Fast Mold Design, Machining

 

Delcam’s PowerShape CAD software and the PowerMill CAM system are said to offer fast mold design and fast machine tool programming, respectively. The fast mold design has been made possible by incorporating the Parasolid kernel for solid modeling alongside the company’s own surface modeling system. The addition of the kernel also enhances the company’s Power Features technology. Mold components that contain this technology react automatically as they are placed within an assembly, adding all the necessary fit-features to the connecting components. As each part is added, the tolerances between the various components are also automatically defined. This automatic creation of relationships makes the development of the overall design quicker than other 3D mold design systems and also makes errors in the design process less likely, the company says.

The company also says that the CAM program, when used on a multi-core computer, will eliminate the waiting time for the user. With a conventional computer, the operator must wait for one calculation to be completed before moving on to the next operation, the company says. With a multi-processor computer, the user can set the parameters for a second calculation on the part while the first calculation is still running. The two calculations can even be on different areas of the component, for example when applying different strategies to machine the split surfaces from those being used for the main core or cavity.