from SplitWorks which is specially designed to create parting surfaces. In this case we will use the SolidWorks Radiate menu for part of the surface (it is not able to create a suitable parting surface on the complete part) and then the SplitWorks specialized Loft menu. Click the SolidWorks > Insert > Surface > Radiate menu or relevant icon and choose the options as shown below.

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Tutorial 1

Click to create. Knit the previous 2 surfaces, Surface-Knit1 and Ruled-Radiate1 using the SolidWorks > Insert > Knit menu or relevant icon. Next we use the SplitWorks > Loft function. Select the Surface-Knit2 feature under the Surface Bodies(1) tree. Select the Loft icon. You can also select the surface graphically after opening the dialogue. Select the 2 vertices at the ends of the edges to loft. The second vertex should be at the beginning of the arc.

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Tutorial 1

Select the Loft Direction box and select this edge in the picture to define the loft direction along the edge direction. Click to keep the dialogue active. (Modal)

Click . The surfaces are automatically knitted.

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Tutorial 1

Select 2 vertices or edges in the Start/End box and the direction as the edge of the extended surface as shown below.

Click

.
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Tutorial 1 Now we create the final loft. Select 2 vertices or edges in the Start/End box.

Click

Click to exit the loft menu. The previous surfaces are automatically knitted.

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Tutorial 1 Now we create the solid inserts. Select SplitWorks > Create Solid Insert . menu or relevant icon SplitWorks automatically creates an assembly with the same name as the part (HandleHousing), which includes the part and opens the Create Solid Insert dialogue box. Here we can see the first 2 sections of the dialogue. Select the Surface-Knit from the screen. The Local coord system: defaults to the SplitWorks Coordinate System defined as the center of the bounding box when the part was first split. The Plastic part: defaults to HandleHousing-1. SplitWorks automatically calculates the largest size of the specific blank chosen that covers the surface, taking the Split direction coordinate system as the center of the blank and the extrude direction. Here we can choose Symmetric and Asymmetric box blanks from the standard (Symmetric blank automatically centers the blank around the x, y coordinates, while the Asymmetric blank allows different values for +x (y) and x(y). Key-in CoreInsert for the Insert name and CavityInsert for the Comp. Insert name. The Position group allows you to move and rotate (around the z-axis) the insert blank. We will leave the default.

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Tutorial 1 The Parameters group allows you to change the parameters of each of the inserts separately or together if Equal values for inserts is marked. These insert blanks (i.e. material). The insert blanks exist in a standard (user extendable) library on the system. The Stack height: parameter is read-only and keeps track of the stack height. The initial height is defined so that there is a 25 mm (1 inch) margin from the bottom/top of the core/cavity to the respective inserts. Adjust A and B to 220 and 135 respectively and see that the Cavity insert also is automatically adjusted. Click on the See parameter scheme icon (to see the meaning of the parameters). Click .

The Surface-Knit is automatically hidden and the Solid Cut-Extrude is displayed. Explode the assembly.
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Tutorial 1

Notice that the cavity includes the ears of the side cores. These could be used as side cores since they appear in the cavity insert as separate bodies. We could just add an extrusion to each one and then split the CavityInsert into a three parts assembly including the side cores. In this tutorial we will create the side cores using the faces we have set aside in the SplitWorks property manager to show an alternative method which might be preferable in a more complicated case.

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Tutorial 1

3.2 Side Cores

Here we will demonstrate the creation of a simple side core, in fact a pin. The same steps would be taken even if the side core consisted of complicated geometry. It is in fact similar to the method we used in creating the core. Open HandleHousing.SLDPRT Show only Cut-Extrude15 under Solid Bodies for convenience. Under the SplitWorks property page select SideCore1 and click on the RHM button and choose Create Surface. If the property page is not complete then switch on the Automatic Rebuild option and activate the SolidWorks > Rebuild menu. icon identify the SideCore1 surface under the Select the Plug Hole(s) Surface Bodies tree (SideCore1-Surface1) and select the back circle as the loop to close. Click . The plug is created and knitted to the surface. Select the SolidWorks Insert > Reference Geometry > Plane menu or relevant icon . Select the planar face and input a Distance of 40 (if the left hand side core or 50 if the right hand one). . Click Open a sketch (on the last created plane).

Select the open loop

and click the Convert Entities

icon.

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Tutorial 1 Select SolidWorks Insert > Base > Extrude... menu or relevant icon and choose the type Up To Surface. The direction should be towards the center of the part, if not check the Reverse box. Uncheck the Merge result parameter. We want the side core as a separate solid object. Click .

Perform the same for SideCore2. At this stage we have three Solid Bodies in the Feature Manager tree. Click on SolidWorks > Window and select open HandleHousing.SLDASM Edit CoreInsert and create a cavity feature with HandleHousing.SLDPRT The holes for the side cores appear. Show only CavityInsert and CoreInsert. Automatically the Core is updated to include the holes created by the side cores. This is an important characteristic of SplitWorks system, which maintains coherency of the mold.

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Tutorial 1

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Tutorial 1

3.3 Propagation of part changes to the core cavity and side cores.
Open in the Example Files\Car Handle folder.

Notice that the handle axis is not concentric to the housing axis. This is due to the fact that in the parallel working process the core and cavity are already designed while a revision change comes in. Since SplitWorks maintains coherency functionality revision changes will propagate to the core cavity and side cores. Edit and Edit to normal view. Change the dimension 40.0mm to 20.00mm sketch. Change

Now the axis is concentric.

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Tutorial 1

Here are some more changes to the part. Edit and change to normal view. Add a length Dimension to the opening and change it from 10mm to 15mm.

Edit definition of . Change the radius from 10mm to 6mm. This is the new revision of the part.
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Tutorial 1

Close and validate all SolidWorks request for saving and assembly updates. Notice that all changes were propagated to the core cavity and side cores parts in the HandleHousing assembly.

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Tutorial 1

The fillet on the top has been decreased, the size of the bosses has been increased and the axes (ears) have been moved and the side cores updated accordingly.

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Tutorial 1

3.4 Cavity Pins

In this section we demonstrate how to make cavity pins with SplitWorks. Again the example is a simple one, but the same steps can be used for any geometry. This is similar to the Side Cores step. Open HandleHousing.SLDPRT Show only the Cut-Extrude part under Solid Bodies for convenience. Select HandleHousing and click on the RHM button and Select Create New Group. Enter the name Pin1. Create new groups with names Pin2 and Pin3. Select Core and click on the RHM button and choose Hide Group Faces. In the SolidWorks Option menu under the Display tab mark No Edges in the Edges display in shaded mode section. Select a pin from the screen, move the cursor into the SplitWorks property page, click on RHM button and choose Move to Pin1.

Do the same for the other 2 pins. Select Pin1 and click on the RHM button and choose Create Surface.
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Tutorial 1 Select the Plug Hole(s) icon identify the Pin1 surface under the Surface Bodies tree (Surface-Knit10) and select the narrow circle as the loop to close. . The plug is created and knitted to the surface. Click Do the same for the other 2 pins. Close HandleHousing.SLDPRT to return to the Assembly of the same name. Edit HandleHousing. (It is useful to force transparency when editing assembly through the SolidWorks Options menu. Select the SolidWorks Insert > Reference Geometry > Plane menu or relevant icon . Select the planar plug face (of a pin) and input a Distance of 60.

. Click Open a sketch (on the last created plane). Select the open loop and click the Convert Entities
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icon.
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Tutorial 1 Select SolidWorks Insert > Base > Extrude... menu or relevant icon and choose the type Up To Surface. The direction should be towards the center of the part, if not check the Reverse box.

Uncheck the Merge result parameter. We want the core pin as a separate solid object. Click .

Next we build a shoulder. Select the top face of Pin1 and open a sketch. Select circle; make it concentric to the top face of Pin1 with offset 5. Select SolidWorks Insert > Base > Extrude... menu or relevant icon and choose type blind, Distance 5 in a direction towards the pin tip. Check the Merge result parameter Click OK. Do these steps for Pin2 and Pin3.

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Tutorial 1

Hide HandleHousing.SLDPRT to see that the holes for the cavity pins have automatically been created.

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Tutorial 1 Hide CoreInsert and show CavityInsert only.

Show Pin1, Pin2 and Pin3 (within HandleHousing.SLDPRT).

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4
4 Tutorial 2
In this tutorial we will focus on how to define the parting line of both direction faces in the analysis face. The files here can be found in the Car Handle folder under the SplitWorks\Example Files directory.

Tutorial 2

4.1 Parting Line on Both Direction Faces

Select SolidWorks and open the file: Handle.SLDPRT and save it into a new directory. Select the Split Part icon.

. Press the Flip Direction The orange faces that you see in the part window at the bottom of the part are Both direction faces. Faces that part of them should go to the cavity group and part of to the core group. SplitWorks can suggest at this stage the missing parting line. Mark the Show parting line(s) check box.

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Tutorial 2

The orange faces in the list are the faces that the system is going to split along a silhouette parting line. As a default all Both direction faces are included in the list. In this case we do not want the axis faces to be included in the list. Check the Move to main group box under the Legend tab. There aren't any No Draft Cavity/No Draft Core faces anyway. Select the inner face of the axis. The face is deleted from the silhouette list and its color set to Red indicating that the parting line will not split this face.

Follow same steps to delete both chamfers of the axis. Make sure that their color is changed to Red.

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Tutorial 2

Select the Create silhouette icon. The faces in the list are split along the parting line. Notice that the main core surfaces created by the parting line surfaces were assigned to the Core surfaces group and were colored blue. Some of the faces are still assigned to the both direction faces, and the parting line is purple denoting that it is not closed. This is due to a tolerance problem and can be solved by adjusting the Silhouette angle parameter.

Set the Silhouette angle parameter to 3. (We could adjust the angle incrementally until the faces move to their
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Tutorial 2 respective sides (i.e. to the core or cavity) but this might take some time instead we will give an angle to be sure that the faces are resolved and then find the minimum angle) The parting line for the hole becomes yellow showing that it is closed. and the angle adjusts to .14 (the minimum angle for which the Click on faces will be properly divided) We use the Silhouette angle as a parameter to help tune the analysis in order to get a clearer result. In general the size of the Silhouette angle is not an important factor.

Unmark the Show parting line(s) check box.

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Tutorial 2 Hide Cavity and Both Direction under the Legend tab to see only the core faces.

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Tutorial 2

Click to create the SplitWorks property page. Select the Core click RHM button and choose Create Surface. Click on Hide Closed Parting Line(s) in the SplitWorks property page.

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Tutorial 2

4.2 Parting Surface

Hide Solid Body. Activate the Plug Hole(s) Click . icon.

The hole in the middle is left highlighted (selected). This makes it convenient to use the SolidWorks > Filled Surface menu. Select Insert > Surface > Fill for the standard SolidWorks menu. Mark the Merge result option.

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Tutorial 2

Click . We will now create the parting surface. Activate SolidWorks Radiate Surface icon. Select the round edge as shown in the picture below. Select the round face. Set the Radiate distance to 100mm and click OK.

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Tutorial 2

Knit the surfaces together. Select the Surface-Knit from the Surface Bodies folder. Activate the Loft icon.

icon. Activate the Keep Visible Select start and end edges as shown in the picture below.

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Tutorial 2

Activate the Angle from picked edge in the picture below.

icon and select the edge shown

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Tutorial 2

Notice that the length of the surface fits the previous radiate surface (since we take the distance from the length of the edge chosen). . Click SplitWorks might display a message indicating that it was not possible to create the loft as one surface and that SplitWorks will iterate through the edges. Click OK.

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Tutorial 2

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Tutorial 2 We will now follow similar steps to get the surfaces on the other side. Select start and end vertices/edges as shown in the picture below.

Activate the Angle from picked edge in the picture below.

icon and select the edge shown

Click

to get the
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following result.
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Tutorial 2

SplitWorks might display a message indicating that it was not possible to create the loft as one surface and that SplitWorks will iterate through the edges. Select start and end edges as shown in the picture below.

Click
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Tutorial 2 Select the remaining 2 edges.

Click

to get the following result.

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Tutorial 2

Activate the cancel icon. Follow the same steps as in Tutorial 1 to create the core solid and then the cavity solid:

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5
5 Tutorial 3
This tutorial demonstrates a real life part, which is given in IGES format and will demonstrate the different steps taken in SplitWorks to create the inserts for this part. The file here can be found in the Abdeck folder under the SplitWorks\Example Files directory.

Tutorial 3

5.1 Organizing Data

In this part of the tutorial we will cover the following steps: - Read in part data. - Enlarge part for shrinkage factor. - Set the coordinate system of the part.

5.1.1 Read in part data

Open the IGS file Abdeck.igs. After SolidWorks reads the IGES file a message is displayed offering to run the diagnostic tool. Click Yes.

Zoom to the marked area. There is a small tear in the solid, which should be first fixed. Zoom up closer and select the face inside the small tear and use the RHM button to delete it.

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Tutorial 3

A Gap will appear - click on the Attempt to Heal All icon on the bottom of the diagnostic dialogue to close it. Click to exit the dialogue. Save Abdeck.SLDPRT.

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Tutorial 3

5.2 Modify Part for Manufacture

In this section we will see the tools available to analyze, modify and create the cavity surface used to form the inserts. - Core and cavity face analysis, creation of silhouettes according to user defined directions and draft angles. - Dynamic parting line and face color display to assist modification of the cavity faces for mold design. - Preparing relevant cavity faces and creation of cavity surface.

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Tutorial 3

5.2.1 Silhouette parting line

Select the face as shown below to define the split direction.

. The split direction is according to Activate SplitWorks > Split Part selected plane. Mark the Move to main group check box under the Legend tab.

Activate Create Silhouette . All both direction faces colored in orange will be divided according to the main split direction. Notice how the parting line (i.e. the divide between the core and cavity) has improved.
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Tutorial 3

However, you can see that the part still has to be modified in order to create a complete parting line. We will ignore the parts that obviously require side cores and deal with them after creating the main core and cavity inserts. Click .

Note: We have made a decision to create the cavity first and the core as a result. We have also decided to create the side cores afterwards using SolidWorks tools so we will ignore the both side faces to begin with.

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Tutorial 3

5.2.2 Complete the Parting line

In order to complete the parting line we need to split more (flat) faces connecting the silhouette parting line and the parts natural parting line detected by SplitWorks (edges connecting blue, core, and green, cavity faces.). There is no unique solution to complete the parting line. This is a stage were designer experience and preferences take a role. Working on the background of the colored faces makes it easier to create the missing the parting lines. Click on the SplitWorks tab to see the different groups created. Select on Abdeck click on RHM button and see that Automatic Rebuild is checked; this automatically updates the SplitWorks property page after part modification. We are going to make changes to the part in order to close the parting line.

Zoom to the area shown in the picture above. The selected edge in the picture is the silhouette parting line created in the steps before. We are going to correct the parting line in this area. Select the face shown in the picture, and open a new sketch. Select the silhouette parting line shown in the picture above. Use Convert Entities to copy the edge to the sketch. Extend the new line as shown in the picture below.

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Tutorial 3

Activate SolidWorks > Curve > Split Line and select the 4 faces shown in the following picture. Click .

Now we are going to use the SolidWorks draft function to correct the split faces. SplitWorks automatically rebuilds the SplitWorks property page. Select the SolidWorks > Insert > Features > Draft or click and choose the Parting Line option as the Type of draft. Select the face used for the split direction for Direction of Pull. Make sure it points to the cavity direction. Select the parting lines from the previously split faces as shown below.

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Tutorial 3

. Click The result includes correction of the face categorization as well as the parting line.

In order to see a more complete parting line move the no draft faces in the following to the core (we dont need to draft these faces since we are only working on the cavity)

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Tutorial 3

Select the faces shown above click RHM button and choose Move to Core. Check the automatic propagation of the parting line.

At any stage you can turn off the Automatic Rebuild through the RHM button in the SplitWorks Property Manager. Try it just to practice not really necessary for this part. Select Abdeck in the SplitWorks property page click on the RHM button and deactivate the Automatic Rebuild function. Switching this option on at any time will allow you to update the property page (using the Rebuild All menu).

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Tutorial 3 Open a sketch on the face and draw a vertical line from the vertex as shown in the picture below, and select SolidWorks > Split Line > Projection to create a split line. Zoom to the following area.

As you can see there are two areas (as shown within the circles that have the same problem; a small part of a core face has to be moved to the cavity. We will split the faces and correct the draft angle. Open a sketch on the face and draw a vertical line from the point on the separation line.

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Tutorial 3

Split the face using the SolidWorks > Split Line menu (within the sketch).

Click

and Select the SolidWorks > Insert > Features > Draft or click choose the Parting Line option as the Type of draft. Select the face used for the split direction for Direction of Pull. (Make sure it points to the cavity direction. Select the parting lines from the previously split face as shown below.

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Tutorial 3

. Click The SplitWorks property page does not update (if you de-activated that option) and therefore the parting line doesnt either since we switched them off. Do the same for the other side as well. Move the following face to the core (just to get a complete parting line not actually necessary.

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Tutorial 3 Open a sketch on the face below. Select the edge shown in the picture below and use Convert Entities to copy it to the sketch. Extend the line so that it will split the selected face.

Activate SolidWorks > Split Line > Projection and select the face used to create the sketch.

Follow same steps to split the face on the other side.

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Tutorial 3

Draft the two faces split in the cavity direction. Another area that is problematic is the part between the two faces, which we have corrected.

This cannot belong to the core since there would be a problem ejecting the plastic part. In order to change the draft angle we first delete the fillets on each side using SolidWorks > Insert > Face > Delete, with the Delete and Patch option and select the 2 fillets.

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Tutorial 3 Draft the front face (with Neutral Plane option) in the cavity direction.

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Tutorial 3 Recreate the fillets on the corners where the previous fillet was using Insert > Surface > Fillet/Round and set the radius to 3.

In order to finish the parting line (to make sure that the part is correctly separated, move the no draft faces in the screen below to the core. This is an important part of the process in order to check that the parting line is well defined.

The result.
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Tutorial 3

Now we want to check all the closed parting lines. Select the Hide Open Parting Line(s) from RHM button on the Parting Line(s) folder from the SplitWorks property page.

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Tutorial 3

In this area there is no parting line for the shut-off. In the second circle there seems to be a closed parting line (i.e. an undercut) This is a problem with the solid definition but does not interfere with the work itself and will disappear when creating the cavity surface.

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Tutorial 3 Zoom to the second circle and see that there is a face in the wrong direction.

Select the SolidWorks > Insert > Features > Draft or click and choose the Neutral Plane option as the Type of draft. Select the face used for the split direction for Direction of Pull. (Make sure it points to the cavity direction. Select the undercut face to change the draft angle. The face is moved into the Cavity folder.

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Tutorial 3 Now we deal with the cut-of in the middle. Zoom to the square shut-off and show one side. Create a diagonal split line as shown in the screens below.

Follow similar steps (open sketch on planar face and add diagonal line) to split both side faces of the square hole as shown in the picture below.

In order to complete the parting line, move the faces above and below to the Cavity and the Core groups until you finally get the following closed parting line.

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Tutorial 3

5.2.3 Create Surface

We are now ready to create the cavity surface. There are still some surfaces in the cavity folder, which belong to the side cores (which will be created after the core and cavity as mentioned earlier). To move these surfaces out of the cavity folder first we hide all the other folders. Select Abdeck (i.e. top of the tree) in the SplitWorks FeatureManager click RMH button, press Create New Group and type in the name SideCores. Select Abdeck and click RMH button press Hide All Groups. Select Cavity and click RMH button press Show Group Faces. We can now use the SolidWorks face filter and select the faces not in the main cavity and move them to the SideCores folder. There is also a menu under the face folders (Island Analysis) which allows you to browse through the different disjointed sets and select them to move. Quickest is to use the face filter and move them, but if some islands still remain then you can use the Island Analysis afterwards. Here we want to practice the Island Analysis menu. Select Cavity and click RMH button press Island Analysis. A small dialogue appears allowing you to browse through the Islands. Browse to one of the islands (not the main set) and click on the Select Faces icon and then on the faces selected click the RHM button and press Move to SideCores.

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Tutorial 3

Browse to the Next Island and do the same until all the Islands have disappeared. Then Close the Island Analysis dialogue. Select Cavity, click RHM button and choose Create Surface. A Surface Body has now been created (if not go back and check that the cavity folder does not contain disjointed sets i.e. do the Island Analysis again). Select the Hide Closed Parting Line(s) from RHM button on the Parting Line(s) folder from the SplitWorks property page.

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Tutorial 3

5.3 Cavity and Core Inserts

We shall first create the cavity insert. Once we have created the solid cavity insert, creating the solid core is straightforward. Select the Plug Hole(s) icon and click All Boundary Loop(s). There are some pseudo loops in the dialogue due to tolerance issues; however SplitWorks will create the correct plugs, even plugging some internal tolerance holes. Click . The result is a knitted surface. Now we create the parting surface. This can be done with the SolidWorks Surface menus as well as the SplitWorks > Loft menu and a combination of them. If we look at the long edge as shown in the picture below we can see that we might have a problem with an overlapping face.

In order to correct this (and also for other uses) we have a small SplitWorks utility under the general RHM button called Planar Surface which allows you to create a planar surface by selecting a non-closed set of contiguous lines. Cntrl Select the edges as shown below, click on the RHM button and press Planar Surface.

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Tutorial 3

SplitWorks creates a planar surface and knits it with the main surface.

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Tutorial 3 Activate the Loft function . Select the Surface-Knit from the SurfaceBodies folder. Zoom to the area marked in the picture below.

Select the vertex as start point.

Zoom to the area marked in the picture below.

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Tutorial 3

Select the vertex as end point. Change the loft direction to 180. Change the loft distance to 45.

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Tutorial 3

Click During the loft process we get the following message:

Click OK. The parting surface is created and knitted with SplitWorks iterating through the SolidWorks loft function to finish it. Activate the Loft function . Select the two edges as start and end entities for the loft chain.

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Tutorial 3 Again ignore the pre-loft warning. Set the Loft direction to 270 and Loft Distance to 45. Click the docking pin .

Click Click OK on the SplitWorks warning message. Again there are no gaps in the surface, and SplitWorks automatically knits the surfaces together. (If there are then just close them by using the SplitWorks Planar Surface menu on the RHM button as before) Now we loft the third side. Select both end vertices as shown below.

Ignore the pre-loft warning.

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Tutorial 3 Set the Loft Direction to 360. Set the Loft Distance to 45. Click Click OK on the SplitWorks warning message. Now we are left with gaps in the surface. to exit the Loft menu. Click Here we use the SplitWorks Planar Surface RHM button menu to fill in the missing gaps.

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Tutorial 3 Follow similar steps to create the loft surfaces as shown in the picture below. Set the Loft direction to 90 and Loft distance to 45.

Start / End

The final result

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Tutorial 3

5.3.1 Solid Cavity and Core

In order to create the core and cavity we will use the Create Solid Insert menu. Activate SplitWorks > Create Solid Insert or relevant icon .

SplitWorks automatically opens or creates an assembly by the same name as the part includes the part and opens a dialogue. Select the surface from the Surface-Bodies folder in the Abdeck.SLDPRT. The Plastic part is automatically chosen. Except the default blank, choose the names CavityInsert and CoreInsert for the Insert name and Complementary insert respectively. Key-in 50 for Thickness of both CavityInsert and CoreInsert. Click .

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Tutorial 3

5.4 Side Cores

In this exercise we did not use SplitWorks functionality to move side core faces to new parts as a method of creating the solid side cores. In this exercise we will extract the side cores directly from the solid core.

5.4.1 Side Core 1

Open a new part and name it . Insert CoreInsert (the solid core) as a part to the new created part. Open sketch on the face shown in the following picture.

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Tutorial 3 Draw the following sketch while you are wire frame mode.

Cut Extrude Through all. Make sure to flip the side to cut.
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Tutorial 3

Open a sketch on the selected face shown in the picture below.

Draw a rectangle as shown in the picture below.

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Tutorial 3

Cut Extrude as show. The result is the desired side core.

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Tutorial 3

Save.

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Tutorial 3

5.4.2 Side Core 2

Follow similar steps to create SideCoreSLD2.

Following are pictures for the sketches you need to create.

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Tutorial 3

If the last Cut-Extrude doesnt work then move the plane to .1 mm from the face.

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Tutorial 3

5.4.3 Extract side cores from the core.

Open a new part and name it CoreMinusSideCores. Insert CoreInsert, as a base part. Open a new assembly and name it CoreInsertFin. Drag and drop to origin the 3 parts: CoreMinusSideCores, SideCoreSLD1 and SideCoreSLD2. Activate the SolidWorks Cavity function to subtract SideCoreSLD1 and SideCoreSLD2 from CoreMinusSideCores. Make sure that the shrinkage factor is set to 0.0000.

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Tutorial 3

5.5 Check Part

Subtract CoreMinusSideCores, Cavity insert SideCoreSLD1 and SideCoreSLD2 from a box to see that we will get the correct part out of the injection process.

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6
6 Tutorial 4
In this tutorial we are going to show some of the new UNIQUE functionality of SplitWorks, which enables corrections to the part (whatever they may be) to be down streamed to the final inserts through our unique Update Surface functionality. In the first tutorial we demonstrated modifications, which were made on the part WITHOUT adding or deleting features. Here we are going to show the general modification of parts including addition/deletion of features and even modification of an IGES file.

Tutorial 4

6.1 Propagation of modifications through SolidWorks

6.1.1 Creating the inserts
Open Cover.SLDPRT from the Cover folder under SplitWorks\Example Files. Click on the SplitWorks > Split menu or relevant icon. Check that the cavity direction is correct. Check the Move to main group parameter under the Legend tab. Click on the Create Silhouette button in the Split dialogue box.

Click . Select the Cavity folder from the SplitWorks property page, click on the RHM button and press Create Surface. Click on the SplitWorks > Plug Hole(s) menu or icon. (The Solid Bodies are hidden and the surface is visible) . Click Select Surface-Knit from the Surfaces Bodies folder and click on the SplitWorks > Loft menu. The parting surface is flat so it is
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Tutorial 4 automatically created. . Click Click on the SplitWorks > Create Solid Insert menu and select the surface from the screen.

. Click Explode the assembly.

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6.1.2 Correcting the original part

Open Cover.SLDPRT. Edit the feature Cut-Extrude17.SLDPRT. The change we are going to make is to create a hole instead of the pocket, which will belong to the core.

Change the End Condition to Up To Next. Mark the Draft outward check box. Click . This is a major change, which will cause difficulty for most splitting procedures.

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SplitWorks automatically updates the color classification showing the pocket faces as being in the core direction, and of course the fillet as being both sides since it now connects the core and the cavity. We now have to make some corrections but we must make sure that they appear before Cavity-Surface1 otherwise they will not be taken into account. Roll up the feature tree to a point just before the Cavity-Surface1. Select the Both Directions folder from the SplitWorks property page, click on the RHM button and press Create Silhouette. The split faces have been automatically reclassified.

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Now we must update Cavity-Surface1. Roll down to after Cavity-Surface1. Select the Cavity folder from the SplitWorks property page, click on the RHM button and press Update Surface. There is a new hole, and a shut-off for it has to be made. The shut-off should be made before Surface-Knit2 so that we can add it to make sure that the rest of the parts are coherent. Hide the solid (Split Line2) under the Solid Bodies folder. Select Cavity-Surface1 under the Surfaces Bodies folder and click on SplitWorks > Plug Hole(s)menu or relevant icon. Clear the Boundary Loop(s) selection box. Select an edge from the new hole.

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. Click Roll down to below Surface-Knit2, edit and add the last created surface (Surface-Plane11).

. Click Roll down to the end and show Surface-Knit3 under the Surface Bodies folder. The parting surface has now been completely updated. Hide Surface-Knit3 under Surface Bodies and show Split Line2 under Solid Bodies. Open Cover.SLDASM. The assembly updates to include all the corrections!

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Tutorial 4

Here you can see the modifications made to both the core and the cavity.

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Tutorial 4 Important Note: The process of modification has two separate steps: First Step (modification of the part) In order for the Automatic Rebuild (color classification) and Update Surface (insert surface update) functionality to work correctly the modifications of the part must be made prior to the creation of the surface (Create Surface) menu. This can be achieved either by rolling back the feature tree to before the insert surface or if the original part was added as a base part. (If you forgot to do this you can always move the modifications back to before the insert surface was created). In the previous part the actual modification of the part was created before the insert surface however, we had to add a new split feature, which must also be added before the insert surface. Second Step (modification of the parting surfaces) As a result of modifications of the part new shut-offs or different parting lines have to be accounted for. This must be performed on the feature tree within the context of the relevant parts i.e. adding the shut-off must be done before the knitting of all the holes and added to that knit in order to preserve the coherency. In the previous part we had to create and add a new shut-off to the knit surface, which contained all the other shut-offs.

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6.2 Changes in an IGES file

The parts for this section exist in the IGES folder under SplitWorks\Example Files.

6.2.1 Creating the inserts

Open the file dek.iges. (No need to perform diagnostics) Select the top face and click on the SplitWorks > Split menu or relevant icon (since the part has not been saved you will be asked to save it).

Mark the Move to main group parameter under the Legend tab.

. Click We are going to create the core surface. We can see both the main parting lines and some open parting lines where we have holes. Zoom to one of the pairs of open paring lines as shown below.

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Modify the draft angle of the no draft face so that they become part of the core, using the Insert > Features > Draft menu or relevant icon, choosing the bottom face as the direction and the 4 faces (one for each of the snaps) to draft.

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Click . Notice that the core and the open parting lines are updated. The other no draft faces obviously belong to the cavity part and we will ignore them, although their draft angle might have to be corrected. Select the Core folder from the SplitWorks property page, click on the RHM button and press Create Surface. Hide the Parting lines. Click on the SplitWorks > Plug Hole(s) menu or relevant icon. Obviously Plug Hole(s) cannot fill these holes and we will use standard SolidWorks tools to create the shut-offs.( SolidWorks Parting Surface menu doesn't close them properly either) Here we will create the cut-off on one hole and use the Copy Surface command from SolidWorks to translate and rotate it to the other holes. Create 2 curves using the Curve Through Reference Points menu as shown in the screen below.

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Create a planar surface between the four edges.

Create a 3D curve as shown in the screen above on the right. Using this 3D curve create 2 more planar surfaces to shut-off the right side. Do the same on the left.

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Tutorial 4 Knit the last few surfaces (after Core-Surface) Select the Insert > Surface > Move/Copy menu to move the previous knit surface to the second hole on the same side using the translate (76 or -76 mm in the Z direction) and mark copy, the use it again to rotate the 2 surfaces around the center point by 180 degrees (y direction) again with the copy parameter marked. Knit all the surfaces together. Select Surface-Knit from the Surface Bodies folder and click on the SplitWorks > Loft menu to create the loft surface. SplitWorks recognizes that it is a planar surface. Make the distance 25.

Select the SplitWorks > Create Solid Insert (or relevant icon) and create the core and cavity inserts, modifying Thickness (material margin) for both the core and the cavity to 15 (i.e. Stack height of 30). Click . Explode the assembly with the SolidWorks Explode function.

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Save the result.

6.2.2 Reading in a modified IGES file

Now for the interesting part we will read in an IGES file which is a correction of the previous file. Open dek.SLDPRT. Select Imported1 and with RHM button click on Edit Definition. Choose dekModified.IGS and click Open. Notice that the new file is created and the SplitWorks property page updated with the correct face coloring. At this stage corrections could be made to the

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Tutorial 4 core if the part needed them, however, in our simple example no corrections are necessary. Select dek.SLDPRT under the SplitWorks tab and click on the RHM button. Choose the Rebuild All Select the Core folder from the SplitWorks property page, click on the RHM button. Instead of Create Surface the menu Update Surface appears since the Core-Surface already exists. Activate Update Surface. Open Dek.SLDASM from the Window menu. The inserts have been automatically corrected.

The part and the inserts have been updated. This is a simple example; no new shut-offs had to be made etc. however, if in more complex parts the SolidWorks rebuild errors appear then modifications can be achieved using the same methodology as you would in the standard SolidWorks environment. Note: You may have to extend the Base-Extrude feature in the core.

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