Interlock Surface

The interlock surface surrounds the perimeter of the parting surfaces in a nearly perpendicular direction. As with all drafted faces, the interlock surface drafts away from the parting line.

You can add interlock surfaces to a mold part to achieve the following:
  • Seal the mold properly to prevent liquids from leaking.
  • Guide the tooling into place during the molding process.
  • Maintain alignment between the tooling entities.
  • Prevent shifts, uneven surfaces or incorrect wall thicknesses.
  • Minimize the cost of machining the mold plates across the split, because the area surrounding the interlock is planar.

You can manually start to add an interlock surface to the parting surface of a mold part with the Ruled Surface tool (Mold Tools toolbar), and complete the interlock surface with other surface modeling tools.

To help prevent the core and cavity blocks from shifting, you can add an interlock surface along the perimeter of parting surfaces prior to inserting a tooling split in a mold part. You can also create the interlock surface automatically when you insert the tooling split. To close holes in a molded part, you can add shut off surfaces.

Finishing the Interlock Surface

Lofted Surface Tool_Lofted_Surface_Surfaces.gif mold_loft_after_ruled_srf_prvw.gif
Ruled Surface tool_Ruled_Surface_Mold_tools.gif

Use Ruled Surface, rather than Extend Surface to maintain the correct taper.

mold_ruled_srf_02_prvw.gif
Extend Surface Tool_Extend_Surface_Surfaces.gif

To facilitate Trim Surface.

mold_ruled_srf_extend_prvw.gif
Trim Surface Tool_Trim_Surface_Surfaces.gif, using Mutual to remove material adjacent to the horizontal ruled surface.

Knit Surface tool_Knit_Surface_Surfaces.gif after trim.

mold_mutual_trim_01.gif
Create a plane, parallel to Top Plane.

Sketch rectangle to create a planar surface.

mold_sketch_planar_trim_srf.gif
Planar Surface tool_Planar_Surface_Surfaces.gif mold_sketch_planar_trim_done.gif
Trim Surface Tool_Trim_Surface_Surfaces.gif, using Standard to trim below the planar surface. mold_mutual_trim_02a.gif
After trim, the planar surface is ready as the basis for tooling split operation. mold_tooling_split_before.gif