Casting / Forging Questions

[boydt]

I have been approached to do some freelance Pro/E work for a company. They need me to take finished drawings and create models for forgings. I am looking for some tips on forging design using Pro/E. I am proficient with Pro/E doing modeling assemblies and drawings. I have not worked with forging/casting designs before. There are tools within Pro/E to make this easier right? Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[gggggggggg]

Of course!



Your new best friend will be the draft command. Draft is just a fancy way to say taper. I hope you understand that for a part to release from the mold (or die as it's known in the casting world) the walls must be tapered, or drafted.



Pro/E has the draft command just for this reason. There is also the Draft Analysis option under the Surface Analysis menu. It will show you a visual representation of all the surfaces, and if draft has been applied or not. It is useful in checking your work.



I work at a zinc die casting foundry. I model parts & dies for our die cast products all day long. If you need any help, let me know. Pro/E makes it very easy to do my job. I'm sure you will agree.

 

[boydt]

So you would want to start with a model of the final part (modeled to finish size) Correct?

 

[swcalvert]

Boyd, what you want to try to do is to find out what the part looks like when it comes out of the casting process. Model that and then add that componet to an assembly and make your assembly level cuts (the maching process). You might end up with two drawings, one for the casting process and one for the maching process depending on the complexity of the casting.



Steve C

 

[Brian_Adkins]

I would recommend using a modified version of the Master-Model-Merge techcnique to represent the as-cast and as-machined versions of your parts. I would use assembly features to do this only as a last resort because this creates extra complexity with little or no added value (creating a relationship to another model... the middle-man assembly).





Here is a pretty method:



model_as_cast.prt

|

`-features to represent part as cast





model_as_machined.prt

|

`-external merge referencing model_as_cast.prt

| (use the copy-datums option)

|

`-additional features to represent machining operations





-Brian Adkins

 

[gggggggggg]

I agree with Brian, the Master Merge tech. is the way to do it.



And Boydt, yes, your model will be to the finished dimensions, AFTER shrinkage.



If you are also designing the mold/tooling, you will need to enlarge (scale) the part by the shrinkage factor.

 

[Lazar]

Just to throw in my 2

 

[dougr]

There are several ways for dealing wth castings but there is one question that needs to be answered before you can go anywhere:



Are separate casting models and machining models required ?



If YES, you can have two options:



1) Have a single generic model and separate out the features by family table.



2) Create separate casting and machining models and use merge-by-reference to merge the casting into the machining model. (I would not recommend the copy datum option).



http://www.proecentral.com/portal/forum/msgDetail.asp?msg_id=1712&for_id=15



With 1) because there is only a single model means that both casting & machining have to be maintained at the same revision level.



With 2) you can have different revisions, eg casting.prt rev B can be used in machining.prt rev D. Also, if using 2) set your part accuracies to absolute and make sure they are matched between models.



If the answer is NO, real easy would recommend modeling all the cast features first and include all machine stock.

 

[survey]

www.diecasting.org/ddc



Has some information

 

[swcalvert]

I'm learning as we go here. What about plastics, would I model a base part and then create an assembly to do what my inserts would look like since I'll have several different openings as an option. I'm not at all familiar with master model merge, but I think I like what I hear.



Steve C