Mold Tools - Parting Lines
Parting lines lie along the edge of the molded part, between the core
and the cavity surfaces. They are used to create the parting
surfaces, and to separate the surfaces. You create the parting lines
after the model is scaled
and proper draft is applied. You can create:
You can automatically split straddle
faces found during draft analysis, either along the +/- boundary or at
a specified draft angle. Additionally, you can split a face by selecting
a sketch segment, a pair of vertices, or a spline on a surface. Before
creating parting lines, you can use Parting
Line Analysis to visualize and optimize possible
parting lines.
To make parting
line features visible even when they are not selected, click View
Parting Lines (View toolbar) or View,
Parting Lines.
When you create the first parting
line in a part, the software automatically creates the Cavity
Surface Bodies folder and Core
Surface Bodies folder and populates them with the
appropriate surfaces. See Mold Folders.
To create a parting line:
Click Parting Lines (Mold
Tools toolbar) or Insert, Molds, Parting
Line.
In the
PropertyManager, set the following options, then click .
Mold Parameters
Note the direction
of the arrow, and click Reverse Direction
if necessary.
Draft Angle. Set a value. Faces with
draft less than this value are reported as No
Draft in the analysis results.
Use for Core/Cavity Split. Select to
create a parting line that defines the core/cavity split.
Split faces. Select to automatically
split straddle faces found during the draft analysis. Select one of the
following:
Draft Analysis. Click to perform draft
analysis and generate the parting line. After clicking Draft
Analysis:
Four
blocks appear under Draft Analysis
to indicate the colors for Positive,
No Draft, Negative,
and Straddle faces. In the graphics
area, model faces change to the corresponding draft analysis color.
You
should have a combination of Positive
and Negative draft.
If you need to add draft, click Cancel
to exit the PropertyManager, then do one of the following:
With
a SolidWorks model, click Draft
on the Molds toolbar, or click Insert,
Molds, Draft.
With
an imported model, click Ruled Surface
on the Molds toolbar, or click Insert,
Molds, Ruled
Surface.
You can also perform draft analysis by clicking Draft
Analysis on the Mold Tools toolbar.
Parting Lines
If the parting
line is incomplete, then in the graphics area a red arrow appears at the
endpoint of an edge and indicates a possible next edge, and the following
options appear under Parting Lines:
You can press Y instead
of Add selected edge .
You can press N instead
of Select next edge .
Entities to Split
NOTES:
If
the model includes a chain of edges that runs between positive and negative
faces (that includes no straddle faces), the parting line segments are
selected automatically, and listed in Edges
.
If
the model includes multiple chains, the longest chain is selected automatically.
If
you want to automatically select a different chain of edges:
Right-click
and select Clear Selections.
Select
an edge.
Click
Propagate to display
all the edges
in Edges .
If
you want to manually select each edge:
Right-click
and select Clear Selections.
Select
an edge.
In
the PropertyManager, under Parting Lines,
click Add selected edge and Select next edge
as needed until all the edges you want appear in Edges .