At the Solid Modeling Show, Delcam will launch a major upgrade to its PS-Moldmaker software for the automated design of molds for plastics. The new version incorporates a wide range of improvements to the existing mold design and drafting functionality, together with a new web-based ordering system.

Commenting on the new release, Development Director Stuart Watson said “PS-Moldmaker continues to combine a highly automated method for the development of tooling designs, with the total flexibility that results from its close integration with the full range of modeling and analysis tools within the main PowerSHAPE program. It retains its unique ability to allow the user to exit from the automated process at any stage, carry out some manual adjustment to the design within PowerSHAPE, and then return to the automatic methods to complete the mold. This means that users can benefit from the speed and simplicity of the high level of automation, and can also produce exactly the results they want, without any restriction on the size or complexity of the work that they can undertake.”

PS-Moldmaker generates a three-dimensional assembly of solid models, detailing all the components within the mold. This process has been made more flexible, both through the addition of catalogues from a wider range of standard component suppliers and through more automation in the design of non-standard tooling.

The new version still allows the user to specify a non-standard mold base, for example, when producing larger tools. However, the software will now continue with the remainder of the mold design process automatically, selecting standard components whenever possible and suggesting appropriate sizes for any non-standard components that will be needed. The user has the ability to modify any of these recommendations and, once the specification has been finalized, to add the component to a personal catalogue for future use.

A preview mode has been added to make it easier to experiment with alternative layouts. Previously, the user had either to recreate the entire assembly with every addition or alteration to the design or to complete the whole design before creating a solid model of any component. In the new preview mode, an outline of each new component can be displayed instantly. This allows its size and position to be reviewed without any need to rebuild the complete solid model.

Enhancements have also been made to the Die Wizard functionality that automatically finds the split line of the product model, creates split and run-off surfaces to form the two die halves, and then dynamically separates the cavity, with the split surface, from the die blocks. This now automatically creates flat areas in the corners of the block whenever possible to simplify the alignment of the guide pillars and guide bushes. Another enhancement allows multiple inserts to be created for use within a single plate of a multi-cavity tool.

The earlier version of PS-Moldmaker included automated drafting of the general assembly of the mold. This capability has now been extended to enable automated production of a complete, associative set of fully-ballooned drawings for all the plates, together with the related hole schedules for drilling cycles to be generated automatically.

As before, the Bills of Materials is generated and updated automatically as the design is developed. However, the incorporation of functionality from Delcam’s PS-Team task management software means that the BOM can now be divided automatically into a series of orders for the various component manufacturers and then e-mailed to these suppliers.