Delcam has added new Wizards for the design of slides and cooling channels to its PS-Moldmaker software for the automated design of moulds for the injection moulding of plastics.

Delcam has added new Wizards for the design of slides and cooling channels to its PS-Moldmaker software for the automated design of moulds for the injection moulding of plastics. These additions will increase the time savings possible through using the software, while the automation of these operations will reduce the possibility of mistakes. The new Slide Wizard provides an automatic method for the design of any slides that are required when moulding parts incorporating undercuts.

The relevant areas of the part can be identified with the undercut shading option within PowerSHAPE.

Then the Wizard automates the slide creation process, using the user's selection from the range of formats available.

Once the slide design has been completed, the software automatically redesigns the split line and run-off surfaces within the core and cavity plates to accommodate the movement of the slide.

The Cooling Wizard uses the dynamic sectioning command within PowerSHAPE to create a plane, or multiple planes, within the mould core or cavity for the layout of the water channels.

The user then simply has to sketch the layout required.

As the channels are added, the software provides a warning if they impinge on the cavity, if they come too close to give sufficient wall thickness, or if they are too far from the moulding to be effective.

Once the complete layout has been defined, the model of the plate can be passed in to Delcam's PowerMILL machining software for the automatic creation of drilling instructions for the machining of the water channels.