SOLIDWORKS: Mold Design

1h 53mBeginner2018-06-26

Authors

Tam Black

Multidisciplinary Designer Consultant, Maker, Lifetime Learner

Course details

For thousands of years, molds have been used to form raw materials like clay and metal into art, jewelry, and tools. With modern plastics, software, and manufacturing technologies, it's possible to cast almost any object from a mold. This course is an introduction to mold design in SOLIDWORKS, for everything from one-off prototyping to mass-manufacture of a variety of products. Learn best practices for getting repeatable, high-quality results with 3D printing and CNC machines. Design consultant and instructor Tam Black also provides an overview of the materials available for at-home and industrial-scale molding and casting, and helps you understand which production method is suitable for your scale of manufacture.

Learning objectives
What are mold making and casting?
Materials
Type of molds
Designing a mold
Types of casting
Mold and box setup
Complex molds
3D printing and CNC manufacturing for molding and casting
Other molding processes

Skills covered

SOLIDWORKSDassaultManufacturingProduct and Industrial DesignProduct and ManufacturingDeep Dive (X:Y)

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - What is mold design
02 - What you should know

1. What Is Mold Making and Casting

03 - Definition of terms
04 - Design methodology
05 - Overview of applications possible

2. Everyday Casting - Materials

06 - Everyday casting you've already done it
07 - History
08 - Materials

3. Design Considerations for Molding

09 - Types of molds
10 - Prototype molding components
11 - What to avoid
12 - Designing a mold project
13 - Molding possibilities

4. The Casting Process

14 - Types of casting
15 - Safety gear
16 - Mold and box setup
17 - End-to-end casting process
18 - Casting possibilities

5. What Prototyping Processes Tell You about Full-Scale Manufacturing

19 - Parting lines and flash
20 - Material in, material out
21 - Mold complexity, pulls, and placement
22 - Fluid flow
23 - Complex molding

6. 3D Printing and CNC for Molding and Casting

24 - Why cast instead of 3D printing
25 - What is CNC and what can you do with it
26 - Picking your fabrication method

7. Other Applications and Processes

27 - Blow molding and roto molding
28 - CNC forms for vacuum forming
29 - Press molding
30 - Production at any scale

Conclusion

31 - Next steps