Page 49 - MetalForming May 2013

face of a hole when placing the dowel. “For example,” he says, “when we add a dowel to our die design, Logo- press3 automatically creates all of the holes at the same time as it inserts the dowel. The user can easily teach the software to automatically color the press-fit hole red, the slip-fit hole green and the drilled holes—such as the counter-drilled clearance for a dowel— yellow. The software then will default to use these colors each time the design- er adds a dowel to the die. This same functionality is available for other com- ponent holes as well as for wire-EDM
openings.”
Again, catalogs ease and shorten
the die-design process. Proeber pro- vides an example specific to Logo- press3.
“The software includes a deep stan- dard-component catalog,” he says. “Most unique about this: Not only is the component inserted along with the correct part number and supplier name, but doing so cuts the holes into
all of the affected plates of the solid- model assembly. For example, when inserting a nitrogen cylinder, the stroke of the cylinder is entered by the user and the cylinder dynamical- ly changes in the graphics window. When the designer clicks the Okay button, the software creates the cylin- der and the holes at the correct depths, and creates the clamping screws at the same time.”
Software also can aid in saving time by eliminating the need to repeat tasks. A new Logopress3 tool called “Copy A Set Of Components” can copy a stack of components along with their related openings and holes to anoth- er location in the die. This is ideal in cases of multiple identical forms locat- ed on different sections of the tool. And noting yet one more time-saving feature in Logopress3, Proeber calls out the command “Save With New Project Name.” This finds use when the designer creates a new die similar to a previous die. The command saves
an entire design as a new job with a new job number.
With so many job-assisting features in new software, Proeber advises designers not to fear 3D design, as it offers vast improvement over its 2D counterpart.
“A misconception among die designers not yet using 3D die-design software is that there is not much ben- efit in having 3D software for their type of work,” he says. “This is more often the case for companies creat- ing tools for simple parts with just a few linear bends. In fact, most automation tools in 3D die-design software are available whether you are working with a complex-shaped automotive part or a simple part with linear bends. During modeling of the die assembly, detail drawings are auto- matically created in the background and only require a bit of tweaking to finalize them. The bottom line: Designing a die using 3D parametric die-design software takes a fraction
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MetalForming/May 2013 47
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