Delcam, the UK's leading supplier of software for toolmaking, has launched a major upgrade to its PS-Mold system for the design of injection moulding tools for plastics.

Delcam upgrades mould design software Delcam, the UK's leading supplier of software for toolmaking, has launched a major upgrade to its PS-Mold system for the design of injection moulding tools for plastics. PS-Mold is a highly automated program that enables the key components of the mould to be designed in a fraction of the time needed with conventional drawing methods. As a result, toolmakers can begin machining that much sooner and deliver tooling much more rapidly.

PS-Mold can be used together with Delcam's PowerSHAPE hybrid modelling software and PowerMILL machining program to complete every stage of mould tool manufacture, from the receipt of the product model through to the production of detail drawings, the bill of materials and manufacturing data.

PS-Mold incorporates the same interface style, including the intelligent cursor, which makes all the Power Solution software so easy to learn and use.

The new release features a range of enhancements, including a modified interface that allows users to work simultaneously on both the three-dimensional CAD model of the mould and the detail drawings, and much closer integration with PowerMILL to enable feature-based machining of the mould base designs generated by the software.

Like other computerised mould design systems, PS-Mold is supplied with databases of mould components from leading suppliers such as Hasco, DMS and DME.

However, unlike most other systems, PS-Mold does not rely on the conventional history-tree approach to recording and modifying the models generated.

Instead, the software incorporates thousands of rules that are specific to injection mould tool design.

The inclusion of these rules makes the design process both quicker and easier.

The software 'understands' how components of a mould fit together and so can suggest automatically sensible sizes and positions for each new part as it is added.

Similarly, it adds related features automatically.

If, for example, an ejector pin is added to the design, all the associated holes are placed in the plates through which it passes.

The rules also make design modifications both easier and faster.

Firstly, the software knows which items are linked and so only changes the components it knows will be affected by the modification.

So, if the ejector pin is moved or deleted, only associated holes and components are also moved or deleted.

Other systems regenerate the complete model whenever any component changes, which can be very time-consuming.

Also, PS-Mold recommends automatically the nearest standard component when making alterations.

Other systems simply make the direct mathematical change.

This can lead to large numbers of non-standard components, which are both expensive and time-consuming to produce.

With PS-Mold's new interface, both the three-dimensional CAD model and all two-dimensional drawings, including the general assembly and the bill of materials, are updated continuously as the design progresses.

The designer can use these in discussions with his customer, and also with suppliers when ordering materials and components.

Once the design has been finalised, details of the mould plates can be passed directly to PowerMILL.

The machining software can now recognise the features, for example, holes and pockets, needing to be machined and generate the necessary NC code automatically, using standard or user-defined defaults.