Alexei Volkov
SOLIDWORKS Plastics is an add-in product for SOLIDWORKS that enables simulations for plastic injection moulding. It simulates how melted plastic flows during the injection moulding process to predict manufacturing-related defects. SOLIDWORKS Plastics is available in three levels: Plastics Standard, Plastics Professional, and Plastics Premium. To speed up SOLIDWORKS Plastics simulations, users can set up a shortcut toolbar with simulation commands to eliminate mouse travel and supercharge their mouse speed.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Speed advantage | Shell mesh has a faster solve time on lower-end hardware |
| Reducing the solve time gap | Use hardware with a high number of cores in the CPU and GPUs |
| Simulation commands | Add simulation commands to the shortcut toolbar |
| Mouse gestures | Map the shortcut toolbar as a mouse gesture to supercharge your mouse speed |
| Simulation setup | The study setup is stored on the part file and can take advantage of multiple configurations for analyzing geometry variations |
| Injection Units settings | Specify the polymer, injection pressure, mold temperature, and fill time |
| SOLIDWORKS Plastics Standard | Analyze single-and multi-cavity, and family mold layouts |
| SOLIDWORKS Plastics Professional | Analyze mold cooling line layouts and part warpage |
Explore related products
What You'll Learn
Utilise the shortcut toolbar for simulation commands
The shortcut toolbar can be used to speed up the process of running simulation commands in SOLIDWORKS. The shortcut toolbar can be activated by pressing the "S" key at any time. This will bring up a menu of commands relevant to the type of editing you are doing, be it a sketch, part, assembly, or drawing.
The shortcut toolbar can be customised to include the simulation commands you use the most. To do this, first select the appropriate shortcut toolbar for the type of study you are performing, which can be either sketch, feature/part, assembly, or drawings. Then, click on the command list on the left-hand side and scroll down to select the Simulation Toolbar. From the list of icons that appears on the right, hover over each command to see its name, and then drag the desired icon to the toolbar.
By adding simulation commands to the shortcut toolbar, you can avoid having to use the Command Manager at the top of the screen or the Simulation Manager on the left, reducing the amount of mouse travel needed. This can be further improved by remapping the shortcut toolbar to a different key or combination of keys on the keyboard.
The Command Manager can also be customised to include frequently used commands, and is worth spending time to adapt to as it can improve efficiency when accessing commands. Similarly, the Task Pane, which is the interface on the right side of the screen, can be turned on and off and repositioned.
Plastic Frames: Stretching Over Time?
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Use mouse gestures
Mouse gestures are an efficient way to speed up your workflow when using SOLIDWORKS Plastics simulation. They allow you to stay in the graphics area, eliminating the need to navigate to the command manager at the top of the screen or the Simulation Manager on the left. This reduces the travel time of your mouse and speeds up your work.
To use mouse gestures in SOLIDWORKS, you can map the shortcut toolbar as a mouse gesture. First, select one of the four shortcut toolbars: sketch, feature/part, assembly, or drawings. Then, click on the appropriate command list on the left-hand side and scroll down to select the Simulation Toolbar. A list of icons will appear on the right side. Hover over the commands to see their names, left-click on the one you want, hold it down, and drag it to the toolbar.
You can also use your extra mouse buttons as hotkeys in SOLIDWORKS. To customize these, go to the "Customize" Menu under Settings, where you will find the Keyboard tab and Mouse Gesture tabs. Here, you can set up the functions you want to assign to your mouse buttons.
It is important to remember that mouse gestures are not on-screen buttons but actual gestures. You set a function to a gesture, press and hold the mouse button, and then move the mouse in a specific direction to activate the function. This means that you need to remember the functions you have set and use them when needed.
Transforming Plastic Tables with Mosaic Magic
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Choose the right hardware
Choosing the right hardware is essential to speeding up SOLIDWORKS Plastics simulations. While shell mesh offers faster solve times on lower-end hardware, this speed gap can be narrowed by leveraging hardware with a high number of CPU cores and GPUs.
For instance, utilizing hardware with a high number of CPU cores enables efficient handling of complex simulations involving multiple configurations and geometry variations. This parallel processing capability ensures faster computation and improved solve times.
Additionally, selecting a graphics processing unit (GPU) with a high number of cores can significantly enhance performance. GPUs are particularly advantageous for specific simulation types, such as those with a high number of elements or requiring rapid calculations. The massive parallel processing power of GPUs can accelerate these simulations, making them a valuable hardware choice.
It is worth noting that the balance between CPU and GPU usage depends on the specific simulation requirements. Some simulations may benefit more from a stronger CPU, while others may see greater speed improvements with a more powerful GPU. Understanding the simulation's needs and selecting hardware accordingly is vital.
Lastly, ensuring sufficient memory capacity is crucial. Simulations can be memory-intensive, especially when dealing with large models or intricate details. Opting for hardware with ample random-access memory (RAM) can help prevent performance bottlenecks and speed up simulations by allowing smoother handling of complex data sets.
The Ultimate Guide to Redoing Your Plastic Bathtub
You may want to see also
Specify parameters like injection pressure
SOLIDWORKS Plastics is an add-in product for SOLIDWORKS that enables simulations for plastic injection moulding. It is available in three levels: Plastics Standard, Plastics Professional, and Plastics Premium.
The Injection Units settings in SOLIDWORKS allow users to specify parameters such as injection pressure, mould temperature, and fill time. If these parameters are not specified by the user, SOLIDWORKS Plastics will use data from the material specifications for mould temperature and automatically calculate values for fill time.
To specify the injection pressure in SOLIDWORKS Plastics, follow these steps:
- Create a new study from the SOLIDWORKS Plastics command manager.
- Right-click on "Unit 1" and click "Settings".
- Click on "Apply/Edit Material" and browse the database to select the appropriate material.
- Specify the injection location by right-clicking on the boundary condition in the study property manager.
- Select the sketch point or vertex of the model as the injection location for shell analysis.
- Specify the Curvature-based option and leave all other parameters at their default values.
- Under the Advanced option, specify the location where a finer mesh should be created if needed.
- Right-click on "Flow" and click "Run" to start the analysis.
It is important to note that increasing the injection pressure limit may require a larger injection moulding machine. Additionally, the Flow/Pack Switch Point determines the switch between the constant velocity fill stage and the constant pressure pack stage. This is typically set at 99% to reduce flashing.
To speed up SOLIDWORKS simulations, users can also customise their shortcut toolbar by adding Simulation commands. This eliminates the need to use the command manager at the top of the screen or the Simulation Manager on the left side, reducing mouse travel time. Users can also remap the shortcut toolbar to a different key or combination of keys on the keyboard if desired.
The Best Ways to Descale Your Plastic Kettle
You may want to see also
Use the fill analysis feature
SOLIDWORKS Plastics is an add-in product for SOLIDWORKS that enables simulations for plastic injection moulding. It is available in three levels: Plastics Standard, Plastics Professional, and Plastics Premium. The fill analysis feature in SOLIDWORKS Plastics allows for verifying part design before mould tool steel is ever cut, ensuring that major revisions will not be necessary to either the part or the moulds.
The Injection Units settings let you specify the polymer as well as fill settings such as injection pressure, mould temperature, and fill time. In the absence of user-specified parameters, Plastics will use data from the material specifications for mould temperature as well as automatically calculated values for fill time. The default values for all the Fill Settings seen in the property manager can be overridden at the user’s discretion. The values for Melt Temperature and Mould Temperature are specified in the resin properties for the selected material. The Injection Pressure Limit and Clamp Force Limit can be modified to match the capabilities of the injection moulding machine.
To complete a fill study, a mesh of the CAD model for the SOLIDWORKS Plastics analysis must be created. A slider bar determines how coarse or fine the created mesh will be. A coarse mesh (larger element size) will solve faster, but the accuracy of the solution will be reduced. Alternatively, a finer mesh (smaller element size) will take longer to solve but will achieve a higher fidelity solution.
A Fill study is the first analysis that users perform with SOLIDWORKS Plastics. All SOLIDWORKS Plastics analyses start with creating a study. Multiple injection processes are available for a solid-meshed SOLIDWORKS Plastics study, but the simplest fill analysis is a single material, shell-meshed study.
The Breakdown: Styrofoam vs Plastic
You may want to see also
Frequently asked questions
To speed up your SOLIDWORKS Plastics simulation, you can add simulation commands to your shortcut toolbar. This reduces mouse travel and speeds up your workflow.
First, select the appropriate shortcut toolbar for your study type (sketch, feature/part, assembly, or drawings). Then, click on the command list on the left-hand side and scroll down to select the Simulation Toolbar. From the list of icons that appears on the right, find the command you want, left-click and hold, then drag it to your shortcut toolbar.
Make sure you are using hardware that can take advantage of a high number of cores in the CPU and GPUs.
