Application of standardization for initial design of plastic injection moulds

Abstract

The preliminary work of any final plastic injection mould design is to provide an initial design of the mould assembly for product designers (customers) prior to receiving the final product CAD data. Traditionally and even up till now, this initial design is always created using 2D CAD packages. The information used for the initial design is based on the technical discussion checklist, in which most mould makers have their own standards. This checklist is also being used as a quotation. This paper presents a methodology of providing the initial design in 3D solid modelling based on the technical discussion checklist, which takes the role of the overall standard template. Information from databases is extracted and coupled with the basic information from customer, these information are input into the technical discussion checklist. Rules and heuristics are also used to assist the initial mould design. A case study is also presented to illustrate the use of the standard template and to demonstrate its real application.