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My end goal is to bring parts into Autodesk moldflow, have surface splits exactly where my gate location is. This will allow Moldflow to populate a node exactly where I want it, allowing me to create a beam off that node and create my gate in the precise location.
Solidworks has a feature called "Split Line" that allows you to use sketch entities to split a surface, or face of a solid body, into separate surfaces and/or faces. A lot of the posts I've seen pertain more towards having the ability to change the color of the faces/surfaces. In my search I found the following solution:
"1. Copy and paste the surface you want to split. 2. Trim the surface the way you want it. 3. Apply a warp to the surface. Don't make any actual changes to it; just apply a warp feature and hit green checkbox. 4. Solidify it. It will now show up as a separate surface that you can paint in a separate color."
I tried this but it does not split every surface, and with the few parts I've tried it on, it never splits the surface I want it to. See the attached visual.
I'm wondering if there is some way to select which surfaces get split, if there's anther way in Creo to accomplish what I want, or if anyone works with Autodesk Moldflow and has a good method of precisely locating gates?
Solved! Go to Solution.
I am not clear on exactly what you need for the mold flow model and I presume it would be meshed for analysis. If you want an accurate representation of gate and runner geometry in the simulation then include it in the Creo model that is used to generate the mesh. If you are attempting something else then elaborate on the process and maybe someone will have an idea.
Here is an example of the runner and gate included in the part design and used for mold flow analysis meshed models. This defines geometry and location. If this would not resolve your situation, please elaborate.
One option is to use the trim tool and keep both sides when trimming. Using this technique you can split the face of interest as seen here into 4 pieces.
Make a surface copy of the face you want to place the gate on and then split it using sketched curves. I have enclosed a Creo 4 part for reference where I used two planes to split the surface into 4 pieces as shown here.
Thanks for the response tbraxton. I was able to do the same with a surface, however the real hurdle I'm up against is to do this to a solid. It kind of works using the method I mentioned, but it doesn't apply the split to all faces and doesn't seem to have a way to control which faces the split will be applied to.
I am not clear on exactly what you need for the mold flow model and I presume it would be meshed for analysis. If you want an accurate representation of gate and runner geometry in the simulation then include it in the Creo model that is used to generate the mesh. If you are attempting something else then elaborate on the process and maybe someone will have an idea.
Here is an example of the runner and gate included in the part design and used for mold flow analysis meshed models. This defines geometry and location. If this would not resolve your situation, please elaborate.
Thanks for the follow up tbraxton. Modeling in gates definitely is a solution and this may be the way to go, I'll have to play around with that option a bit more.
I'll try to elaborate a little better on what I'm trying to accomplish and why I'm trying to do it the way I am. I'm fairly new to Moldflow and only received a crash course with our former in-house mold flow expert on his last 3 days, so my understanding of/ability to explain that software might be lacking. The way I was taught to model in a direct valve gate was to use beams created off a node. This seems to be fine for most applications to pick the node closest to the where the valve gate would be located. However the last study I performed, this approached seemed like it may have been lacking. When I perform a Cool(FEM) study with imported mold block components I was not able to line up my gate location with the orifice in my cavity block, it was slightly off.
I was able to accomplish what I wanted by copying the outside surfaces of the part in creo and doing exactly what you said with the copied surface. Moldflow seemed fine with me importing the "shelled" surface and I was able to run a study and got results similar to the study I ran importing a solid.
I've attached another document that shows the splits on the surfaces as I wanted and the direct valve gate beam I was trying to model in(first two images). The next two images show how importing a curve that represents the axis of the gate orifice doesn't necessarily line up with a node. The final image shows how this could potentially be a problem because it doesn't line up with the orifice in the cavity block. I'm not even sure how much influence this misalignment has on moldflow and the results produced, like I said I'm still new and trying to get a feel for it all.
Thanks again for your time and input.