Tooling Concepts

  The information below refers to simple components (their reference is a CATPart, not a CATProduct).
However the principles are the same for assembly components.

You will find information about:

Tooling Components

Tooling Component Template

It is a tooling component not yet inserted in a Die/Mold, but which complies with the Mold Tooling Design rules,
i.e. a component proposed in a manufacturer catalog or a component you have created in your own catalog.

Tooling Component

A Tooling component is a component which has been instantiated in an Assembly via a Mold Tooling Command.
It is easily identified in the specification tree by its icon.
It is an instance.
It has a reference.
If the reference has been saved, it has one or several associated documents (CATProducts and CATParts).
  • When you insert a component in a Die/Mold, you actually copy the tooling component template from the catalog to the Die/Mold. As a consequence, if you modify the tooling component template in the catalog, the tooling component in the Die/Mold is not modified.
  • During the insertion, addition or replacement of Tooling components, a new component reference may be created. In this case, it receives a part number which is given by the application. The suffix of this part number is a number intended to ensure part number uniqueness in the session: this way the user is relieved of the responsibility of part number uniqueness and the creation of a new reference is transparent. This suffix cannot be controlled by the user and it cannot be assumed that it will have a given starting point or an increasing order.
 

Tooling Sub-components

They are sub-products or sub-parts of a tooling component.
It is recommended that they are tooling components themselves, but it is not mandatory.

Shared sub-components

They are created with the option Several Instances per Reference.
Example: We have created two instances of Loose Core_1, which share the same sub-components, e.g. SetPin_2.
If we modify the geometry of SetPin_2 in Loose Core_1 (Loose Core_1.1),
the geometry of SetPin_2 will also be modified in Loose Core_1 (Loose Core_1.2).

Tooling Component Environment

It is the root product in which the tooling component is inserted, e.g. a Die or a Mold with all the already inserted components.

Impacts

Impact OUT

A Tooling component (instance) may affect the assembly in which it is inserted (current assembly).
Typically, it may create a hole in a plate with its drill hole.

For each Tooling component instance, if information has been copied from the inside of its reference into another CATPart used in the current assembly, we say the instance has an Impact OUT in the context of the current assembly (component centric spoken).
If an Impact OUT is created for a given instance in a given assembly, it does not affect its reference.
For instance, if this reference was saved just before creating the Impact OUT, and if a save management is requested, it will show this reference as “not modified”
  Example: Impacts OUT of the Tooling Component and ON its environment:

Impact IN

Let's consider a CATPart X.
It may contain information of type knowledge, wireframe, surfaces, solids resulting from a copy/paste with link operation performed by an user or a V5 command.
If the copy/paste is performed from a CATPart Y to this CATPart X, we say the CATPart X receives an Impact IN from CATPart Y.
Impact IN is a notion which is relevant for references or documents, not just for instances.

Assembly Components Impacts

A Tooling Component is a component instantiated in an Assembly (current assembly) via a Tooling Command.
It may be obtained as the result of insertion of a CATProduct (and not a single CATPart). In this case it has sub-components.
The Tooling Component can receive Impacts IN or create Impacts OUT in the current assembly context.
If a sub-component of the Tooling Component impacts another of its sub-components, the impact is viewed as an internal impact of the Tooling Component.

An internal impact is not viewed as an Impact IN or an Impact OUT of the Tooling Component.
  Let's consider a Tooling Component obtained as the result of insertion of a CATProduct which contains an internal impact from sub-component 1 to sub-component 2.
  • If the CATProduct is opened as a stand-alone assembly and if the corresponding link is not broken, then the impact exists in the context of the stand-alone assembly. The impact is internal to the Tooling Component reference.
  • If not, it was created in another context.
For the sake of re-usability, we recommended that you create internal impacts of the Tooling Component prior to instantiation
(opening as stand alone the Tooling Component reference)
 

Context of Impacts

The minimal context of an impact is the smallest product in the structure that contains both the impacted and the impacting components.
Example: if we consider Sleeve_Z022-2 inserted between the ClampingPlate  in the InjectionSide, the minimal context is InjectionSide (that contains both the sleeve and ClampingPlate).

Tooling Impacts

Some Tooling commands use internally the copy/paste as result with link (from the inside of a CATPart to the inside of another one).

An impact created by a Tooling command is a Tooling Impact.
The Tooling impacts are one of several kinds:

  • Detailed Tooling Drills / Standard Tooling Drills,
  • Tooling Splits (with or without surface reduction),
  • Tooling Morphing.

Tooling Drills

They are created by one of four Tooling commands or sub-commands:

  • Drill Component,
  • Distributed Drill Component,
  • Generate Final Holes and Pads,
  • The Standard drillings accessible in some of the Tooling Component contextual commands.
  • (pads, pockets Impacts etc .. are also called Tooling Drills in this document!)

There are two possible situations for the Tooling Drills of a given instance:

  • They are memorized in the instance from/to/between list, in short FTB List,
  • They are too complex to be described by a from/to/between list and therefore they are not memorized in the instance.

Definitions:

  • If the from/to/between list of the instance is active, the impact is called Standard Tooling Drills .
  • If not, the impact is a Detailed Tooling Drills.

Tooling Morphing

When a Part with isolated external references is instantiated for the first time as a Tooling Component, you can request the reconnection of these isolated references. This is done by Mold Tooling/Assembly as follows :

  • by copying the user selected information from the current Assembly,
  • by pasting it as result with link inside of the clone of the Part ,
  • by replacing the isolated external reference by this new reference.

Now the clone of the Part receives an Impact IN.

Impact Children

An impact is an operation which

  • uses geometry located in one component (Tooling or not),
  • copies it (with link) inside another component (Tooling or not),
  • and then uses it to create operations inside the receiving component, using the result of the copy.

From the point of view of the impact:

  • the component in which the geometry to copy is found is called impacting component,
  • the component in which it is copied is called receiving component or impacted component.
  • The set of all children of the impact operation in the receiving component (excluding the copy itself) is called “impact children”.
  • The impact children and the input features are created within the Tooling Component Template.
  • They affect all the instances based on this document and all the Tooling Components based on shared sub-components

Geometry of the Tooling Component

You can consider the following:

  • the geometry of the component itself,
  • the geometry used for the tooling impacts OUT (tooling component output features):
    • solids used for tooling drills,
    • surfaces used for tooling splits,
  • the geometry that is the input of tooling impacts IN (tooling component input features):
    • solids used for tooling drills,
    • surfaces used for tooling splits,
  • non tooling input (surfaces, wireframes, solids).
Special case of the Tooling Component Dummy Input
This is a virtual geometry in the Tooling Component Template, that creates an Impact IN for that component. It is replaced by an actual geometry at insertion.

Tooling Part Interface

When a Tooling Impact is created, the copy/paste as result with link may use a relay CATPart called a Tooling Part Interface in certain situations:

  • Comp1 has Impacts OUT on Comp2,
  • Comp2 receives an Impact IN from Comp1,
  • The Tooling Part Interface is ignored when describing the Impacts because it is not a functional part.
  • It takes the form of a CATPart, with a name beginning with TlgItf_.

Definitions:

  • For Comp1, the Tooling Part Interface is Downward, in short DTPI,
  • For Comp2, the Tooling Part Interface is Upward , in short UTPI.

Example : Comp3 has an upward and a downward Tooling Part Interface.
Typically it can be an insert which is split and which creates a pocket in a plate.

Tooling Split Part Interface

When a Tooling Split is created, the copy/paste as result with link may use an additional relay CATPart called a Tooling Split Part Interface in certain situations.

Definitions:

  • Comp2 receives an Impact IN from the component containing Surface,
  • The Tooling Part Interface and the Tooling Split Part Interface are ignored when describing the Impacts because they are not functional,
  • In short the Tooling Split Part Interface is called TSPI.

Rules

Tooling Component Template Rules

  • All the inputs for Tooling Impacts OUT must be published at the level of the Root of the Template.
    All output features of catalogs are published.
  • All the predefined dummy inputs of Impacts IN are gathered in a specific geometrical set called Isolated external references.
    They are ignored by the Mold Tooling Design if this is not the case.
    When you insert or replace a component, this component may have solid Impacts IN, that may lead to troublesome contextual links. To avoid that, solid impacts are checked at the insertion:
    • If they are seen as referencing a source that does not exist in the session, they are removed.
    • If the source cannot be identified, the solid impacts are kept.
  • It is necessary to avoid direct links between a Tooling Component geometry and a Tooling Component output feature.
    To ensure consistency, use parameters and relations.
    A warning message is issued if such links are found.
  • It is necessary to ensure consistency between sub-components of a Tooling Component Template by using parameters at the Root Level.
  • If the tooling Component is an Assembly, it is recommended to define its sub-components as Tooling Components, to fully benefit from the Mold Tooling Design mechanisms. However it is not mandatory for Data Upward Compatibility reasons.

Rules for management of Impactable components

If a component is modified in a way which depends on its 3D position in the environment, precautions must be taken so that the modification does not affect the other representations of this components, located in other 3D positions:

  • If a Tooling Component receives an Impact IN, it must be mono-instance
  • If a Tooling sub-component receives an Impact IN, it must not be a shared component.
  • A component which has dummy inputs is necessarily mono-instance
  • A Tooling Component which is part of the Mold Structure is necessarily mono-instance.
    Add new instance command is not available.
  • A Component receiving an impact is necessarily a CATPart (even a sub-component within a Tooling Component can receive an Impact IN)

Sub-component Rules

  • It is not allowed to edit the sub-components of the Tooling Component.
    The only way to modify them is via the Tooling Component itself by changing the parameters.
  • A Tooling sub-component may not send directly an impact outside of the Tooling Component it belongs to, after instantiation.
    The impact must be created via the father Tooling Component.
  • A Tooling sub-component may not send directly an impact inside the Tooling Component it belongs to, after instantiation.
    The impact must be created before instantiation of the Tooling Component, in the Tooling Component Template.

Tooling Part Interface Rules

  • The Tooling Part Interface is not editable.
  • Impacts in the components of a block come from within the block or else affects one of the block parts interface.

Tooling Update Rules

To prevent complex update loops, a Tooling Component should not receive Impacts IN and send Impacts OUT at the same time.
However there are numerous situations, current in Die Design, which require breaking this simple rule.
Therefore it is necessary to define more detailed recommendations:

  • It is best to prevent the situations of Tooling Components Impacting and Impacted at the same time
  • If a Tooling Components is Impacting and Impacted at the same time, it is necessary to maintain independence between input features and output features, from the update/synchronization point of view.
  • A Tooling Component which is part of the Mold Structure may not Impact other components, except for Coolant Channels.
    It is not available for splits nor drillings.

Constraints

The constraints reconnection is ensured only when:

  • Component product structure is the same.
  • Instance names of products in the replacing component are the same.
  • Constraints reference the same published elements